ot: Australian fires

Thanks, Pat. Situated roughly mid-way between the Queensland floods and the Victorian bushfires, I'm OK. Like the rest of the country, I'm just looking on in horror at the misery being suffered by so many people at this time. We've sent donations of money, but somehow that seems so trite at a time like this. You just want to go there and take all those people in your arms!

I saw a news report last night that showed a young man who stayed to try and save his home while his wife drove the children to safety. He survived and saved the home, but the wife and children were burned in their car! There are dozens of stories like this one and I suppose they'll all come out after the fires are finally over.

We've had such an extremely hot summer this year and the fuel in the Victorian forests must have been like tinder and so plentiful it's led to this unreal conflagration. Did you see the pics of the fire racing along at breakneck speeds? Incredible! Even the famed Ash Wednesday bushfires in NSW a few years ago were nothing like this!

"Pat P" wrote

Good to hear Rosemary is okay, and to hear from Trish. Such terrible stories on the news, and to hear today that police think some fires might have been set deliberately! How could anyone live with the responsibility for all the suffering?

Dawne