[watsisname]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/7877178.stm

Hoooooly crap.  In terms of human life lost these are the worst fires in the country's history, and they're still not letting up.  Are any of our Australian HLPers being affected by this?

[iamzack]

****in' nature always pulling stunts like this.

[watsisname]

Oh no, the eternal forces of nature are taking their course again!

Whatever shall we do.

Large scale arson hardly qualifies as a force of nature.

[Goober5000]

Large scale arson hardly qualifies as a force of nature.

wat

Are we absolutely sure of this?  One throwaway line sounds more like FUD to me.  I'll reserve judgement for now.

[redsniper]

Oh man, I just saw this on the news. Stay cool Aussie HLPeople.

[peterv]

I think that tha Australia's PM said someting about "mass murder".

[portej05]

I'm not in Australia atm, so I'm getting my news from the folks at home (and I don't know where they're getting their news)
Apparantly they were deliberately lit
Death toll is currently 173 (but is expected to go up today) and more than 3500 homeless
Over 800 homes destroyed
It's apparantly one of the worst fires on record: ABC Story
It's good to see that at least some people are digging deep (referring to the banks here, a number of which have donated $1m): ABC Story

It's a bit of a worry. Hope they catch the bastard(s) responsible for this (if it is shown to be arson)

EDIT: The ABC appears to have a lot of information here: ABC Events
Just seen reports on CNN - they had a satellite image of the area

[Janos]

Just let me guess: after considerable success in wildfire control near inhabitated areas, the current wildfires happen to be extremely destructive. And they happen around areas that have been historically prone to wildfires.

Am I correct?

[Vasudan Admiral]

From what I gather a big reason for the tragic death toll is how fast these fires moved. Authorities and locals knew it was going to be bad after the extreme heat Victoria has had the past few weeks, but no one expected anything like this. Normally people have a fair bit of warning and can evacuate or defend their homes with a few garden hoses, but this time they often only had seconds in pitch blackness before gusting walls of flame roared through their whole properties. I doubt all the best fire planning in the world wouldn't have helped most victims in such cases.

Remember that in these fires if the wind is blowing it towards you, the thick black smoke blocks out the sun very quickly, and power would be out too. In the past people have always been encouraged to defend their homes, as that's usually very successful. This time though it just meant more deaths.

I think chances are that IF any of these fires were deliberately lit, it was just a few kids being stupid. It's only a matter of time before the blame game starts if it hasn't already, which is just as stupid. All that matters now is helping those who have lost everyone they love and everything they own.

[portej05]

The blame game has begun: The prime minister has accused arsonists of being mass murders.
Where I live, when we first moved in the local fire brigade sent someone to talk to us about how to survive bushfires. His basic advise was get the hell out early (really early), or bunker down. A fire moves so fast that trying to escape in a car is almost suicide.
I read somewhere that quite a number of people that died were in cars trying to drive away.

[peterv]

The blame game has begun: The prime minister has accused arsonists of being mass murders.
Where I live, when we first moved in the local fire brigade sent someone to talk to us about how to survive bushfires. His basic advise was get the hell out early (really early), or bunker down. A fire moves so fast that trying to escape in a car is almost suicide.
I read somewhere that quite a number of people that died were in cars trying to drive away.

Correct. We had a similar situation a couple of years ago here in Greece, and the victims were mostly people who tried to escape whithout knowing that there was no escape route, they were already surrounded by the flames.
Let's hope this nightmare will end soon.

[iamzack]

We had a similar situation a couple of years ago here in Greece, and the victims were mostly people who tried to escape whithout knowing that there was no escape route, they were already surrounded by the flames.

What a way to go. :[

[Mefustae]

Yeah, there have already been a number of cases where entire towns are wiped off the map by fire. The fire-ridden regions look like a warzone, there's burnt-out cars and rubble everywhere. In the affected areas it's getting worse and worse, but it's almost surreal for those of us living safely within the confines of major cities.

My heart really goes out to those that've lost everything and in some cases everyone they hold dear.

[ssmit132]

Fortunately I don't live down there, but really, it's horrible. I mean, a few deaths from wildfires are to be expected, but how this one has taken so many lives in so little time is just crazy.

I remember on the news how they reported that the people in North Queensland, who are flooded, they said that their suffering is nothing compared to what's happening in Victoria.

[Dilmah G]

Oh man, I just saw this on the news. Stay cool Aussie HLPeople.

Luckily I'm in Perth, But over here t'is big news, EVERYONE's talking about (over here at least), my Digital media teacher even changed our assessment to producing a flyer promoting the school's fundraiser for the disaster.

On a personal opinion, I'm really hoping Australia brings back the death sentence or something, those arsonists really deserve to bite the bullet. Life Imprisonment at the least, and to think, we had a fire less than 2 months ago and that was a deliberately lit one as well.

Fortunately I don't live down there, but really, it's horrible. I mean, a few deaths from wildfires are to be expected, but how this one has taken so many lives in so little time is just crazy.

Exactly, and 173 people, considering the size of the area and the amount of devastated property is a big hit. The temperatures in excess of 40 deg Celsius aren't helping anyone either.

[iamzack]

Life imprisonment without protected status would probably be a more effective punishment than the death penalty. Unless you burned him at the stake.

[Dilmah G]

Life imprisonment without protected status would probably be a more effective punishment than the death penalty. Unless you burned him at the stake.

Fair enough. I suppose a life of nothing but the four walls of a prison is harsher than an hour of pain or whatever.

[iamzack]

Life imprisonment without protected status would probably be a more effective punishment than the death penalty. Unless you burned him at the stake.

Fair enough. I suppose a life of nothing but the four walls of a prison is harsher than an hour of pain or whatever.

No, they take way too much effort to make the death penalty as painless and quick as possible. Which I think is retarded. But anyway, 173 is a lot of people dead. There's bound to be friends or relatives of the deceased in prison. If he really needs to die, just turn a blind eye on the yard and let the problem take care of itself.

[Dilmah G]

Life imprisonment without protected status would probably be a more effective punishment than the death penalty. Unless you burned him at the stake.

Fair enough. I suppose a life of nothing but the four walls of a prison is harsher than an hour of pain or whatever.

No, they take way too much effort to make the death penalty as painless and quick as possible. Which I think is retarded. But anyway, 173 is a lot of people dead. There's bound to be friends or relatives of the deceased in prison. If he really needs to die, just turn a blind eye on the yard and let the problem take care of itself.

True, no matter if they don't know anyone in the actual death toll, that ****'s going to die some way or another. If he isn't confined to a single cell for his own safety, and I also heard something about there being more than one arsonist.....

[darkone]

Like there isn't enough hard times for people in general. For this many people to die and be displaced is a shame. If this is deemed to be arson, if they catch the offenders they need to give them some swift justice. I have only watched the news reports in passing but are they getting air support from other countries to help put out the fires?