That’s pretty close to Turramurra, but that one is under control.
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That’s pretty close to Turramurra, but that one is under control.
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But the picture to the north isn’t pretty.
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Glad to hear you're okay, Sits.Comment
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Thanks RC, it’s fine really. Have a look at the first map, where it says Lindfield, we are a bit East.Comment
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That's our suburb a few moments ago. We're probably 100km from the nearest big fire.Comment
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How bad is the air quality? Are people having trouble breathing?Comment
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Terrible - worse where we are in the suburbs, it's a bit better here in the city. That photo doesn't really do it justice.
The poor woman in front of me on the bus was coughing really badly.
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The biggest one near-ish to us is the one around Wollemi National Park, on my map above from a few days back. It's now 137,000 hectares. The animal sanctuary we visit and sponsor is about 30km east and they've had to evacuate their smaller animals. They have opened up all the internal paddock gates so the cattle, horses, sheep etc. can get themselves away from bush and into open areas.Comment
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Very upsetting. All the best to you and all Australia. It sounds dreadful.Comment
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Thanks HP. One tends to feel quite relaxed and detached living in the suburbs. Maybe that's when things go wrong. Realistically our place is about three blocks from the nearest bush. There are plenty of trees in our area but things have to crank up a fair bit before flying embers become a potential hazard. And when temperatures really spike, fire can apparently "jump" from the canopy of one eucalyptus to another. Really not sure how that's supposed to happen though.Comment
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The smoke smell is even inside the house this morning. The one up in the Western Hunter Valley (Wollemi) is now 164,000 hectares.Comment
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As a guide, it takes over two hours to drive to Kiama from Sydney.
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XThe big fire above has now merged with three or four others and the total area burned there now is over 300k hectares. Every day for the last week or two it’s normal for Sydney to be blanketed in smoke haze even though the big one is around 100km north. It will apparently take weeks to out out.
The Graun have done an interactive thingy so you can map the total area of NSW and Queensland burned this season onto other places:
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Rolling thread here https://www.theguardian.com/australi...latest-updates
Cuts to fire services by the Liberal (ie rabidly conservative) NSW government have not helped here. Nor have our Liberal (ie really, really, rabidly conservative with added God) PM's evangelical beliefs. Basically it's god's will, so suck it up peeps. Can't send you any water-bombers, but have some thoughts and prayers instead. Western Australia currently deciding if we should admit refugees from the east or just put them all on Christmas Island.Comment
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But we don’t need any more relief or assistance for the volunteer firefighters, “they want to be there”:Comment
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One starts to experience a certain existential angst with this going on day in, day out. In Sydney there’s no real risk from fires themselves, but the smoke is a constant reminder of the colossal carnage going on all the way north to the Queensland border, with no apparent likelihood of respite.Comment
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Compare this to the one on November 20th above. No they’re fine Scott, they want to be there.
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That is so grim. I know that due to the recent timing of the last Australian national election, it's a frustratingly long time before the Liberal Party can be voted out of office, but is there at least some indication from polling or public discourse that their appalling attitude and reaction to the fires might have an impact on their prospects next time round?Comment
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