Here's the latest from 'tomorrow's' Australian news sites. Having been down there many years ago, these can be frightening. When those gum trees explode, you don't want to be anywhere close.
As the man says at the end of the article, 'It is all in the hands of the man upstairs.'
Tasmania prepares for the worstBy Robyn Grace in St Marys, Tasmania
December 14, 2006 03:30am
ST Marys residents are bracing for the worst conditions as fire crews work around the clock with stretched resources to contain a bushfire on Tasmania's east coast.
A packed community meeting last night was told to put their fire plans into action ahead of a predicted 25km/h to 35km/h northeasterly winds.
Crews spent the day yesterday putting fire breaks around communities under the most threat, but residents have been warned that resources cannot be allocated to every home.
“The fire will continue to grow,” Tasmania Fire Service officer Chris Tomes said.
“We're concentrating our resources where they are most needed.
“We cannot park a fire truck outside every home. We would like to do that but it's not a reality.”
The fire has now burnt some 12,000 hectares since Sunday night.
Three helicopters, eight bulldozers, 40 fire trucks and 120 personnel are working around the clock to prevent the loss of more property following Monday night's devastating firestorm at nearby Scamander which gutted 13 homes and other buildings.
Crews spent the day yesterday installing fire breaks and backburning around communities including Four Mile Creek, Gray and Irishtown, but inaccessible terrain and wind changes have hampered some control efforts.
Prime Minister John Howard, in Tasmania yesterday to inspect the damage already inflicted on various communities in the state, said the ongoing drought throughout Australia had placed the country at extreme risk of bushfires.
“It is going to be a very, very difficult summer,” he said at the burnt out Winifred Curtis Reserve in Scamander.
“It's going to be a menacing summer as far as bushfires are concerned.”
Mr Howard said the fact there had been no loss of life or serious injuries in Tasmania or Victoria where fires also rage, was an “extraordinary tribute” to fire crews.
His two-and-a-half hour visit to Tasmania also included a stop at the St Helens evacuation centre, where he spoke with victims of the disaster.
Conditions are expected to worsen today with wind gusts of up to 90km/h to 100km/h in mid-morning before a northwesterly change in the afternoon, which could push the blaze back towards Scamander.
“Our control options are limited and it's going to be some considerable time before the fire is contained,” Mr Tomes said.
Mr Tomes reassured residents the Scamander firestorm was “an extreme event” which he hoped would not be repeated.
But he said no one could be certain what the fire would do next.
“Fires by their very nature are unpredictable. This is not an exact science,” he said.
“It's all in the hands of somebody upstairs”
Road closures and communication outages have increased the challenges for firefighters, who are covering an 80km perimeter.
Break O'Day mayor Robert Legge told last night’s meeting it was “a miracle” no one had been killed so far in the fire.
Mr Legge said smoke at Scamander on Monday night rose more than 3000m into the air and “3000 feet up you'd think the air was on fire”.
“How the hell the firefighters withstood it I'm yet to know,” he said.