South Australia: 30 homes feared burned in bushfires

South Africa bushfire
Photo by PressTV.

From the BBC:

More than 30 homes are feared destroyed in South Australia as crews continue to battle out-of-control bushfires. More than 800 firefighters are tackling the blazes, which have been burning for several days in the hills around the city of Adelaide. Officials say the fires are the worst in the area since the Ash Wednesday bushfires in 1983, which left 75 dead.

Cooler weather may help firefighters tame the flames, which have been fanned by high winds and temperatures.

But South Australia Premier Jay Weatherill said the situation remained critical.

“We’re by no means through this particular emergency,” he said.

The two large air tankers under contract in Australia were recently relocated from Avalon to Edinburgh, presumably to be closer to the fires near Adelaide.

South Australia: bushfire causes thousands to evacuate

south australia firefighters
New South Wales firefighters en route to assist in South Australia.

Thousands of Australians fled their homes Saturday as strong winds pushed bushfires across vast stretches of South Australia and Victoria.

From the BBC:

Firefighters are battling out-of-control bushfires threatening homes in South Australia and Victoria.

Police have declared a major emergency and told residents that their lives are at risk.

South Australia’s fire chief said the blazes in the Adelaide Hills, northeast of Adelaide city, were the worst since the Ash Wednesday bushfires in 1983.

Those fires left 75 people dead and caused devastation across parts of Victoria and South Australia.

“At the moment, we have a fire which is extremely dangerous and it is burning under extremely adverse conditions,” South Australia fire chief Greg Nettleton was quoted as saying.

“Right at this moment, residents in the Adelaide Hills are being confronted by a fire which hasn’t been seen in the hills since the 1983 bushfires of Ash Wednesday,” Nettleton said.

Crews have also been fighting bushfires in Victoria but all warnings have now been downgraded as a cold front moves into the area.

“Hopefully tomorrow and the next few days the fire danger will ease as this cold front passes through Victoria,” a spokesman from the area’s fire authority told ABC news.

So far about five homes have been confirmed destroyed but authorities said that dozens more were feared lost.

Forest Service represented in the Rose Parade

The U.S. Forest Service had quite a few representatives in the Rose Parade in Pasadena on New Years Day.

USFS firefighters mules

Their entry was a tribute to the 50th anniversary of the Wilderness Act, the historic role of packers in supporting wildland firefighters and other backcountry operations, and appreciation of the outstanding contributions made by national forest volunteers.

The all-mule equestrian entry included an entourage of Forest Service Rangers in period uniforms anchored by three mule pack strings. The mule pack strings were guided by California-based U.S. Forest Service packers Michael Morse, Lee Roeser and Ken Graves, who have an average of 37 years of experience each in the saddle.

Forest Service Rose Parade
USFS firefighters hiked the five-mile parade route.
Forest Service Rose Parade
Smokey Bear, USFS Chief Thomas Tidwell, and Regional Forester Randy Moore were photographed riding on a wagon in the parade.
Shawna Lagarza Tom Harbour
Shawna Legarza, the Director of Fire and Aviation for the U.S. Forest Service’s California Region, and Tom Harbour, the Director of Fire and Aviation for the Forest Service, at the Rose Parade, January 1, 2015.

This is something you don’t see every day — wildland fire personnel dressed up in their super-formal uniforms. (These folks are very high ranking of course, but seeing ANY non-headquarters-based U.S. Forest Service employee in a uniform is unusual.) I didn’t know the USFS had the Smokey Bear type hats except for the honor guards you see at funerals. The roses on the hats are a nice touch.

I did not see the parade, but there is a report that during the live broadcast the announcers had a debate about Smokey’s name — “Smokey Bear”, or “Smokey THE Bear”. Here’s the deal. A song written in 1952 celebrated “Smokey the Bear” and stirred a debate that lasted several decades. To maintain the proper rhythm in the song, the writers added “the” to the name, etching “Smokey the Bear” into the public psyche. But his name always was, and still is, Smokey Bear. Unfortunately the Forest Service fueled the confusion by publishing and distributing the words and music to the song in their fire prevention efforts.

All photos are provided by the U.S. Forest Service.

Throwback Thursday: revisiting skiing through a smoldering forest

For Throwback Thursday we’re taking another look at a fascinating video we first featured on February 12, 2013:

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The video photography of the skiers in this video is incredible. I can’t imagine how they manage to stay upright going over cliffs and landing in very deep powder. But the other thing is… they appear to be skiing through a wildland fire, a timber fire, that is still smoldering. I am not totally convinced that everything that looks like a burning snag is actually a burning snag, but it is very interesting, none the less.

Here is the official description of the video:

Skiing through the remains of last summer’s forest fires: Every summer, forest fires burn wildly across the temperate mountain regions of the world. As destructive as they are, they have a purpose and beauty that often goes unappreciated. As winter arrives in the burned forest, so do the skiers. They have come to celebrate new lines opened up by the previous summer’s fires that have now burned themselves out – or have they?

Thanks go out to Mitch