Australia Wildfires

[waltky]

Australian wildfires threaten Siding Spring Observatory...

Fire threatens leading telescope site
Mon, Jan 14, 2013 - Australia’s top research observatory, home to several telescopes used by scientists from around the world, was under threat from wildfires yesterday as hot weather and lightning storms stoked scores of new blazes.

The Rural Fire Service (RFS) of New South Wales, Australia’s most populous state, issued an emergency warning for an out-of-control fire raging towards the Siding Spring Observatory, a remote global research facility. “About a dozen isolated properties at Mount Woorut, including Siding Spring Observatory, may come under threat,” the RFS said. “Police are evacuating the area. Firefighters and waterbombing aircraft are on scene.” Siding Spring, a mountain-top site in the Warrumbungle ranges about 500km northwest of Sydney, houses 10 operating telescopes run by Australian, Polish, British, South Korean and US researchers.

Administered by the Australian National University’s research school of astronomy and astrophysics, Siding Spring is the nation’s major optical and infrared observatory and one of the top facilities of its kind in the world. A partner observatory at Canberra’s Mount Stromlo was destroyed by wildfires in January 2003 that killed four people and razed more than 500 homes. Five telescopes, residences and more than a dozen buildings were ruined in the Mount Stromlo inferno, forcing the termination of a number of major projects, including a digital survey of the southern hemisphere’s skies.

Large parts of Australia have sweltered under extreme heat in the past week, sparking hundreds of wildfires that have destroyed more than 100 homes. In the northern state of Queensland train services were halted yesterday due to fears that tracks would buckle under scorching heat that has seen bitumen road surfaces melt in some towns. The RFS said lightning storms started about 40 new fires overnight in northern New South Wales, fanned by strong winds, though most were in remote areas and not a threat to properties.

Wildfires are a common threat in arid Australia, particularly in the hotter months between December and February, and the government’s Climate Commission has warned that global warming will increase the fire risk. About 173 people were killed and more than 2,000 homes destroyed during the so-called Black Saturday firestorm in 2009, Australia’s worst natural disaster of modern times.

Fire threatens leading telescope site - Taipei Times

 

[waltky]

Granny says "Fire an' flames an' vapors of smoke - like it says inna Bible...

More than 100 homes lost in Australia's Christmas Day bushfires
Sat Dec 26, 2015 - More than 100 homes burned down in a leading Australian tourist area in bushfires on Christmas Day and the situation remained dangerous on Saturday, as officials predicted more blazes to come later in the hot southern summer.

While around 500 firefighters and 13 firefighting aircraft battled the flames along parts of Victoria state's picturesque Great Ocean Road, teams moved in to assess damage from fires that had lit up the night sky along the coast on Christmas. A spokesman for the state's emergency services said 98 homes had been confirmed burned in the community of Wye River and another 18 in nearby Separation Creek, for a total of 116 in the two townships, located about 120 kilometers (75 miles) southwest of Melbourne.

A bushfire burns at Wye River near Lorne, south of Melbourne​

Top emergency officials warned that dry conditions posed a threat of more fires for the Great Ocean Road area and the rest of Victoria. "This fire doesn't go away," Craig Lapsley, the state's emergency services commissioner, told a news conference. "We will be back into hot, windy weather in January without a doubt. Everything's available to burn." The Great Ocean Road is one of Australia's biggest tourist draws with its spectacular scenery and unusual offshore rock formations. It remained mostly closed to traffic on Saturday during what is typically one of its busiest times of the year.

Although an evacuation alert was lifted for the popular tourist town of Lorne and rain overnight had helped the firefighting operation, officials said the situation remained potentially dangerous with many hotspots. Images from the scene showed hillsides charred to the ground all the way down to the coast. State Premier Daniel Andrews surveyed the area from the air and commended emergency services, noting that there had so far been no loss of life, but he warned that the number of homes destroyed could rise. Meetings were held on Saturday for hundreds of victims urgently moved out of affected towns on Friday, many spending Christmas night in hurriedly organized shelters. Andrews said financial grants had already been issued to help those who had lost their homes.

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Family drives through Southern California wildfire: 'It was terrifying'
Sat December 26, 2015 - Wildfire was caused by downed power lines, fire officials say; "Our car could have exploded," woman says of family's drive through fire; The family thought they were a safe distance from the Solimar wildfire

Maaike Maks and her Dutch family believed they were a safe distance from the Solimar wildfire that roared along the Southern California freeway on Christmas night. The blaze appeared 30 minutes away. Moreover, they saw no road blocks.

But they suddenly found themselves in the heart of the furnace. Embers landed on their windshield, and flying torches hit their speeding car. They captured their brush with the inferno on video. "We didn't realize it was this big and frightening," Maks said. "There was nobody stopping us on the highway as we got closer and closer, so we thought it was totally safe for us to drive past it. As we started getting closer, I decided to record the fire we saw next to us, as I had never seen this before. "Then all of the sudden, all these sparks and a burning bush hit our car, and we couldn't see anything of what was around us because of all the smoke. I was terrified and in a total shock. In the end, it only took a few seconds, but it felt like an hour," she said. "It was terrifying. We were very lucky. In a worst-case scenario, our car could have exploded."

On Saturday afternoon, only 10% of the 1,200-acre fire was contained, but authorities were still able to reopen U.S. Highway 101 and Pacific Coast Highway in Ventura County. The highways had been closed in both directions in an area 70 miles west of downtown Los Angeles. Highway 101 and the Pacific Coast Highway, which is also designated as California Highway 1, are heavily traveled corridors in Ventura County and carry motorists between Los Angeles and central California. The highways feature scenic vistas of the ocean and mountains. Authorities asked motorists Saturday to use caution on the freeways near the fire.

Maks and her family were driving on the highway after attending the NBA game in Los Angeles between the Lakers and Clippers, and the family was headed to their holiday home in Santa Barbara about 11 p.m. Friday. Maks' parents and two brothers were visiting from Haarlem, the Netherlands, said Maks, who lives in New York. "We are a family of five and spending the holidays in Santa Barbara," she said. California is parched under a historic drought, and Friday's winds whipped flames through the dessicated vegetation. The fire was caused by downed power lines, fire officials said late Saturday.

The flames came within striking distance of area beaches, in addition to "bumping against the roadway," Ventura County Fire Capt. Steve Kaufmann said in a video posted to his department's Facebook page. "We're seeing fire embers all over the place," Kaufmann said. The fast-moving blaze burned through Christmas night and into Saturday, according to Ventura County Fire spokesman Capt. Mike Lindberry. As of Saturday, some 600 firefighters were at the scene while four helicopters dumped water on the blaze. Two firefighters suffered minor injuries, to the ankle and knee, authorities said.

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[westwall]

Australia is just like Southern California, wildfires are so common the flora depends on them as a part of their life cycles....

 

[Crick]

Are you still contending that the SW drought is normal?

 

[Old Rocks]

Of course Mr. Westwall is. If the whole state of California burned, Westwall would state that it was not unusual, there have been fires in California before. And if the whole of Australia burned, he would use the same line of logic. You see, he is not going to admit that the 99% of scientists he claims do shit science are correct and that he is wrong. He has the same hat size as Donald Trump.

 

[Skull Pilot]

Are you still contending that the SW drought is normal?

Droughts in this country have happened before they will happen again

 

[Crick]

Droughts of the extent and duration of the current California drought are rare. That is simply undeniable.

 

[Ame®icano]

180 people arrested for arson.

It's fucking climate change!!!

 

[Silver Cat]

Droughts of the extent and duration of the current California drought are rare. That is simply undeniable.

Very few large-scale water projects have been built since 1979, despite the population doubling since that year. The problem is poor water managment and this problem was at least particulary caused by this environmentalistic Neo-Pagan hystericals.

 

[Silver Cat]

Droughts of the extent and duration of the current California drought are rare. That is simply undeniable.

Are you sure?
Ancient pollen points to mega-droughts in California thousands of years ago

 

[ReinyDays]

I don't know if Crick is still around to answer for his posts four years ago ...

I lived in California during the 1976-1978 drought ... history speaks to the droughts there of the 1880's and 1920's ... there was nothing particular about this most recent drought, it was about the same as all the other droughts in terms of climate ... and the current climate there allows for these types of droughts ... stop burning fossil fuels today and California will have another drought in 2050's or 2060's ... put your bets down in Vegas baby, you'll win big ...

The only difference is so much more land under cultivation and irrigation ... the I-5 between Bakersfield and Stockton was almost all open prairie back in the late 70's ... when I drove through during the recent drought is was full of almond and pistachio orchards ... crops well known to be water intensive ... these farmers knew their trees would die, they planted them anyway for the quick profit ... now the trees are all dead and farmers have to replant ... just the cost of doing business westside San Joaquin Valley ...

Silver Cat mentioned that there's been no new water projects in California since 1979 ... that's when the voters turned down the Peripheral Canal, this would have brought Sacramento River water around the Delta and sent it down south ... and thus robbing Northern California of their own water to provide for Southern California ... there's also talk of piping Columbia River water south into California ... the biggest problem is sea water would infiltrate up into these delta areas and ruin existing water supplies ... Southern California needs to build desalination plants instead ... or recycle sewage water back through the taps ... or simply outlaw watering of lawns in LA would be enough ...

If anything, droughts will become less likely due to global warming ... rainfall will be more, on average, and more evenly distributed ... this is because of where, specifically, the Earth is warming ... in the polar regions ... so less energy will be flowing through the atmosphere, and thus less power ... and less average power means it will be less likely to form powerful events, like floods and droughts ... more energy means nothing if it's not moving ...