Fire coming

Awful... please keep safe...
To the link question: click on all sizes as before, choose your size and then you click on HTML (or BBCode, I dont know the difference) and the usual link will appear in a rectangle bellow, as before, just copy/paste it.

Many thanks, Isabel. It's late at night here and I intend making an early start tomorrow, so I'll come back to sort out the PiPs some time later.

Terrible. I wish you all the best...

Brings back a whole lot of very bad scenes. I drove today through our fire area HELLISH. hope all goes well and it goes out but the whole of Australia burns.

Thank you very much, Udo.

Je suis de tout cœur avec toi George,c'est vraiment catastrophique.
J’espère que d'ici la ce satané feu sera éteint et proscrit.J'ai entendu
aux infos aujourd'hui qu'il sont en train d’évacuer les touristes de la région.
Je vous souhaite beaucoup de courage.

Thank you very much, Malik. This is normally the tourist/holiday season, but the authorities asked them all to leave, to minimise the risks. It is now remarkably quiet for this time of year.

wow, that realy looks very bad. good luck

Thank you, Ko. We're trying to avoid any risks as far as possible.

Do take care George. A really bad start to the New Year for you :-(

Thank you, June. It is, by far, the most awful start to a New Year that I've ever experienced.

Very impressive view...............

Yes, it certainly is spectacular.

A disaster ! Hope for you that this nightmare comes to an end !

Thank you, Ulrich. Sadly, the only way to stop these fires is for a large amount of rain to fall over a very large area.

I wish you BIG rain...

Thank you, Marta. That is exactly what we most need. :-)

Dramatic capture! Hope you and your family stay safe and your property won't be harmed.

Admired in:
www.ipernity.com/group/tolerance

Thank you, William. Yes, we're taking as many precautions as possible.

George, hope to see you back safe and sound.
Saturday sounds horrific !!

Thank you, Peter. It wasn't good, though probably NYE was worse. The next "fire day" is Friday, hopefully not too extreme.

A series of frightening images.
Hope you and yours are well.
Despite all the problems I hope you will have a more or less nice weekend.

(for me the same with PiPs; the HTML box is disappeared)

Thank you, Jaap. Yes, our weekend improved as we were able to return from the evacuation centre. I think I've now come to terms with the new arrangement for PiPs too.

Again, George, I am so afraid for you...found out about the recent fire activity and immediately came to see if you were ok. Terrifying. I hope all is well and that your neighborhood stays safe. Please know you are in my thoughts. *big hugs*

Thank you very much, Janet. We decided that, when the most recent "bad fire day" came along, we should spend the time in the local evacuation centre. As has now happened previously, the fires damaged the power infrastructure, cutting the power and communications for several days (and still, in some areas).

So sad ! :-)

Yes, it is indeed.

Good luck, George. Look after you and your wife.

Many thanks, John. Yes, we're trying our best to avoid any problems.

In the New Year, I wish you health and beautiful scenery for your paintings! The new regulations only allow me to admire photos of my friends. I can't insert new ones - so I admire :)

Thank you very much, Jan.

Another dramatic capture George. Another moment of tension for all of us thinking of you lot over there. Keep safe.... Herb

Many thanks, Herb.

All the best, George. I hope you're soon somewhere with clean air and safe housing.

Many thanks, John. Yes, it will be good when this all settles down - the sooner the better!

Hi George

I really like this picture. It brings home to us the problems you are having..

We hear about it on our news, but not in great detail.
We can't be there to help, but our thoughts are certainly with you!

Best Wishes, and a very Happy New Year to you and your family.
Peter

Thank you very much, Peter, the support we've had from friends around the world has been truly inspiring.

From what we see in your pics and on our news the awful scale of these fires is truly staggering. Stay safe first and foremost

Thank you, David. Yes, these fires are spread right across all but the most northerly part of Australia and now cover huge areas.

I guess you may have gone to the evacuation centre by now. Hope everyone is coping. Extraordinary fires. Take care, George. Thinking of you, your family and community.

Thank you, Gillian. We did indeed go there and it all worked very well. Depending on how things develop, we may need to return this Friday. Hopefully, we won't again find ourselves with no phone or communications, as we're quite suitably disrupted already! :-)

c'est l'enfer !! Tout mon soutien aux australiens

Merci bien, neira-Dan.

UPDATE. WE ARE HOME AGAIN, THE FIRE WAS STOPPED 2KM AWAY. POWER IS OUT AND COULD BE FOR ANOTHER WEEK DUE INFRASTRUCTURE DAMAGE. BUT WE'RE OK.

Thank you for letting us know you are relatively safe, George. Good luck, mate.

Thank God, and thank you for letting us know, George.
All the best, and stay safe!

Thank you,John.

Thank you very much.

George ... what a time.
Am relieved you have made it home again ... and will be keeping track.
All the best
Judith

Thank you very much, Judith. I hope you're well clear of the fires in the Adelaide Hills.

*pant*pant*SIGH of RELIEF*...Oh GEORGE! I'm so RELIEVED to get word from you...*wraps my arms around you both in happiness* My husband reminded me that you guys probably have no power, which makes perfect sense, though it totally sucks, of course. I have been so worried about you guys and the state of your home. And now you have to deal with the smoke...it's just horrible. George, Steve and I bought a carbon filter--kind of like this one: www.hydroexperts.com.au/Hydroponics-Air-Activated-Carbon-Filter-150MM-X-300MM-275CFM-Odor-Remover that did wonders for making the air breathable. You may not have to worry about it with the ocean right there but sometimes it doesn't matter and you can't get away from the smoke. These things are actually used in hydroponics to clean odor from the air and they do an incredibly good job. NOT CHEAP and they are LOUD!! but the difference is night and day. We ended up getting two of them when the wildfires were so close to us and we literally were coughing and tearing up non-stop, hoarse voices, swollen glands from the pollution and toxins in the air. Didn't matter that all the doors and windows were closed tight. The smoke got in no matter what we did. Anyway, that's what made it possible for us to stay in our house--the smoke lasted for several weeks and these can filters kept us from being forced to leave.

SO GLAD you're ok. Take care and I'm so terribly sorry for this aweful fire storm all over AU!! :(

Many, many thanks indeed, Janet. We're totally disrupted after packing for the evacuation centre, losing power and communications when the fires intensified, then unpacking (and possibly having to revisit the process this Friday when the next "fire day" comes along). Today I went out and bought a generator, also a supply of disposable face masks. We've had some respite from the smoke today, with cool breezes from the ocean actually bringing in some sea mist instead!

All the best to you and your family. Keep well and stay safe!

Thank you very much.

they speak about rain, but not for a long time...
I'm with you and all australian people

Thank you, Nora. Sadly, it does seem that good rain may be some time away.

Het allerbeste---met jullie tegen deze verschrikking

Thank you very much, Fred.

I an so sorry about all that. Hope this will be stop ed soon. Send you best wishes

Thank you very much, Annemarie.

So frightening George. Fire is my biggest fear. My thoughts are with you and your country.

Thank you very much, Rosa. The main thing is to closely monitor all the available news sources.

Wonderful capture.
So sorry to hear that you are in such a precarious situation. I must be so hard to wait day by day to see how the fires are not predictable. Wishing you well and hope that soon this nightmare will end. Hugs Tess.

Thank you very much, Tess. Yes, we are doing our best to keep out of any potential problems from the fires, which is why we moved to the evacuation centre on 4 January when the last bad fire day came along. Hugs, George.

Knowing you are now no longer in immediate danger lets me comment on the photo, George, which I find very powerful, with the menace from the fire half shrouded but still very palpable and oh-so-close! The contrast between the neat, well kept houses and the threatening smoke filled sky behind them has the power to speak to many of those who might otherwise not pay much mind. I think this photo would help raise awareness. It may be less "dramatic" than some shots of the raging fire, but it is ominous and powerful in a different and, if anything, scarier way.