General Chat

I have just been looking the aftermath photo's and some of the fire raging....my god how scary it must of been..

Nah - it was a doddle!

xxxxx mick

Good to see your back safe Mick.

Yes Hayley it is hard to comprehend. Now for the rebuilding of lives and homes.

morning Hayley, Mick & Ingrid, yes looks afwul. I just hope they catch who is responsible for it all.

The bureaucrats are on the job- dropping round gathering statistics on what everyone lost and what they need.

The Coroner dropped in to my place today. I showed him around the farm
then drove him around town and up into the bush - he took a lot of photos
and just kept shaking his head in disbelief!

xxxx mick

good to see you back Mick

Thanks mate!

gday lol

Tis good to see you Mick ... dreadful, no wonder the Coroner was shaking his head, tis too awful to comprehend ...

xxx Shimms xxx

We get upset at seeing the pictures on the TV, they have certainly made me cry..

We can' t begin to comprehend what it must be like for those, like our Mick, who have lived through it.

I cried last night looking at the news especially when tthat man was
reunited with his wife

Some of the stories are horrendous

My thoughts are with you Australia

Jenxx

Seeing the photos and films I realise how very lucky you were Mick, so pleased that you managed to save yourselves and your home.

What do you feel about the fact that they are talking about it being compulsory to evacuate in a similar situation Mick? It would be so hard to leave your home without fighting for it, but so many didn't and perished.

Ann
glos

my heart goes out to all the familys effected by the fires and the loss of lives

but mick it's dam good to know your ok!

xxxx

Ann - it used to be compulsory to evacuate - now it is a matter of personal choice. If my neighbours had stayed home, I believe they could have saved their houses, but it is their choice to make. We are not surrounded by bush though, - here it was mainly grass fire - you can survive a grass fire the way the cows and horses did, by running through it onto already burnt ground. The only way to survive out in the bush would be to have an insulated underground bunker.

I spoke to the insurance company today - I am covered for the shed, the tank and the fencing around the house.

xxxxxxx ick

MYSTIC
Yes this is serious. Not a Question but something I would like to say.

Hi Mick
So nice to see you are posting and trying to get your life back to as normal as possible under such horrendous circumstances.

We have been avid watchers on the TV on what has been going on in Victoria. I have a friend in Wodonga that I keep in touch with. It got pretty close to them as Beechworth is not that far away. What a tragedy that would be if Beechworth was burnt to the ground like some of the others. Australia being a reasonably new country has so little History and that place is steeped in History.

I am so pleased your house was spared from the devistation and that you are covered by the Insurance. Some poor folk had no cover at all.

I was evacuated about 5 years ago as a fire was threatening and was too close for comfort. We didn't have a choice they knocked on the door and told us you have 2 minutes meet us at the Evacuation Point (We lived in a Communal Village and had been informed where to meet in case of fire) All we took were the Legal Papers and the car. We didn't have a choice but even if we did I would not have stayed. I worked in the Burns Unit at a hospital and have seen what burns do to you. I wouldn't have been prepared to take the risk. Material things meant nothing to me at the time all I was worried about was that we were safe. So I would have left given the choice
By the way 12 hours later we were allowed to go back home. The fire got within a few meters of us. Thanks to those brave Firemen and Volunteers. Each and every one of them deserve a medal.

I am praying the death toll doesnt get any higher in Vic but it I just heard there are still 80 people missing so it doesnt look promising.

God Bless you all in Victoria I hope that it won't be too long before you can build your lives back to what it was.

Kind Regards
Jackie in the West

Yes Mystic Viz ,some things in life are a little more serious
than baiting people ON GR.


xxxx mick

Nice to see you back Mick

Michael, great to see you around....xxx

I'd like to cut and paste an email I just got form an old friend living near Kyneton, I think its self explanatory----

Good day, Mick. It’s Loggy.

I’m sitting at the computer for the first time since Saturday. I’m totally beggared so this e-mail won’t be too long. I’m captain of our local fire brigade so have been out every day since Saturday and a couple of times at night.

Our fire started at 3.12 p.m. on Saturday. Almost certainly not deliberately lit. Most likely a lightning strike from the previous week that had just smouldered in a tree till the weather was right on Saturday. When it started the wind was straight from the north and heading straight for our place about 15 km. away. However the wind swang more to the west and turned it away. We knew what the day was like so were at the shed when it started. In the time it took us to cover 10km. at 100 km/h the fire had covered 3 km. We met the fire front at Siddles Road and I told my blokes we’d stop it there. What a joke. Twenty foot of flame went straight over us. One side of my goggles melted. One eyebrow, half a moustache and a bit of beard diminished in size. We were trapped on the north of the fire and needed to get to the south. Thank Christ and you know I’m not religious, for the gear we have today.

The number of times we were surrounded by flames that day I’ve got no idea. All on our truck feel we cheated death. We saved homes but not enough. We lost 10 in my brigade area. I know there was nothing more we could have done but I have this horrible feeling that I’ve let down the community that was expecting us to protect them.

Anyone who thinks Saturday won’t live with them forever is kidding themselves.

Well done saving your place.

Did you see that photo in the Sun, that I don’t usually read, of the firefighter giving the koala a drink. What a superb capturing of a moment.

See you later

Loggy