Devastation

The weekend was hot and windy. Not the best weather for a weekend of bushfires. Temperatures soared to the mid forties and the wind was blowing in from the centre of the country. I had heard of the change, a local weather phenomenon, where the day suddenly changes from hot to cool in seconds but I really did not understand how it felt until Saturday. Moira and myself had been on the “Colonial Tram restaurant”, which is a series of 1946 W series Trams (one for the Tram spotters there) that have had a galley popped in and run around the city as a travelling restaurant. It is possibly the most “touristy” thing I have done since arriving. After the meal we popped into the Crown Casino and played some cards and roulette. We spent two hours in the casino and came out without losing any money, but not having broken the Casino bank unfortunately. As we left the casino the wind was blowing a fierce heat through the city, we almost turned round and went back inside but persevered and continued towards the tram stop. In the space of two or three steps the wind changed direction and the heat suddenly vanished, replaced by a cooling breeze. Within seconds we were in a tolerable temperature and the whole city seemed to release a sigh of relief. It was only when we returned back to our home that we heard of the fires that had started around Melbourne, it was only on Sunday that we began to hear of the devastating news of loss of life and homes that these fires had wrought. During the course of Sunday we listened to reports of the damage that had been done and watched as the figures of victims slowly rose.

It’s hard to describe how awful the fires in Australia have been. Over the past four days we have borne witness to hundreds of people having their lives ruined by what now appears to be a vicious and random act of arson. People at work tell of friends and family they know who have had to flee their homes or even worse. The magnitude of the disaster will probably takes weeks to be fully appreciated. All around me people are helping in the best way they can. We have been asked to donate household products to the salvation army to assist people with re-building their lives. One of the major supermarkets will be donating their profits from Friday to the disaster fund. Many Australian companies are offering to match contributions made by their staff to the fund. We have been assaulted by pictures of burnt bodies and family homes gutted by the fires, there have been many stories of people losing their family in seconds and the tragedy of it all begins to sink in. Fires are still burning around Melbourne and the brave volunteer firemen of the CFA are doing their best to control these fires. As if this wasn't enough there are now looters entering the devastated communities, stealing what they can find from the remnants of the houses destroyed. Sometimes you wonder just how low human beings will stoop to make a quick dollar. In the midst of all the devastation stories are being told of heroic actions during the fires. Like the woman who jumped from the safety harness of a rescue helicopter to save her dog from the fires. Or the eight families saved when fire-fighters herded them into a river and placed them inside cars they had driven into the water, covering them with fire blankets and hosing them down as the fire raged around them. There are too many stories to recount but they show the compassion and courage of the Australian public when faced with adversity. Sadly the loss doesn't just extend to humans, despite the amount of heart warming stories and images of firemen helping wildlife, even sharing water with a Koala, the animal sanctuaries are receiving many less animals than they were expecting, fearing that many have perished in the intense heat.

Luckily we were fortunate, living well inside Melbourne we saw little other than what was shown on the TV. Not such a sunny day in Paradise.