Bushfires Raging Through Eastern Victoria

  Recent bushfires are currently devestating the high country of eastern Victoria. The fires were started over the past week by suspected lightning strikes in the high country. Recent warm, dry weather combined with heavy winds the past few days has now fueled the bushfires to epic proportions. Here is a satellite image of smoke trail across Victoria from the bushfires:

I woke up this morning to go to work and the winds must have shifted westward today because the Melbourne area is covered in a thick haze of smoke. Here is a view from my front drive way:

This picture was taken at 9:30AM today and I could barely make out the sun. It has been this way all day long. In fact in my front yard I have some ants that I see every morning because they have made an ant superhighway across my drive way from their ant hole. Today the ants didn’t come out of their hole because they probably thought rain was coming because it was so dark when in fact it is just the ash in the air. What is making the bushfires so bad is that they are burning in extremely remote areas where there are no roads. So fire trucks can’t get into those areas to put out the fires. Thus the authorities are relying on helicopters to combat the flames while ground workers make a fire break on the outside of the fire to stop it from spreading.

Here is a link to a very detailed map of the areas where the fires are burning. As you can see there are no roads in those areas so fire fighters are working on containing the fire from the surrounding road network.  Firefighters from New Zealand have also been brought in to help fight the flames. There is no threat of the fires spreading to the Melbourne area but it looks like we are just going to have to suffer through the ash and smoke.  I guess that is better than having your house burned down, which unfortunately is a reality many people in the high country are now facing.