Total Fire Ban

[sarren]

Total Fire Ban for Perth Metropolitan Area and surrounding Shires for Wednesday 6 January 2010

I haven't had the radio on today but I'm told FESA have been issuing ALERTS

Firefighters are working on containment lines at blazes around Brigadoon, Gidgegannup and Moore River this morning, the Weather Bureau warns conditions across large areas of the State today would be similar to those experienced last week during the Toodyay disaster.

Comments

[sarren.livejournal.com]

Did it get close to you?

[chaosmanor.livejournal.com]

40 metres. Directly over the road from my house. Really, really close.

[sarren.livejournal.com]

Holy shit - I assume your street was evacuated?

I was trying to remember if you had actual bushland over the road - I remembered some vegetation, but wasn't sure if it was just a strip between roads.

My mate's 80 year old mum had recently cleared away the vegetation from around her house in Toodyay, and when the fire came she wet down the house and wandered off up the road to a neighbours. The fire burnt right up to her house. She was lucky.

[chaosmanor.livejournal.com]

The online warning was to evacuate, but when I got there (well to the blockade, where I had to leave my car), the police were letting residents walk in to their houses, as long as they promised to evacuate if needed. The emergency crews were very relaxed and mellow, and not at all frantic, despite the whole omg-everything's-on-fire thing.

[chaosmanor.livejournal.com]

And, over the street is high voltage power lines, with low-lying bush underneath. Ex-low-lying bush underneath, now.

Our worry was that our lawn is uncut and very dead. If it had caught, it would have burned, at least until a crew turned up to put it out. Then there's the whole embers on the roof thing. All very scary. And we live in the 'burbs, not out in the country.