Under a Blood Red Sky: Photos of the Canberra firestorm

Alexander's Horse · January 19, 2003, 02:17

Well boys, just been through one of the wildest 24 hours as a firestorm hit Canberra, see Case's thread for details. Up to 400 homes lost.

Here's a photo taken from the balcony of our house at about 4pm yesterday afternoon. We were in darkness from the smoke at that time with high winds blowing hot ashe on the house.

Sava · January 19, 2003, 02:18

how did that crap start anyways?

Seeker · January 19, 2003, 02:22

We get this kind of thing in BC some years, but usually not near big cities.

Water-bombing planes, helos, all hours of the day.

Check out the full moon, it'll be a Blood Red eye, gotta listen to some CCR.

I'd consider chainsawing some of the nearby trees, in a really hot fire they can sometimes explode like bombs and send burning pieces through the air.

If you're anywhere near.

Did they call up volunteers?

Lancer · January 19, 2003, 02:23

Has it passed by, AH?

Alexander's Horse · January 19, 2003, 02:25

For comparison, this what the view from the first picture looks like on a normal day.

JohnT · January 19, 2003, 02:34

"I can't believe the news today... I can't close my eyes, and make it go away."

Alexander's Horse · January 19, 2003, 02:37

Here's the normal view up my street.

Alexander's Horse · January 19, 2003, 02:40

And here is the view around 4.30pm as the fires raced around the ridgeline behind our house. The hot ashe was spotting fires well ahead of the main front.

Fiera · January 19, 2003, 02:46

Ashe?

Inverse Icarus · January 19, 2003, 03:20

it'd be cool looking if it wasnt so tragic

Alexander's Horse · January 19, 2003, 03:25

Quote:

Originally posted by Fiera
Ashe?

That's right ash - here it is hitting the windscreen of my car. It was falling like rain - but it sizzled when it hit the ground. There were burning and smoldering leaves fluttering down on our house.

I was going out in the car to get some emergency supplies - er - it seemed like a good idea at the time....

chequita guevara · January 19, 2003, 03:26

I trust things are better now?

Oerdin · January 19, 2003, 03:43

That sucks A.H.. Was it any of your neighbors who lost their houses?

Alexander's Horse · January 19, 2003, 03:51

Double post - more photos later

Alexander's Horse · January 19, 2003, 03:52

Yeah things are better today, these are the worst shots from the crisis period, which was about 3 - 6pm yesterday. It was absolutely surreal. There's still a high thread subject to what the wind is doing.

This is a shot of the back garden. It was like night in the middle of the day. The camera makes it slightly darker than it was but not by much. It was very hot too, well over 35 (100f) - but it didn't seem hot to me because of the adrenalin I suspect - I was really "up", excited, it was like being on speed. I had to keep moving, doing stuff, couldn't sit still. I freaked Mrs Horse out with my upbeat mood

JohnT · January 19, 2003, 03:53

Sweet. Nothing like making the missus nervous... makes one feel all important and powerful and crap.

Loif · January 19, 2003, 04:10

Just saw some footage on the news this evening. I hope you and your family are okay AH. That is truly frightening.

Alexander's Horse · January 19, 2003, 04:46

Quote:

Originally posted by JohnT
Sweet. Nothing like making the missus nervous... makes one feel all important and powerful and crap.

Well hardly - she was very calm throughout. It was more like she was rolling her eyes at me. She didn't get excited about it, helped me do practical stuff, gave sensible advice, voice of common sense etc.

I think its the awe of it that got me. You knew it was very dangerous but at the same time you're watching this incredible weather event. It was like the end of the world for a while there. You really couldn't believe your eyes. It was like your mundane everyday world was now in another apocalyptic reality.

Lancer · January 19, 2003, 04:53

Cheers to Mrs Horse! Sounds like a great woman.

chequita guevara · January 19, 2003, 05:04

You guys shoulda had danger sex.

DRoseDARs · January 19, 2003, 05:12

Here's something that might interest those of you living downwind of the smoke plume of ANY major forest fire: If the smoke is thick enough, it will blot out the sun, but if you can catch it before its disk is completely obscured, you can look through binoculars or a telescope (well...at the image projected onto a sheet of paper held near the eyepiece) at the GREATLY dimmed disk and see in great detail actual sunspots. Depending on the solar cycle, how dim the image is, and how near or far you hold the paper, you won't just see "black dots," you should be able to see the frilled edges of the sunspots (don't know the scientific terms). We had nasty fires burning near Reno a few years back and the smoke plume was just huge, and it WAS snowing ash for a while. While trying to follow a tanker plane making a run on the leading edge, I thought to center on the sun and was amazed by the amount of detail I could see.

***Remember: NEVER look directly into the sun with binoculars or telescopes, no matter how thick the smoke is. You're still baking you're eyes with radiation other than visible light...***

devilmunchkin · January 19, 2003, 05:15

what is a fire storm?

DRoseDARs · January 19, 2003, 05:18

Quote:

Originally posted by devilmunchkin
what is a fire storm?

A forest fire that has grown large enough to have its own localized weather pattern.

Kinda similar to how large cities can affect their weather since they act as heat sinks. <--- Refered to as "heat islands."

FrustratedPoet · January 19, 2003, 05:52

Quote:

Originally posted by chegitz guevara
You guys shoulda had danger sex.

He never said they didn't.

Case · January 19, 2003, 06:03

I could see Navy Seahawk helicopters water bombing the nearby hills from my driveway this afternoon

(they were just puting out minor fires ahead of a major wind change).

Alexander's Horse · January 19, 2003, 06:14

Oh - is that what that was :b

Alexander's Horse · January 19, 2003, 06:22

This is a shot of the firefront taken a mile or so from my house when I dashed down to the hardware warehouse to get a few things. Incredibly, shops were still open and some people were still going about normally, I passed an (empty) bus still plying its route

We got blacked out from about 4pm till the early hours of the morning. The power went just before the fires reached our area so we were using torches and the only info we had on what was going on was battery powered radio.

Skanky Burns · January 19, 2003, 06:27

Doesn't sound (or look) too good.

I heard that it reached over 40 C yesterday.

Case · January 19, 2003, 06:31

Did you see the fire front at the bottom of your street? I was down having a look at it when the southerly change suddenly came in, and it nearly lept the road!

Alexander's Horse · January 19, 2003, 06:42

Yes I did - in fact I phoned it in - we saw it start as a spot fire ahead of the main front as we were driving home.

Here's a shot of Dominic in the car when I was taking the last photo. The 2 bigger boys were in Sydney. He was scared and stayed with me at all times. Patrick the baby was too young to be scared. He liked the emergency siren noise they were sounding on the radio every 15 minutes before state of emergency announcements and did a little jig and pointed at the radio whenever it came on.