En vän till en vän gick till ett möte som hölls igår kväll, på måndagen. Jag och Liam ska försöka gå ikväll. Vårt hus är ju på "fel" sida om motorvägen, alltså på samma sida som branden. Jag hinner inte översätta det men ni kan säkert förstå det mesta. Bilderna längst ned är från igår morse, och visar de 3 bränderna i Blue Mountains som de såg ut då, de har väl vuxit sedan dess men man kan få en ungefärlig uppfattning iaf. Den blå pluppen visar var Tim och Maggies hus är, och den lila pluppens pinne (på den första bilden) pekar på vart vårt hus är. Man kan få en uppfattning om hur stora bränderna är på den lite mer "utzoomade" bilden.
Detta är i alla fall sammanfattningen från mötet:
"
Tuesday- expect a day like today.
Wednesday - a whole different ball game.
Big picture is that they expect the Mt Vic and Lithhow/Bell fires to merge. There is then the possibility (though certainly not something they think will happen immediately) that it may merge with the Springwood fire. This in itself is not a catastrophe (as the media would like us to believe) - apparently a huge fire goes through the grose valley every ten years or so anyways and even if it does happen, it wouldnt really change anything or raise risk to us in the lower mountains.
So what do they think will happen on wednesday?
Wenesday will be EXTreME fire warning. Only because it is extremely unlikey that the area would ever meet the criteria to be catastrophic. They think the most likely behaviour of the fire will be as follows.
The fire currently affecting chapman parade / grose road in faulconbridge will (most likely) move in a westerly direction (towards faulconbridge proper) and then in an easterly direction across hawkesbury road through Valley Heights, Sun Valley and Warrimoo. They expect that there will be evacuations from these areas but that there will be enough notice to do so. They expect that it would take the fire 1-2 hours to move from current position to Valley Heights and so on with the predicted weather forcast for wednesday. They kept stressing that they wanted people to LEAVE. THey also stressed that forcasts may be completely spot on or wildly innacurate.
There is the possibility that the fire will jump the highway, though they said that this had a much smaller risk/chance of happening. The likely spots to jump the highway are from the fruit shop down. If it jumps the highway, get your butt moving as their wont be much time. Clearly they consider this less of a risk than the fire spreading on the other side of the highway but it is certainly a much higher possibility for wednesday than any other day so far. They stress that the fire may not jump the highway, but there is a possibility of a second fire starting from falling embers and thus having two separate fires to manage. They do not want us to panic - this is unlikely but still a possibility that we MUST PREPARE FOR. They recommend that ALL of springwood have cars packed and a plan in place.
So what do they want us to do?
Leave early when given the warning. Dont leave anything outside (toys furniture etc - chuck it all inside), close up all windows and cover any vents. If the house is on supports and open underneath like yours is, i think there are specific recommendations. If you have gas canisters, move away from the house, close off the valve AND MAKE SURE THE VALVE is facing away from the house. If you have gas mains, turn OFF the gas as you are leaving the house. Lock your house after you
If you stay and defend (only recommended if you are fit and healthy AND your house is properly prepared) same advice but make sure you bring your hoses and tap fittings inside. They will melt outside and you need them once the fire passes over your house (which will apparently be very noisy and scary) to go outside and put out spot fires. You MUST open your man hole in your ceiling. This is so you can continuously stick your head in the roof cavaty (most likely place for the house to catch alight) and then water down any fires / flames. They recommend using one of those weed pump backpacks or a big water pistol. Anything that can shoot water from a distance. They stress that you are MUCH safer turning off your electricity at the main if the fire is going to pass over you - so you can shoot water into the roof without fear of shock. Make sure you have face coverings (wet nappies or towels are fine) and goggles.
They want us all to use tomorrow to remove any fuel load from our house (blaxland tip is taking green waste for free but long waits)
Listen to abc emergency channel and stay up to date. Be prepared to leave and expect traffic.
These fires may continue for weeks.
Hope that helps. They were confident that it wouldnt be a disaster if we all pre-prepared and followed instructions."
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