Bushfires

Pretty incredile to see kilomeers of houses that almost sit in the sea, obliterated.

1 Like

Probably not insured for protection from the ocean.

yeah I mean those fires rolls down the hills and generate there own weather system but that scene of burnt out houses alongbthe shoreline looks very crazy dystopic

I wonder how many of those houses will ever be rebuilt?

1 Like

You have to wonder how many of these houses SHOULD be rebuilt given how fire prone these areas are.

1 Like

Go and have a look in Kinglake. More houses than ever before.

1 Like

I mean clearly the super rich will be the only people who would be able to build there. Obviously the value of the land and the location is one thing, but also given that there will be no insurance offered, they’d be the only people that would be able to rebuild without having to dip into insurance. For me after all that’s happened there I wouldn’t dream to building again in that locale if my house had been burnt to the ground like that…

I have noted this before but I spoke to a plumber from Alexandra shortly after Black Saturday. We had a weekender towards Marysville from Buxton and a plastic water filter housing near the meter had burned out - miraculously the house didn’t (very long story). Anyway the guy said he could fix it in a couple of days - he was actually up near Eildon fighting where the fire had gone, was on a break. I asked where he’d been, and turns out he was on the front line at Marysville. He said they had 5 (I think was the number) fire trucks facing towards Narbethong when they saw a 100 ft wall of flame, and tree branches with leaves on fire as thick as your wrist were flying along with the usual bark etc embers all raining down. The crews agreed fighting was futile - and likely they’d all die trying - so they went through town just trying to get everyone to the footy oval. He said houses were catching as the raining firestorm dropped onto collected dry leaves etc under/around houses, and they were going up in no particular order. It was not like the fire neatly went from A to B. Houses were burning down but not the fence between (initially). It was like simultaneous incendiary bombing everywhere. All in minutes. At a guess there might have been say 400 ish buildings in Marysville? A handful survived. In the time this fire went through, if you’d had 20 crews with endless water, you might have saved 20 more buildings - although fighting in that scenario would have been dangerous and 20 crews might have not been able to even fight the fires. As it was, 45 people died there.

One day, a fire will get into Greensborough, Warrandyte, Eltham and nothing will stop it.

I don’t doubt things could have been done better in Marysville too, but it wasn’t ever making much difference. When conditions are like they were there’s nothing really that can help.

8 Likes

Greetings @davethedon. We recently sold a holiday home in Ismay Wynd Buxton after 20 years of family escapes. We were there on Black Saturday and saw the flames at the back of the Black Range. Late afternoon, we were told that the road through Narbethong was closed and the only way out was north. Initially, we’d planned to detour back to Vermont through Kinglake. Only the ABC radio and oncoming cars flashing their lights caused us to divert to Seymour for the night. Quite the day.

We were very fortunate. Unlike Marysville, which was almost completely smashed, it was more random in Buxton. My brother in law lost his place just across the street, but other than a melted caravan and the property scorched, our place survived.

Multiple sources said no amount of units, or water would have significantly affected that fire.

3 Likes

Amazing - I sent you a PM.

I think it’s pretty straight forward to say that if there are 160kmh winds fanning a fire in a dry eucalyptus forest that has been drought affected there isn’t anything that anyone can do except pray.

Blaming anything but the conditions is the epitome of stupidity.

8 Likes

Newsom said something the other day about 30 to 80% value in insurance for those who lose their homes. I’ll have to go back and look it up, I may have not been listening properly. Of course, the reality may well be different, and that amount would like see very different choices for those affected.

They’re having enough trouble getting insurers to provide any coverage at all

And tbh that’s probably going to be an increasingly common trend in areas directly affected by climate change driven events

4 Likes

Actually that is pretty amusing really isn’t it.

So many people don’t believe in climate change but one hard nosed group definitely do without a shadow of a doubt and that is insurance companies. They have the data to prove it and they have known for a while.

8 Likes

Anyone obsessing over lack of water, flammable trees, budgets cuts, incompetent politicians, squabbling public servants or even DEI hiring should take a minute to listen to the Professor in this interview. It’s not sexy and certainly not clickbait-worthy but undoubtedly far closer to the truth than any of those things.

2 Likes

My comment was purely rhetorical. Of course, many/most of these properties will eventually be rebuilt. Whether that’s for the best is an entirely different question.

but theres a lot of salt water, you could put the fire out, and kill pesky plant life for more development land?

1 Like

if i recall getting insurance in parts of florida is almost impossible due to weather conditions and quality (lack there of) of buildings

Don’t know whether this should be posted here or the USA Politics or the Musk thread, as it applies to all three. I also think that two of these guys post on BB.

6 Likes

What stuns me is the piecemeal approach to managing these fires. There’s the fire brigades, private fire fighting companies employed by individuals or employed by insurance companies, the prisoner fire fighters, etc etc.

Then when they talk of advice and warnings it seems like it’s all fragmented depending on what counties are affected.

Then rebuild and support are a million different private organisations (with the obligatory people trying to rip others off).

It speaks to the fragmented nature of the US political system and society in general

1 Like