The New South Wales Rural Fire Service in Australia sent this interesting tweet today — an animated wildfire smoke forecast. I have not seen this distributed to the public in the United States.
After you start the video and click on the arrows at the bottom-right, it will fill the screen and you can almost read the names of the geographic features. So obviously it needs a better background map (and maybe fewer wind direction arrows that clutter the image) but it has potential for keeping the public informed about wildfire smoke.
The BBC reports that two people have been found dead in a very large bushfire south of Perth in Southwestern Australia. Police say the bodies of two men in their 70s were discovered in the debris of burnt-out houses in the town of Yarloop. Most of the structures in the town were destroyed when the Waroona Bushfire, pushed by strong winds, raged through the community.
The blaze continues to spread and threaten populated areas, but less intensely now, with less extreme weather conditions. An emergency warning was issued at 10:51 a.m. local time on January 9 for the following locations: Hamel, Cookernup, Yarloop, Harvey, east of Waroona and the surrounding areas. It doesn’t include the Waroona townsite.
The Department of Fire and Emergency Services reports that the fire has consumed 70,876 hectares (175,000 acres) and 143 homes and outbuildings. It is being fought by 250 firefighters, 50 appliances including 38 heavy machines, air tankers, and helicopters. The fire perimeter is more than 140 miles.
(Click on the videos at the top and bottom of this article in order to view them.)
The red icon represents the general location of the Emergency Warning due to the Waroona Bushfire in Western Australia.
Most of the homes in the Western Australia town of Yarloop were destroyed when a large bushfire marched through the area Thursday night.
Fire and Emergency Services commissioner Wayne Gregson said on Friday that 95 houses and numerous other public buildings burned, including the Steam Museum, the hotel, post office, town hall, and most of the school. There are no reports of fatalities.
The people that did not evacuate said many homes could have been saved but no water was available. The electrical power went out, which made it impossible to refill the town’s water tanks.
The remaining residents in Yarloop were going to evacuate to Pinjarra in a convoy of 30 vehicles protected on the journey by fire engines.
The latest community threatened by the Waroona Fire is the Harvey townsite, where the fire is 5 km northeast of the town and is moving toward the southwest. The effects of moderating weather have slowed the spread.
The Department of Fire and Emergency Services reports that the fire has consumed 67,000 hectares (165,000 acres) and 121 homes, and is being fought by 250 firefighters, 50 appliances, air tankers, and helicopters. The fire perimeter is more than 138 miles.
The lightning caused fire was reported at 7:25 a.m. on January 6. It is being managed by an interagency Incident Management Team comprised of DFES, Parks and Wildlife, and local government personnel.
A pyrocumulus cloud over the Waroona Fire in Western Australia. Photo by Keeley_rg
A 31,000 hectare (76,600 acre) bushfire has forced the evacuation of several communities south of Perth in Western Australia. The fire is moving in a southwesterly direction through the areas of Waroona, Harvey, Lake Clifton, Yarloop, and Preston Beach. (map)
On Friday the forecast includes 60 km/hr (37 mph) winds out of the northeast.
The Department of Fire and Emergency Services warned that for several areas it was too late for residents to leave and they should shelter in their homes. Some people in Preston Beach waded into the Indian Ocean where they were taken on board boats.
Evacuees depart on a boat as a bushfire threatens the Preston Beach area south of Perth in Western Australia. Photo by Footprints Preston Beach Resort.
The DFES reported that the fire, unofficially called the Waroona Fire, is being fought by over 200 firefighters, 48 appliances, and 25 heavy machines. Air tankers and helicopters have also been assigned.
DFES Incident Controller Greg Mair said the South Western Highway could be closed for a few weeks because a wooden bridge at Samson Brook had sustained severe damage.
The lightning caused fire was reported at 7:25 a.m. on January 6. In the area where it crossed Forrest Highway there was a report that the flame height was 50 meters (164 feet).
Below is an excerpt from an article in The Age written by Craig Lapsley, Victoria’s Emergency Management Commissioner.
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“…The only guaranteed way of surviving a bushfire is to not be there. That is the underpinning logic behind leaving early.
Fire is neither logical nor forgiving. Few people are adequately prepared, physically or emotionally, or have sufficient resources to remain and defend their properties. And so the message again this summer is to leave early. The message is captured in the slogan “Leave and live”.
On Christmas day, even after a recommendation to evacuate had been made, there were those in Lorne who chose to “wait and see”, the circumstance that has historically led to most bushfire deaths as people leave late and are caught on the roads, in the open or trapped in homes that cannot be defended.
Anthony Hester and his fire crew at the Otways bushfire in Victoria, Australia. Photo by Hamish Blair.
Larger, more complex questions face our community in the months and years ahead. The issue of land-use planning is one of these. More people are seeking to live deeper in the bush and enabling them to do so safely presents significant challenges. A more structured approach to private shelters in high bushfire risk developments is one option.
More fundamentally, urban development both around Melbourne and regional centres, is being pushed into forested and even grassland areas that are inherently fire prone. New communities must be planned in a manner that does not inadvertently expose them to risk, be it from bushfire or other natural hazards. There is work being done within governments around this but a significant dialogue remains to be had with the broader community.
How existing communities are strengthened both physically and in terms of social resilience remains one of our biggest challenges. The vast majority of the existing building stock in high risk areas across the state is simply not designed to withstand the passage of a bushfire. This will not change within the foreseeable future. Community based planning that factors this inherent weakness into survival strategies has to play a part in strengthening communities against disaster…”
The Lorne-Jamieson Track bushfire. Country Fire Authority photo.
The Country Fire Authority (CFA) has confirmed that at least 116 homes were destroyed in a bushfire that burned along the Great Ocean Road near Separation Creek and Wye River in Victoria Australia. Many people were forced from their homes on Christmas night, causing traffic jams as residents fled to Torquay or Melbourne.
Lorne-Jamieson Track Bushfire. CFA map.
One couple who live in nearby Lorne, Wilma and Ian Bishop, did not evacuate but slept in their car near the beach, planning to run into the sea if the fire spread into the town. However the fire bypassed Lorne, inflicting most of the damage in Wye River and Separation Creek.
The fire started December 19 from a lightning strike in Great Otway National Park eight kilometers west of Lorne. At the last report it had burned 2,290 hectares (5,659 acres). On December 24 the resources on the fire included 150 firefighters, 6 air tankers, 7 dozers, and a 40-person incident management team.
Part of the Incident Management Team on the Lorne-Jamieson Track Bushfire, December 24, 2015. CFA photo.The CFA hosts a community meeting on December 25, 2015, for the Loren-Jamieson Track Bushfire.
