GOOD LUCK TO ALL IN AUSTRALIA'S FIRES
I’ve seen some of the devastating photographs, and after the summer California just went through, I know what these fires can be like.
Please all of you make sure your escape routes are clear and get out in time. Even if the fires are not so close, they can spread in unruly directions, so plan for leaving in case you must.
To all the Australian friends here, the best of luck, our thoughts and prayers are with you. Stay safe! and keep us all posted.
Best to you all,
Barbara
CLICK-ON MAP FOR DAILY HEADLINES AND NEWS
http://www.newseum.org/todaysfrontpages/flash/
This is a great site a friend just directed me to, for newspaper headlines, front pages and stories all over the globe. It’s helped me see what’s happening in Australia and where right now.
http://www.newseum.org/todayfrontpages/flash/
B
This is a direct cut and paste from the original email, hope it works:
Just put your mouse on a city anywhere in the world and the newspaper headlines pop up… Double click and the page gets larger….
http://www.newseum.org/todaysfrontpages/flash/
billyboy
Hey Barbara!
Where’s the map?
xo
Barbara Sparhawk replied
I just did it twice, sorry about that billyboy, for some reason it didn’t take the first time. It really is cool, and useful.
bites
hey Barbara,
Good to hear from you!
xx
Barbara Sparhawk replied
Bites you little sweetie you, same here, been swamped and try to get on as often as I can, should settle down in a short while. Hope all’s fabulously well with you!
PablosVista
Thanks Barbara – we were lucky here in South Australia. We had a couple of horrible extreme bushfire danger days – very hot and windy – but no big fires started up.
Barbara Sparhawk replied
What a relief to hear, it just looks devastating in the news, and so many people lost to it. Please stay well, Pablo.
rosepepper
dear Barbara… it is just horrific right now in Victoria, right here in Gippsland, 181 lives lost and people still being found dead trapped in cars and in houses in the aftermath but some places are still burning. People not escaping in time, incredible heat and furious winds its the speed of fire that people underestimate, animals in shocking distress, most not outrunning the fires. HOttest day ever recorded on 7th Feb in Victoria, 47 degrees here where I am… unbelievable radiant heat the blackest blackest day, fires sprang up everywhere, some deliberately lit. Smoke so dense people could not see to drive out of fire zones, soot falling in black rain soon after. The smell too is frightening. We have been lucky where I am… the whole country is rising in support of the Victorian fire victims, donations of all descriptions are being made, the stories are just heartbreaking, the horror is shown in the photographs. Of course when you need water from town supplies there is none and electiricity, radio, TV is cut off. Still not the end of it, but at least the temperatures have dropped and our magnificent Fire Brigade is getting most of it under control…. just awful & thanks for your posting, cant imagine how touched I was ….
Barbara Sparhawk replied
Dear dear rosepepper, I’ve been weeping over all the details. The people trapped, the most horrific that there are minutes of warning, seconds. It’s all the things you don’t think of with fire, its speed, the impassable smoke, my God I am devastated for you. I love Australia with all my heart, a feeling so deeply shared here, we are very much the same people in our makeup. California was on fire stem to stern last year, I know what you’re going through. I am so very sorry for the people, the animals, the land itself. Check your clear exit routes and keep on eye on them if it gets close. I can’t bear the losses you’re having, hoorah for the comfort from all. I understand American firefighters are there now too, still wish I was in the business I’d be there. Don’t seek refuge in tubs or showers, pipes burst with heat and it will be a trap.
Please let me and all of us know if there’s any way to help. This is rough time. The day will come when your beautiful land will be calm and green again, the thrust for life is never far away. Oh rosepepper, bless all your hearts, stay safe. Keep us posted please.
rosepepper
Dearest Barbara, cant express how great it is to feel support from across the waters, thanks so much, a bit of an outburst from me. I know you have been through fires & fought them recently & you know what it does to people and how heartbreaking it is. We are fine here, but there are still 4,000 firefighters out there battling 33 bushfires, one blessing is that the temperatures have dropped, 433 houses lost in Vic & counting. I have posted a picture from a newspaper that shows an extraordinary CFA firefighter giving water to a distressed koala in Mirboo North a fire that started a few days before the black black Feb 7th. Yes support from USA firefighters & Elvis helicopters indispensible at this time, tremendous support, so heartwarming and appreciated. The water in my birdbath was boiling hot ... birds with beaks wide open trying to breathe & survive in the smoke & heat, farmers turning on sprinklers for cows to stand under to cool off, animals like the koala now with no food to eat & yes jumping into dams is not on, the water boils with embers falling down. Review of the stay & fight or leave early policy will be questioned, evacuation maybe should be mandatory, speed of fire & radiant heat just too much. Thick smoke and limited visibility, roads are not safe. Yes California has many similarities & the gold rushes started here for that reason, but the fires….... there is so much we dont know about our land and how to care for it. We have a lot to learn and can learn a lot from our indigenous Australians who regularly burned back knowing it was part of the cycle to regenerate the bush. :)
Barbara Sparhawk replied
Dear rosepepper my far-off close-to-my-heart friend, it’s been impossible to stop the flood of tears for Australia, God bless you all. Your descriptions are stunning, thank you for letting us know. California’s fire were swift, but nothing like what you’ve been through. People had hours to evacuate not seconds. It is as if Australia has been straffe bombed, but worse. You might escape the target of a bomb but this surrounds. My God, the animals, you can’t even imagine these things. Boiling water in dams, my God. The loss of life and homes is heartbreaking. I’m so sorry.
You wrote about the fireman and koala, yes a much circulated fabulous photograph here….and it’s funny that my first thought was was—what an extraordinary koala! But of course, the fireman, an unforgettable generosity from them both. Someone will offer feed for them, California is rife with eucalyptus trees, someone will help in a big way.
In Big Sur especially fire from the skies, huge redwoods and the pinecones would explode and drop in flames. You are living through something extraordinary. There’s a sense that the fires will be out soon and you can organize and rebuild, a long road ahead. The world aches for you all, rosepepper. Stay safe, do what you can do, prosecute the bastards who did this and do that for us all.
rosepepper
thanks so again Barbara my kindest of friends….and the 7000 people without homes are living in tent towns with all kinds of provisions pouring in, support fom everywhere (including US and NZ) has raised about 25 million!! can you imagine how generous people are, it is amazing.. the human spirit at its best helping others in times of need… A big review of fire warning systems is now pumped into action and many heroic stories are being told. Those helicopter pilots have saved many lives by directing people where to go from the air!!
I do hope the moving is going well for you and I look forward to those new painting being posted when time allows!!
Barbara Sparhawk replied
I share in the relief of all Australians that the first frontline battles are won, the fires are be conquered, vanquished. This has been terrible past words for my friends there, the stunning loss of life past believing. I have cried with every picture, every report from your beautiful wounded country. God speed your recovery, rosepepper, God speed. From what I read the citizens are going to make sure nothing like this ever happens again. We’ll all learn from it. It’s like our 9/11, over three hundred firemen lost in the first minutes because they followed training that had always worked before. I am so glad for, and expected, that kind of global outpouring of money to help. I know what kindnesses came here. There was a small African tribe, a tiny village. Some little hut had a radio and they heard about the Sept.11 terrorist attacks and were deeply moved and upset. They sent three of their prize goats to NYC, the best they had, they arranged for the goats to go to NY to feed the wounded. I may have blurred memory of the details but I know it’s true, I saw photographs of them and heard interviews. Yes, the humanity we share reaches into us all. Human beings are remarkable. Just ask Koala Sam. Suddenly he never met a human he didn’t like. Isn’t it fantastic.
You will all be whole again. Australians are courageous and fine people, you have my love.