Just to give an idea of how serious this is...

[Platypus]

http://www.theage.com.au/national/recovery-team-enters-scorched-landscape-20090209-82dk.html



A SMALL pink plastic children's slide. Other plastic play equipment. A family home in the hills of Callignee. And a mustard-coloured wavy roof, reminiscent of the landmark roof on Melbourne's Southern Cross Station.

Bushfire Hotline - 1800 240 667
Victorian Bushfire Fund - 1800 811 700
Concerned about family or friends? 1800 727 077
Condolence Book - Share your sorrow over the tragedy
Urgent threats - latest information
Transport updates from VicRoads and V/Line
Latest updates from the CFA


Only this roof has been engineered by searing fire, fearsome winds and unbelievable heat, rather than highly paid engineers. It is bent, jagged and in some places probably just centimetres above the ground. If not for the structures nearby that identify it as a house, it could probably be mistaken for anything, a plane crash perhaps, or a burnt scrap metal yard.

The next building along is a flattened pile of twisted metal and rubble. It is so badly damaged it's virtually impossible to tell from the helicopter floating above if it's a house or a shed. But what's certain is that it is destroyed.

The third building in this stretch of hilly road high above the Latrobe Valley township of Traralgon was certainly a dwelling. Signs of water can be seen from the air. It has a large kidney-shaped swimming pool and a large concrete water tank.

But lying around the house, pointing in three different angles and directions, are three burnt-out vehicles.

They are eerie scenes repeated throughout these foothills of the Strzelecki Ranges in the hamlet of Callignee and nearby.

In the Callignee district, fire claimed 57 of 61 houses, Gippsland MP and Victorian Nationals leader Peter Ryan tells The Age during a visit to a local relief centre. "God knows what they will find when they conclude their investigations," Mr Ryan said. Nine people in Callignee and one from Upper Callignee are confirmed dead. It's a death toll that could rise.

On Saturday, some residents fled these hills and the roaring Churchill fire in convoys of four or more cars with family, partners and neighbours. Yesterday, a different kind of convoy could be seen heading through these hills.

Led by a paramedic's car, in the middle is a four-wheel-drive ute. At the rear is an ambulance. It has no sirens, no flashing lights and drives slowly down the country track to the driveway of a property.

From the air The Age observes at least a dozen burnt- out cars scattered around Callignee and the neighbouring districts. Most of them lie crumpled and charred outside houses, but one utility vehicle sits on the road, with its rear end backed into a ledge on the side.

Just a short distance away another utility vehicle is on the opposite side of the road, but completely off the road and lying underneath a large, black, flattened gum tree. Police and fire crews can be seen gathered near the vehicle, trying to comprehend what they are witnessing.

The hills and gullies around Callignee and its neighbouring hamlets are still populated by gum trees. Some have been only singed and will survive, but other once large gum trees look simply like thin black matchsticks, devoid of any limbs, that are somehow standing upright.

Many others have simply been flattened and lie in neat black lines of destruction through the hills and valleys.

Some of the paddocks in the district still have animals, most of them alive, but some dead. But the paddocks are also home to the detritus of bushfires; iron roof sheeting is scattered far and wide from some houses.

At one house the roof is gone, but the white and probably concrete stumps remain, and can be clearly seen from the air. In another setting they could easily be mistaken for tombstones.

Flying over the hills, the devastation below is vast. A once green sports oval on top of a ridge is now totally brown, except for an incongruous thin strip of green down the centre. Somehow, the synthetic cricket wicket has survived the flames. The players' shed on the side of the oval also appears intact, but a building over the road, possibly a house, has been flattened.


After more than an hour's flying we find a green oasis in a small valley. Three dams probably within shouting distance of each other, one large one with an island in the middle. Green paddocks, gardens and some mature exotic trees.

The gardens look pretty much intact and a synthetic grass tennis court sits nearby, ready for play. But then the house comes into view.

A large place, probably two storey, but all that has been left behind by the devastating Churchill fire are parts of the blackened brick walls. On one side, a round, porthole-style window high up one wall would offer only a glimpse of green and then views of devastated hills.

A large family home, with some tall brick walls still intact, has been turned into a scene from Port Arthur.


This is the Churchill fire, which claimed my uncle's house (the one described in bold). Four of his immediate neighbours have died.

I spent all my summers down there...i've looked out that window hundreds of times and looked at the beautiful hills. I've walked past that dam with the lake, to the birch forest I planted as a small kid with my whole family. I've had dozens of barbeques by the creek, from the one celebrating my 18th birthday to the one after my auntie's wake.

I learnt to drive there; down from the house to the tennis court, around it a few times while my uncle instructed me on when to change gears in the old Suzi...it's now gone, and I can't believe how sad I am at the loss of that battered up old car. It was in that car that my cousin and I went up into the strezleckis for a bit of fun, driving up into the bush. Its also the car that I spent one of my last days with my auntie and her kids as we headed up through the hills for a christmas tree a few years back around the pine plantations which caused this fire to be just so horrible.

Just a few hundred metres along the road, his neighbours, who would mind my cousins and I when the adults were in town, have lost their house. Across the creek, the denset forest I know is now nothing but ash and black trees. Along the road the other way, down to Callignee, his neighbours died in their cellar, trying to escape the worst.

My mum and her sister are heading down to Traralgon tomorrow. They're taking some clothes for the hundreds of people who have ost all theirs. On Friday, I'm running a fundraiser for the Traralgon South fire brigade, in which my cousin's childhood best friend serves. The same friend who was able to save a few photo albums and the letters my auntie wrote to her daughter before her death.

The tennis court still stand. The lillies on the dam are still intact. The creek continues to trickle along, and the vines still climb up the brick walls of the house, a little browned but still alive. The vegie patch is the same as it has always been, but I never will be.

[Bleeding heart conservative, HTMLdon]

I listened to ABC newsradio last night... just heartbreaking.   One minute people are safe, the next they are burning in their homes.  I didn't realize just how close these places were to Melbourne itself.

[Platypus]

I listened to ABC newsradio last night... just heartbreaking.   One minute people are safe, the next they are burning in their homes.  I didn't realize just how close these places were to Melbourne itself.

Yeah, i've become a 774 ABC Local radio addict. I'm actually about to give them a call about the fundraiser.

[The Mikado]

I don't know if there's anything I can say, except that it is truly shocking that a wildfire can be this potent in the 21st century.  Was it natural or arson?

[afleitch]

I've been following this and I find it so tremendously sad. These weren't people who stubbornly 'stayed put' - they just couldn't escape and those who did couldn't move fast enough May they all rest in peace and those who survive get back on their feet as soon as they are able.

[Platypus]

I don't know if there's anything I can say, except that it is truly shocking that a wildfire can be this potent in the 21st century.  Was it natural or arson?

Some were arson, including the Churchill fire that detroyed Callignee, Jeeralang and Koornalla. Others wer natural, and others unknown at this stage.

[Eraserhead]

I feel especially sad about the absolutely absurd amount of animals that have been killed in this tragedy.

[The Mikado]

I don't know if there's anything I can say, except that it is truly shocking that a wildfire can be this potent in the 21st century.  Was it natural or arson?

Some were arson, including the Churchill fire that detroyed Callignee, Jeeralang and Koornalla. Others wer natural, and others unknown at this stage.

Arson is one of the sickest and most horrific crimes known to mankind.  I hope the perps get locked up for a good long time.

[Smid]

Just been reading some of the stories in the paper about some of the people who died. It's hard to just get through the pages. Some of the stories of the little kids with their parents and the whole family trapped in the car or packing to leave - there's that story about the guy and his wife and their little three year old and eight month old daughters and they were about to leave with the dogs but they didn't even make it to the road.

Then there's the bit about the Kinglake fire - showing the size of it if the top corner was placed on the CBD. Hard to grasp the idea that it came on at 120 km/h - travelled 12.8 km from Kinglake West to Kinglake in five and a half minutes. That's something I can picture - 12 or 13 kilometres - that's about how I've lived from the CBD before. If there was a fire in the CBD, there's no way I'd be ready to leave my home in just five minutes - you'd have almost a false sense of security because of the distance. There's no way you'd have time to leave and get away if you had only five minutes when the fire was that far away, by the time it was close enough to realise you were in trouble, you'd end up with only a minute or half a minute to get away. There's just no way. Then yesterday's article - the fire was putting up spot fires 15 kms out from the firefront - and the fact that the flames were so intense that firefighters couldn't get to within 200m of the blaze, there's not a hose that could make that distance... you can't fight something like that.

[Smid]

I don't know if there's anything I can say, except that it is truly shocking that a wildfire can be this potent in the 21st century.  Was it natural or arson?

Some were arson, including the Churchill fire that detroyed Callignee, Jeeralang and Koornalla. Others wer natural, and others unknown at this stage.

Police arrested a man this afternoon and charged him with arson for allegedly starting this fire.

I listened to ABC newsradio last night... just heartbreaking.   One minute people are safe, the next they are burning in their homes.  I didn't realize just how close these places were to Melbourne itself.

Yeah, i've become a 774 ABC Local radio addict. I'm actually about to give them a call about the fundraiser.

Sorry I can't make it tonight - let us know how your fundraiser goes. I hope it raises plenty of money for the CFA.

[Lunar]

I remember reading the Wiki on Bushfires.  Is it like punk kids or like crazy people or what?  I understand starting fires a little bit, but why would someone start a fire amid a dry season that will obviously cause mass damage?

[Smid]

I remember reading the Wiki on Bushfires.  Is it like punk kids or like crazy people or what?  I understand starting fires a little bit, but why would someone start a fire amid a dry season that will obviously cause mass damage?

Profile of a Serial Arsonist:
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,24648624-661,00.html - this was from a few weeks ago about a specific arsonist in Victoria, where they've profiled this one particular arsonist.
http://www.canberratimes.com.au/news/local/news/opinion/profile-of-the-serial-arsonist/719384.aspx
http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,25033765-5018721,00.html - article from a couple of days ago. Refers to the current bushfires.
http://www.canberratimes.com.au/news/national/national/general/excitement-boredom-can-trigger-arson/1432882.aspx

[JSojourner]

Smid and all,

I have been following this while I've been away.  I am so sorry.  The entire nation of Australia is in our prayers here.  And our parish will have a special time of prayer and remembrance for Australia (and for the victims of the Buffalo, NY plane crash) this Sunday.

[Lunar]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/02/13/australia-charges-suspect_n_166637.html

Charged with Arson ... and possessing child pornography

[The Mikado]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/02/13/australia-charges-suspect_n_166637.html

Charged with Arson ... and possessing child pornography

Arson and kiddie porn...

I'm anti-lynching.  I think that it's a despicable act.  However, I think the whole world might just turn a blind eye if someone said "String'em up."

Once again, I'm not advocating such an action.  I'd personally lock him up for life with mandatory hard labor aiding in the construction of shelters and temporary housing for those who lost their land and homes.  That's my liberal softie side showing.

[Smid]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/02/13/australia-charges-suspect_n_166637.html

Charged with Arson ... and possessing child pornography

Arson and kiddie porn...

I'm anti-lynching.  I think that it's a despicable act.  However, I think the whole world might just turn a blind eye if someone said "String'em up."

Once again, I'm not advocating such an action.  I'd personally lock him up for life with mandatory hard labor aiding in the construction of shelters and temporary housing for those who lost their land and homes.  That's my liberal softie side showing.

Yep - the arson and child pornography are both anti-social activities. I share your opposition to capital punishment, and by your definition, I too am a Liberal.

JS - thanks for your prayers for our nation and the people affected by this.

Hugh - any update on your fundraiser last night?

[The Mikado]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/02/13/australia-charges-suspect_n_166637.html

Charged with Arson ... and possessing child pornography

Arson and kiddie porn...

I'm anti-lynching.  I think that it's a despicable act.  However, I think the whole world might just turn a blind eye if someone said "String'em up."

Once again, I'm not advocating such an action.  I'd personally lock him up for life with mandatory hard labor aiding in the construction of shelters and temporary housing for those who lost their land and homes.  That's my liberal softie side showing.

Yep - the arson and child pornography are both anti-social activities. I share your opposition to capital punishment, and by your definition, I too am a Liberal.

JS - thanks for your prayers for our nation and the people affected by this.

Hugh - any update on your fundraiser last night?

200+ dead to the fires as a whole, and considering the fires do strengthen/reinforce/distract attention away from each other, his fire is a significant chunk of that...

If guilty, this man is in Timothy McVeigh levels of terrorism.

EDIT:  Also, the article Lunar posted might just be the most depressing thing I've read since Hurricane Katrina.

[Smid]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/02/13/australia-charges-suspect_n_166637.html

Charged with Arson ... and possessing child pornography

Arson and kiddie porn...

I'm anti-lynching.  I think that it's a despicable act.  However, I think the whole world might just turn a blind eye if someone said "String'em up."

Once again, I'm not advocating such an action.  I'd personally lock him up for life with mandatory hard labor aiding in the construction of shelters and temporary housing for those who lost their land and homes.  That's my liberal softie side showing.

Yep - the arson and child pornography are both anti-social activities. I share your opposition to capital punishment, and by your definition, I too am a Liberal.

JS - thanks for your prayers for our nation and the people affected by this.

Hugh - any update on your fundraiser last night?

200+ dead to the fires as a whole, and considering the fires do strengthen/reinforce/distract attention away from each other, his fire is a significant chunk of that...

If guilty, this man is in Timothy McVeigh levels of terrorism.

EDIT:  Also, the article Lunar posted might just be the most depressing thing I've read since Hurricane Katrina.

Yeah, I was talking to a guy on the train the other afternoon - we ended up talking for about 45 minutes as we headed home. He actually evacuated his home at one point - it wasn't near any of the major fires, there was a small grass fire up the street that I think he said destroyed six houses. They were a bit further up, but he didn't know how serious the fire was, so he just grabbed some clothes, put his family in the car and took off. He was saying that in his opinion, though, when they catch the guy they should charge him under anti-terror legislation because in Australia, there's not much more terrifying than a bushfire - particularly one like this.

There was also an article in The Age about four months ago (http://www.theage.com.au/national/islam-group-urges-forest-fire-jihad-20080906-4b53.html?page=-1) about a Jihadist website that also expresses the view that deliberately started bushfires should be considered an act of terrorism, urging for "forest fire jihad." I don't think there's anything to suggest that these fires were anything along those lines, but it is something of concern - it's much easier to start something like this as one person, and it doesn't require all the sorts of things like fertiliser that are used to make a bomb, that police can keep an eye out for - so it would be harder to uncover a plot to do that in future.

[Platypus]

The fundraiser went well, I'll let you guys know the final figure when I know it.

[Platypus]

drumroll please...

the

final


figure



raised




on





friday






night







was....







$1270.05

whoo!

[Platypus]

I went back to the farm for the first time a couple of weeks ago for my cousin's wedding. The house is completely gone, but the cottage at the gate has been rebuilt. The birch forest still stands, almost untouched, and that's where they did the vows. The memorial garden to my Auntie Faye not only survived, but has flourished.

A lot was lost, but not the people, and not the tennis court, the bubbling creek, and the bloody awful outdoor spa, which long ago turned in to more of a mosquito breeding ground.

The hills all around were green, but unlike the green of endless eucalypt, this was all grass. What once seemed to be a brief clearing in forest is now a much more open space, with hills that no longer feel like mountains. On the drive down, along the road from town, not too much had changed until we passed new house after new house after new house. The half-built servo is still half built, as it has been since at least 1997, and there is a house or two still standing from before the fires, but not many. In the valley, about 55 of the 61 houses were lost.

I ended up on the same table as Hen's mate, the CFA volunteer, and his wife. (How'd that happen?!?) Her family also lost their house, in Callignee, although his was lucky enough not to be affected. The community is still very much intact, and they said that whilst the first couple of years had been very difficult, this year, finally, there was a real sense of growth in the trees, and moving on in the people.

It was nice to go back, even though it wasn't the same. But...I think in time it may well be.

[Smid]

You have a real way with words, mate.

[Platypus]

http://museumvictoria.com.au/collections/items/1485385/motor-car-holden-48-215-fx-koornalla-07-feb-2009-bushfire-damaged

That was one of his early Holdens.