Dreadful Day

The worst type of day - high winds gusting up to 90kph and temperatures in the mid 20°s

Residents near Ulladulla on the south coast went from "Advice" through "Watch and Act" to "Take shelter - Too late to leave" in a matter of hours. So far no lives have been lost

Locally there are a few serious fires but nothing threatening my immediate area.

It is still August and the Bush Fire season isn't supposed to start until October though because of the drought it was brought forward to September but this month is supposed to be for fuel reduction burns which are just not happening.

https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/...15-p4zxk1.html

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Been some photos in the press over here that show how bad it is, the upright skeletal remains of a Roo in the Mail yesterday brought home how bad the drought is.

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Am I right in thinking it is worse than ever this year Bruce?

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I have been following this. I cannot begin to imagine how it must be to live there.

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At this moment all fires are back to advice level but the thoughts are that this is going to be the worse fire season for decades. It is not often you get severe fires in winter, three houses have been lost near Bega and one house damaged near Nowra - but isn't that why you have insurance?

The outlook is not promising either.

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A water bombing helicopter pilot was killed this afternoon fighting the Milton fire

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Tragic!

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Oh gosh it's horrible! I can't imagine being in that terrible situation, I hope it's extinguished soon.

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It all sounds horrendous Bruce, I must admit I'd be terrified. I don't know which is worse - everything wiped away and loss of life through fires or floods.

That's really sad.

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I struggle understanding water bombing and it's effectiveness on putting out fires. They must surely have to drop an awful lot of water bombs to have any effect. In my minds eye I can see fire hoses continually trained on fires to put them out and that seems hard enough.

With our moor fires recently, I watched the helicopters water bombing on TV and TBH it didn't seem anywhere enough water to help.

Does any know if it's just for 'damping down' a fire rather than putting it out?

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I am not a volunteer fire fighter but water bombing has advantages an important one being that you can dowse fires in places where you cannot get a fire truck and its crew either because of terrain or danger. It also delivers a massive amount of water.

Water bombing is very effective but for obvious reasons there is a limit to where you can use it in populated areas.

Apparently the bucket on the crashed helicopter got tangled in a tree.

BTW this week Wollongong is 'celebrating' the 20th anniversary of the 1998 floods when something like three times the monthly rainfall fell in 12 hours. Ironic eh?