Fire fire fire

[Bundyboy]

Don't know if you have heard bu over 170 people have been killed by bushfires on the hottest day. It reached 47 C 118F the hottest day in any Australian city. Some townships only 30 minutes drive from where I live which is a suburb of Melbourne have been totally obliterated. Stories that the bush fire moved so quickly people only had around 1 minute to get out of their house. Even if they did roads where often blocked by fallen trees. We are all in shock. Alonmg with the heat the wind was over 100kmh. Tthe fire sounded like 5 jumbo jets coming up the valley. The plastic on cars melted. It was a terrible day. The ironic part of the weather was that the Friday (day before the fires) was a pleasant 30C and the day after was only 20c.Everyone is pitching in to help the victims over 12 million dollars has already been raised and lots of other items donated.

[Sam]

Hi Bundyboy

We have been watching the News with horror its hard for us to imaging what it must be like having a fire raging and threatening to engulf your
home
The winds sound horrendous you wouldn't stand a chance, on our news they are saying a lot of the fires were started deliberately this takes some believing
There must be some very sick people around can only be someone who is mentally unbalanced

I'm sure all our thoughts are with the people that are effected Sam

[Bundyboy]

Hi Sam,
Yes there are some very sick people. There is some reporting that states hat these people should be tried for murder, at this point in time a lot of people agree with that.

[Angel]

Hi Bundyboy Got to agree think they should bring back the death penalty, we are getting a lot of coverage of the fires
We would only get the odd gorse fire which is nothing compared to seeing whole towns destroyed

Lets hope they get the people responsible Angel

[snapper]

Oh God didn't realize you were that close to these fires, seen a lot of coverage on British television and it looks horrendous
Don't think I would still be there if it was me, thirty min drive is nothing if the wind changes you could be in trouble
Would seriously think of moving out for a while never worth taking the risk
:(:(

[Surfer]

Don't know if you have heard bu over 170 people have been killed by bushfires on the hottest day. It reached 47 C 118F the hottest day in any Australian city. Some townships only 30 minutes drive from where I live which is a suburb of Melbourne have been totally obliterated. Stories that the bush fire moved so quickly people only had around 1 minute to get out of their house. Even if they did roads where often blocked by fallen trees. We are all in shock. Alonmg with the heat the wind was over 100kmh. Tthe fire sounded like 5 jumbo jets coming up the valley. The plastic on cars melted. It was a terrible day. The ironic part of the weather was that the Friday (day before the fires) was a pleasant 30C and the day after was only 20c.Everyone is pitching in to help the victims over 12 million dollars has already been raised and lots of other items donated.


Only realized you might be in danger, are you going to think of moving for a bit, or have the Fire Brigade got it undercomtrol,

Never mind the House if you have a family in danger I would go Mate don't wait and see could be dangerous

We don't get fires of that sort over here too much rain, I would be In the car and off Surfer

[Frankie]

Hi Bundyboy,

Brings it home when I read this thread, normally come home switch on the Box listen to the News in one ear out the other.

You take care, in the U K media tends to exaggerate these catastrophe's in
truly hope its not as bad as the T V shows.

Take Care

Frankie

[Bundyboy]

Hi everyone,
Thanks for your kind thoughts, 30 minutes may sound relatively close but we are quite suburban. However the stories I have heard I don't think your media has over exaggerated. A friend of mine was talking to his friend at the heart of the blaze and the conversation went like. I have heard the fires are close to you...reply yeh but its only smoke can't see any fire....oh shit gotta go with that the friend threw the phone, he and his wife raced out of the house his car was ready in the driveway, luckily a fire crew came by and took them to safety. All plastic of the car melted, all their pets were killed the house literally exploded into flames while he was talking on the phone.
It has just been announced that 1 fire that killed 22 people is now believed to be deliberately lit. All the other fires are probably lit by Lightening. Everything is tinder dry. We have had no and I mean no rain since December.
It has also been anounced that there are still 2 major fires northEast of Melbourne and they may join up on the weekend as the termperature begins to climb again and the wind redevelops. This may seem silly but last night it was so cold I put my winter pygamas on...figure that one.
The local council where the majority of people have been killed is one of those green environmental friendly ones. Before all this happened I knew of people who weren't allowed to cut down trees on their property, they had to change their house plans. Also we are all starting to say that a fire bunker may have to be built into new house plans as one story stated that a cellar type room saved a family.

[Bundyboy]

Hi everyone,
Thanks for your kind thoughts, 30 minutes may sound relatively close but we are quite suburban. However the stories I have heard I don't think your media has over exaggerated. A friend of mine was talking to his friend at the heart of the blaze and the conversation went like. I have heard the fires are close to you...reply yeh but its only smoke can't see any fire....oh shit gotta go with that the friend threw the phone, he and his wife raced out of the house his car was ready in the driveway, luckily a fire crew came by and took them to safety. All plastic of the car melted, all their pets were killed the house literally exploded into flames while he was talking on the phone.
It has just been announced that 1 fire that killed 22 people is now believed to be deliberately lit. All the other fires are probably lit by Lightening. Everything is tinder dry. We have had no and I mean no rain since December.
It has also been anounced that there are still 2 major fires northEast of Melbourne and they may join up on the weekend as the termperature begins to climb again and the wind redevelops. This may seem silly but last night it was so cold I put my winter pygamas on...figure that one.
The local council where the majority of people have been killed is one of those green environmental friendly ones. Before all this happened I knew of people who weren't allowed to cut down trees on their property, they had to change their house plans. Also we are all starting to say that a fire bunker may have to be built into new house plans as one story stated that a cellar type room saved a family.

[Bigbear]

Hi Bundyboy

Got the Express newspaper yesterday, and they had pictures in there I couldn't believe what I was seeing total destruction
Unbelievable to see so much destruction its hard for us to imaging seeing your house burn or worst of all family pets
Glad you are some way away, its a good idea to be allowed to cut trees down so as they are not too near a property got to be a rethink on how to prevent so much loss of life, Keep Safe

[Sam]

Don't know if you have heard bu over 170 people have been killed by bushfires on the hottest day. It reached 47 C 118F the hottest day in any Australian city. Some townships only 30 minutes drive from where I live which is a suburb of Melbourne have been totally obliterated. Stories that the bush fire moved so quickly people only had around 1 minute to get out of their house. Even if they did roads where often blocked by fallen trees. We are all in shock. Alonmg with the heat the wind was over 100kmh. Tthe fire sounded like 5 jumbo jets coming up the valley. The plastic on cars melted. It was a terrible day. The ironic part of the weather was that the Friday (day before the fires) was a pleasant 30C and the day after was only 20c.Everyone is pitching in to help the victims over 12 million dollars has already been raised and lots of other items donated.



Everything has gone quiet on the News Front not a mention of Australia, or the fires have they managed to get the them under control, will take a long time and a lot of money to put things back as they were,
Would be a good time if new housing were being built to have fire shelters put into the design
Don't think the people who had a narrow escape will ever get over this experience, Glad you are safe

[Blondie]

Hi Bundyboy put in Australian fires into Goggle got a video on which shows how dreadful it is, the smoke would kill someone in minutes the firefighters are doing a courageous job they deserve medals, also says they are questioning two men who were acting suspiciously, and the think someone has been starting fires for years,
Got to be everyones worse nightmare burned alive Blondie

[Bundyboy]

Hi Blondie/Sam
Things have gone quiet regadring the fires but there are a lot of people saying it is the calm before the storm. They are saying we are notexpecting rain for at least 4 weeks. Next week temperatures will be returning to the mid 30's and the wind may return. Today another town was put on high alert. It is about 30 klms from the CBD of Melbourne in an east direction. Evacation plans have been invoked. The air is quite smokey as the wind has changed direction. The sun is bright red first thing in the morning and everything seems to have a yellow tinge to it. A friend today said that a family friend had sent his wife and family to safety and he and his father stayed to fight the fire. The son was outside doing something the father yelled for him to come inside and the fire roared around his house for 45 minutes. His house was saved but neighbour houses burned. YOu might have seen a picture of melted swings, that was his house.

[Surfer]

Hi Bundydoy

The Television Coverage has all dried up about Australia, did hear on the news that they had arrested and charged someone for setting a fire,

and now he is being assessed for mental reasons, they always use that excuse think its just pure wickedness hope he rots in prison and not

some cushy hospital

Took Blondie's advice and looked it up on Goggle some frighting footage of the firefighters Lets hope you get rain soon and you will be able to

sleep better at night, got to be a worry Surfer:cool:

[mary]

So very glad they have arrested someone for this dreadful thing, lets hope its the right person have been reading that they think its more than one person, As we never have experienced anything like this its difficult to imaging the damage a bush fire could do, only hope that is the end of them and your weather turns a bit wetter and cooler

[Angel]

Seen some footage of the Fires on the News tonight they say some are still burning and they had a firefighter who had been convicted of arson talking about why he did it, his face was disguised to prevent people knowing who he was
He was part to the team who fought these fires and he had started them its unbelievable he said he did it for the adrenaline rush
Got to be a mental problem but he sounded really normal very worrying


Angel:roll::roll:

[Sam]

Will always get one or two nut cases about we get them over here as well cant begin to count the number of Schools that are burnt down or

damaged luckily with the advance in DNA etc, the police usually catch the people responsible lets hope they catch the arsonist in Australia and

throw away the key

[Bundyboy]

The bush fires are still going, drove down the street and saw a huge cloud in the distance, it looks like a massive fire haven't heard anythingon the tv. Today the air has been relatively clear yesterday it was like a yellow fog. The wind is coming from the other direction. It has just been reported that the arsonist who lit the fires was rejected by the CFA( country Fire A uthority) the firefighters. It was warmer and wind has returned, don't like that.Will keep you inform as I find out. cheers

[Surfer]

Gone all quiet over here on the news, its like it never happened got good coverage and some film on Goggle, The chap who started one of the fire must be some sort of mental case if everyone who was turned down for jobs did this no where would be safe, don't think I would sleep at night must still be very worrying let us know how things go Look after yourself Surfer:cool:

[Bundyboy]

Hi Surfer,
Found out today that the arsonist has an intellectual disability. I teach at a school for intellectually disabled students, so I feel very sorry for everyone.

[snapper]

Hi Surfer,
Found out today that the arsonist has an intellectual disability. I teach at a school for intellectually disabled students, so I feel very sorry for everyone.



Hi Bundyboy, just listening to the News and they say they expect the death toll to rise, if this chap who has been arrested had some mental problems its a tragedy for everyone involved, just glad you and your family are safe Snapper

[Sam]

We Haven't heard anything on the news for a good week now, do hope your weather has gotten cooler and the risk of fire is over
Will take a long time to rebuild and repair the damage I'm sure a lot of people will never be able to forget we are thinking about the people who have been affected lets hope the rest of the year is better Sam

[Bundyboy]

Its been fairly cool and settled this week, however hot weather and winds predicted to return this week, will keep our fingers crossed. Lots and lots of stories of how everyone is pulling together for the unfortunate ones. We have raised over 100 million dollars for those lost communities.Truck loads of clothes etc as well. Good to see.

[Angel]

Hi Bundyboy, its surprising what people will do when something like this happens, brings out the best We are still in the middle of the English

winter with a lot of frost but it wont be long before it starts to warm up, I do hope you wont get any more really dry and hot weather and the

risk of fire is starting to get less

Are you still Bowling or have all the games stopped because of these dreadful fires Angel

[Bundyboy]

Hi Angel,
Thanks for your kind thoughts, Our pennant games have just finished and the finals are about to begin. We have 18 pennant games which start in October , from now until winter there are tournaments to go into. Our greens usually run the best at this time.

[snapper]

Hi Bundyboy hope you don't mind me asking but what are pennants games, would they be like our County games where we play other Clubs and in the finals we play different Divisions
We usually have tournament after our league and county games are finished and a lot have pretty good prize money gets exciting if you get into the finals great fun:D:D

[Bundyboy]

Hi Snapper,
Our pennant games. In our metro area clubs nominate for a certain number of pennant teams. Each team is placed in a division. Each division has around 8 sections, each section has 10 teams from different clubs. Divisions run from premier league, then div 1-8. Each year the top side gets promoted to the div above it. At the end of the home and away season finals occur. We have 7 teams of 16 players per team. Teams are made up of 4*4 players. We play 25 ends, each rink players for 2 points and if you win you get 10 pts. So if you win all 4 rinks you will get 18pts.

[peter]

Hi Bundyboy this is just the same as our league games only a different name, if we dont do well they put us down a league if this happens we get really depressed got to play better next year

[Sam]

You Boys have got something to aim for we either win or come second, in our division

Often wonder after playing all them games and getting hammered why I play this game, bit like smoking when you start its hard to give up :D:rolleyes:

[Angel]

Hi Sam on a bit of a downer at the moment am seriously considering giving up bowls altogether, If it wasn't for the friends I have i am not sure if I would miss it, there are so many other things I could do when summer comes it all non stop and before you know it its Winter, :(:( Angel

[Bundyboy]

Hi everyone,
Just letting everyone know that we have finally had some much needed rain.
All the fires are now out, and the weird thing is that today it was a cold 13 C nobody is complaining. Firefighters are going home. We are expecting showers for the next couple of days. Even got the heater on today, what a difference a week makes.

[Surfer]

Hi Bundyboy good news that things are getting back to normal thanks for letting us know, one minuet we get a lot of news coverage and the next nothing, its like it never happened
Cant be easy with the damage left behind, should think it will take a fair bit of work rebuilding, talking about weather we are freezing here its gone back to winter got to be the coldest down here that I can remember

Surfer:cool:

[Sam]

Victoria Bush Fires

Hi Bundy boy, am sitting here Sunday morning crying have been watching a video clip which is going round England, if not World Wide, showing a story about Sam a koala bear which was rescued from a fire at mirboo
Shows sam getting a drink from his rescuer then getting his paws bandaged and going to a rescue center, where he is put in with a bob another burnt Koala and you see them both cuddling together, such a moving story

The pictures were taken by the Melbourne Heeraldsun and people are passing this video onto their friends this is how I got it
Unless you are where something like these fires happen you don't realize what tragedy it brings to Families as well as the animals :(

[Bundyboy]

Hi Sam,
That Koala is quite famous now. It is Saturday morning and the heavens have jsut opened up and it is pouring with rain. I was suppose to play our triples final today but what the heck, I'll enjoy the rain. Our opponents are our best top skip and to brothers aged 10 and 14. I played against the 14 yr old in the final of the mixed pairs andhe played very well. Watch out everyone the young brigade are quickly over taking us.

[kiwi bowler]

We watched an Australian SPCA programme last week trying to save some of the domestic and wild animals caught up in the fires, it was very sad.

[Surfer]

Hi Bundyboy someone has emailed me the clip about Sam, so sad he looked lost sitting with his paws all bandaged up, I never knew Kolas could recognize someone by smell my other half was very upset after watching it
Good news is you are having rain but maybe a bit too much it would be good if it would rain at night, and then the bowling could go ahead, sounds like you have had a good year and reached a few finals, good luck with the rest

Surfer:cool:

[Bundyboy]

Hi everyone, just thought you would like to know the update on Sam the koala update, she has now reached superstar status, there are movie offers and tv appearances all money going to the animal welfare shelter that look after the affected animals. There may even be a love story involving Sam and Bob. Stay tune for more info.

[mary]

Hi Bundyboy have seen this clip myself what a lovely story it does say down the bottom more to follow
So we are waithing for the next installment its doing the rounds over here, my sister in Law is a Head Teacher and I forwarded it on to her, and she showed it to the Children in her school it was a big success
Its great that this is helping raise awayness and raising funds, the kola are such lovely animals must be lovely to have then living wild,
Sam and Bob do look lovely with his arm around her if you see the next installment before us let us know the outcome

Mary :D:D

[Bundyboy]

Hi Mary,
I have seen a number of koalas in the wild. At night when sleeping in a tent you will hear the most unsual sound of a koala calling out. It doesn't happen often but it sound like a cow mooing while riding a nosiy dirt bike. Sounds weird well it is weird.
Bundboy

[snapper]

Hi must be great to have lovely animals like the koalas running free not a lot of Countries have this if I heard anything like that at night it would frighten me to death, was walking home one night and heard these sort of snorting noises coming from the hedge I have never been so terrified in my life, ran all way up the lane only after I had calmed down to realize it was some cows in the field,

Teach me to walk around in the dark alone have been watching too many American Horror Films

[Early Shift]

Have been following this thread with interest Bundyboy,
And it make frighting reading, was wondering if the Authorities in Australia are taking any measures to try and stop fire spreading so rapidly
We have a lot of programmers over on English T V at present about people relocating to Australia
The thing I noticed most was the really spacious houses but they were all surrounded by trees bushes etc would be a good idea if they cleared an area which might help as a fire break

[kiwi bowler]

Hi Early Shift, I read an article in the NZ Herald about a Kiwi living in the area where the fires were and it seems the only reason he had survived was because he had done just that - cleared an area around his home. It was also told he had been fined by his council for doing it too, but after what's happened I think the councils will be changing their rules and regulations.

[Bundyboy]

Hi everyone,
Had a huge storm yesterday, we hope the rain got into the catchment areas. WE are on 29% full in our catchment areas, coming into winter we need lots more rain. Howver the only problem now is if we get tooooo much rain at once, it will cause mudslides as all the ground vegetation in the burnt out areas is gone there is nothing to hold the soil down. Have to wait and see. But no complaints from anyone about getting the rain.

[Surfer]

Hi Bundyboy

Was wondering what you mean by the catchment areas, Its got to be good news that its raining if you haven't had any rain for a while, we get some dry spell in July and August, what really gets me thinking is we have so much rain over here but as soon as we have a week or two with no rain, they put us on a hosepipe ban
Other Countries get hardly any rain and seem to manage all right, don't understand the Water Companies In Cornwall


Surfer:cool:

[Bundyboy]

Hi Surfer,
The catchment area refers to the dams and its surronding areas. Our dam levels have only been around 30% and so we are on level 4 water restrictions, can't water your lawn, or wash your car. Can only water your plants for 1 hour twice a week. The governmentis investing in a desalination plant. We hope we get an average year of rain as we have been in drought for nearly 7 years. ITs been around 10 years since our dams were full.
Heading off to NSW for Easter playing in a triples and pairs tournament on lovely 15 sec greens. Beautiful mid 20 C days no wind. Look forward to this weekend every year. Have a happy Easter Everyone

[Angel]

Great way to spend Easter Bundyboy playing in a Tournament, we usually have our tournaments end of August when all the County and league games are finished
In England they have very good prize money to be won it can run into hundreds, It attracts some very good Bowlers but its really good when you get a local team winning,
Good luck with your games sure you will do well have a nice Easter Break Angel:D

[Bundyboy]

Hi Angel,
Had a lovely Easter playing bowls and spending time with the family. Greens ran at 16 seconds and wide. USed my premiers on the first day, thinking that they would be the best, unfortunately we came up against the hot favourites in the first game. Not used to the quick greens and so we lost, but it was just heaven playing on such manicured greens. Second day played with my powers and did a lot better however still didn't get in the money, doesn't matter I had a ball. Weather was lovely in the mid 20's all Easter

[Sam]

I love the tournaments they are the best time in the Bowling Season, when all the County games and League games are finished,

It is raining very heavy today and I am supposed to have my first friendly tomorrow, so shall have to wait and see

Your weather sounds wonderful but over here its alway hit and miss if we play or not, gets a bit better July and August

When does your Summer Season finish or can you play right thought the Winter,

Oh By the way Sam is short for Samantha made a big mistake never gave it a thought , that members would think I was male,

[Bundyboy]

Hi Sam,
Our season is almost finished. Most grass greens only have a week or two left as the greenkeepers need to do some maintenance on them before it gets too cold and the grass goes dormant. If you go north from Melbourne you cross our mountain range ( whixh is not very high as mountain ranges go and north of these ranges the weather is kinder to greens and they can play into winter, mind you I can't think of anything worse than playing in the cold, my hands freeze up and the bowls remain cold. I know of someone who use to put his bowls in the oven on a low heat for about 1/2 hour, thsy would stay warm for the day. However one day they stayed too long in the oven and one on the bowls got an air bubble and ruined it, he had t get a new set.

[Sam]

Hi Bundyboy thought that was a good one putting your woods in the oven, not so good when you do damage

Used to play Indoors and one chap put his on the radiator half an hour before he played, he always swore they played better when warm,

That particular Club was run privately and ended up being knocked down and affordable houses put on the site

Can remember one particular evening we were all hugging the radiators trying to get warm and someone said he thought we were putting more

warmth into them that we were getting out,

Sad what you do for a game of Bowls :grin:

[Bundyboy]

Hi Sam,
There is a theory going around that the bowls will play different if left in the sun. On Some hot days the bowls are toooo hot to handle, but as they are all hot yo can't tell if they are taking a different line.
Bundyboy

[Sam]

Never thought about that Bundy boy, might be worth a try when and if we get sunshine, might try leaving mine sitting out and see how they
play
I usually tuck mine under a bench in the shade in case someone trips over them

Will let you know if I turn into a top bowler, would be buying hand warmers to put on my woods or knitted Bowls warmers, never know could

start a trend,

[Bundyboy]

Hi Sam,
TOday and tomorrow we will be getting a taste of winter, down to 14C we are expecting rain and hopefully there is a lot as the last few months have been very dry.Toooo cold to bowl, building up browny points for next season, helping the daughter paint her hallway.

[mickpacholli]

Hi Sam,
There is a theory going around that the bowls will play different if left in the sun. On Some hot days the bowls are toooo hot to handle, but as they are all hot yo can't tell if they are taking a different line.
Bundyboy



Terrible days, friends lost lives, houses, Harleys, kids...will live long in our memories.:-(


A skip at Ivanhoe and a top singles player microwaves his bowls before he goes out to get a bit of heat into them...now kids, DO NOT try this at home...seriously though...he reckons it is a beauty!

[mary]

Hi Bundyboy could do with you over here, hate painting know the place could do with some attention but keep putting it off
Now our Bowling Season has started Ive got the excuse that I'm too busy, went up today and watched the men playing had a grand afternoon
Played every wood didn't miss a thing,
Problem is when I try it in a game my mind knows how to do it, its the rest of me thats the problem,