SuperTwat

The CFA site now lists four 'false alarms' in four different locations in my suburb. Wtf is going on.

I just had a scare, the CFA site listed a fire not two minutes away in the undeveloped estate. We could hear the fire engines and several ambulances go by. The site now lists it as a false alarm. Thank God.

A friend of Dad's has now lost a whole olive farm and his cattle in the Yea fire. But luckily the fire hasn't reached closer than 2km away from their house in Whittlesea, they should be safe as long as the conditions stay stable. I'll explain more clearly, my suburb is roughly split into two: the older region which is in a flat area (which is where the fire was yesterday), then there's a big stretch of city council land (just grass and trees with the odd official building here and there) separating it from the other half which is the newly developed region (where I live) which is kind of in a valley surrounded by small grass and tree-covered hills on one side and on the other side undeveloped land (i.e. also just grass and trees that haven't been cleared yet, which is where there was a fire last week). In both halves of my suburb the houses are on small blocks that are near each other. However, my house is near the edge of the suburban area - it has an oval and parks a few streets away behind it then a few streets away on the right is the edge of the built-up area. After that is what you're describing: houses far apart on large blocks of land and farms with farmhouses. The suburban areas would be fairly easy to defend, like you've said they haven't much fuel and they're all contained in one reasonably small area. It's the individual houses beyond that area and the parks, undeveloped land and hills that encircle the suburban area that would be hard to contain fires in. But thankfully we've never had any significant fire in those particular areas - there was that fire last week in the undeveloped estate but that was quickly controlled and there was one caused by lightning striking in the park a few months ago but the conditions weren't as dry as they are now so that was also quickly controlled. There really isn't much risk of fire reaching my house - unless a fire is deliberately started in the parks behind or in the hills on the other side or in the undeveloped estate, in which case it could reach pretty quickly. (The fire last week was suspected to have been lit). So in a way I don't have reason to worry because the chance of a fire starting is low, yet in another way I do have reason to worry because in the chance that a fire were to be started it wouldn't take long to reach us. So in the end I've decided to just pack a few things in case of a quick getaway and hope that nothing will happen (and the odds are that nothing will anyway). Wait a second, I paid about $20 in tax during my voluntary placement last year but I never lodged a tax return because it wasn't worth it. But that falls in the 2007-2008 financial year so maybe if I lodge it I'll be eligible for the $950...? EDIT: Nevermind. I'd have to pay a $440 Failure To Lodge On Time Penalty if I filed my return now.

Students who are receiving Youth Allowance will receive it - the rest, including myself, will not. The reason why they're giving the money to people who are employed is because they're more likely to spend the money which is the point of the stimulus package: feeding the money into the economy to stimulate it.

I wouldn't strictly class where I live as suburbia - the area itself is suburban but the area is surrounded by undeveloped land (i.e. just grass and trees) and a few streets away from my house is a footy oval and parks also full of trees. If a fire were to start in the small hills that encircle the area or on the other side where the parks are there are basically only two main roads to exit the area. If a fire were to hedge in the whole area or if people leaving were to bottleneck the roads things could end pretty badly, so they're the kind of situations that you just hope will never happen. And the odds are that they won't ever happen - unless people start things themselves of course.

I haven't packed that much stuff. I've put aside in a pile photos, a folder of important documents, a folder of stuff from my school days (like awards, things that I had published etc) and a bunch of diaries, writing notebooks, cards, letters, etc. If I had to I'd shove all those in a backpack with my laptop, phone, MP3 player, chargers and DVDs. If I had time I'd also grab my gym bag and shove some clothes in it. But it's unlikely I'd have to anyway, it's just that I'd rather be safe than sorry.

I found out why the smoke has gotten worse tonight: there's a fire on the the other side of my suburb. It's controlled now so the risk is low but it still spooked me so I spent the last hour packing irreplaceable things like photos, letters, etc.

The smoke is getting bad. The sky is a mean shade of grey and it was dark all day and now it's seeping into the house.

I saw the smoke from that earlier, I also assumed the same. This is too close for comfort. I keep telling my family this but they don't take it very seriously, they still have the mentality that fires only happen in more rural and remote areas. I would hate to see the huge lots of undeveloped land and farmland that's not even a few minutes away from where we live catch fire before they take the risk seriously. Well I've had close encounters with red back spiders in my garage, huntsmen spiders around the house, and white tailed spiders in the bathroom and who knows what species of snakes in the empty lots when on walks and I'm supposed to be living in a 'suburban' area let alone in more rural areas. My arachnophobia was not built in a day, so I think the fear is somewhat justified.

I passed all 3 of my exams. But I'm finding it hard to celebrate when so many people are having what's probably the worst week of their lives.

It's kind of tragically ironic: QLD is facing hurricanes and flooding while Vic and NSW are so starved for rain that bush fires are flourishing.

The tricky part with that is that when arsonists are at work you sometimes don't get much forewarning. Also, the people may not have expected fires so they might not be prepared to stay and fight so when they realise the danger is real they flee and end up trapped.

All of the MFCers are fine. Some are pretty close to bush fire zones and some close enough to be affected by the smoke but so far no one's been in immediate danger. All appendages crossed hoping that no one will be.

Phew. You had me worried for a second because I didn't see any such recommendation in the CFA reports or the news.