Hi all

A bit of a bushfire thing happening down here at the moment

Lots of smoke but nothing else at the moment

There are boats out there somewhere

Regards Don

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Donk107 said..
Hi all

A bit of a bushfire thing happening down here at the moment

Lots of smoke but nothing else at the moment

There are boats out there somewhere

Regards Don

Stay safe Donk

It's somehow fitting on Australia day that we have heat waves and bushfires, it's tough and brutal this land of ours, even for the initiated. I hope all the wooden boats for the festival are all ok, even simple things like accommodation must be getting a bit nuts down there with people trying to get out of the way.
We're thinking of all you guys,
SB

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theselkie said..

Donk107 said..
Hi all

A bit of a bushfire thing happening down here at the moment

Lots of smoke but nothing else at the moment

There are boats out there somewhere

Regards Don

Stay safe Donk

Don best info I have is that the fire front is about 2km from Geevston so about say 5 km from you but the wind has dropped

Shaggy the issue is that it is a long weekend and traditionally hundreds of campers go to rescherche bay
that not such a problem but the only road out of the far south is Scott's road right near Geeveston and past don' s house

Hi all

Thanks for your thoughts and information

Just returned from the community briefing at Geeveston and things are looking up with the conditions yesterday not as bad as predicted and for the next couple of days things should be ok with next Wednesday being a bit of a concern

There was a couple of spot fires ahead of the main fire that were a concern but these have been contained

People asked about the lack of information released to the public and the authorities said they were a bit unsure of where the edges of the fire actually were due to the large amount of smoke making it difficult to get helicopters up

The SE sea breeze kicked in a few hours ago and the view out the front looks a lot better now

Regards Don

A bit of an update for Lydia and others who may be interested

It is blowing about 20 knots from NW and W which has blown a lot of smoke back over us and I imagine may be pushing the fire a bit closer as well

Tas Fire has just announced that there are a couple of active edges that they are concerned about and have dozers putting in containment lines on the southern edge and have a Hercules water bomber (someone just said on Facebook there was a 737 water bomber as well as the Hercules) and 9 helicopters dropping water on the more northern edge of the fire as well as the normal ground crews

The alert level in the Port Huon/Geeveston area has been lowered but I think that this thing will go on for a while yet

Regards Don

Just an update

The police came around and told us to leave and this was confirmed by a workmate who is the chief of the local fire brigade

Currently at Huonville at the evacuation centre and waiting for the 7pm update

Regards Don

Don
Good you are out, it was very difficult to get good information on this particular fire.
The alerts are so broad they are meaningless.
James and Deano had a plan worked out so leave it up to them.

Best of luck Don, hope the weather gods smile and it misses everyone.
Did you or anyone else move their boats out?

The extent and locations of the fires around Australia ...

sentinel.ga.gov.au/#/

Hi Lydia

the area of concern at the moment is Castle Forbes Bay and the police are stopping cars at the Huonville bridge and only letting residents through but only to Franklin

The Fire fighters have set up a post at the Kermandie Hotel car park and working out of there

We went to the briefing tonight and they said it depends on the wind as to what happens but they are really concerned about Wednesday

I will try to call some people who chose to stay at Port Huon tomorrow and see what is happening down there

This is the map from the briefing tonight but it shows the fire as it was yesterday and it has run a bit today with the string NW winds

Regards Don

Hi Lydia

This is the latest I mage from the sentinel hotspots website and it looks like there is a new fire down near surges

Regards Don

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Donk107 said..
Hi Lydia

This is a image from the sentinel hotspots website

Regards Don

Geez Don, that looks pretty grim still.
Is the concern for Wednesday due to the expected winds?
Hope you guys are all managing OK.

best wishes for all in the valley thoughts are with you

Good luck to you Donk and everybody there. I went through the Ash Wednesday fires in SA so I have a very good idea
how folks are feeling.

Stay safe Don lets hope it misses you

Forecast is bad for today with hi temperatures, strong winds and low humidity and the fire is now getting near the populated areas and also heading further south

The if it jumps the river near Cradoc like it did in 1967 who knows what will happen

3 confirm homes already lost in the northern area of the fire

Hoping for the best but not confident we and a lot of other people will still have a house to go home to

Regards Don

Hi Don,
How are you guys travelling down there? Have the conditions eased at all?
Cheers,
SB

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shaggybaxter said..
Hi Don,
How are you guys travelling down there? Have the conditions eased at all?
Cheers,
SB

Hi Shaggy

Finally back home tonight after being evacuated on Monday and allis well

The Fire is still going but favourable condition during the last couple of days has slowed it down and allowed the fire fighters, helicopters and water bombing aircraft to make some progress against it

Not out of the woods yet with bad condition forecast for Sunday but we will wait and see what happens

3 homes have been lost so far on the northern boundary of the fire and a fair bit of damage to the Tahune Airwalk and the Southwood Mill but hopefully the fire fighters can keep it away from any other homes

This is what it looks like now on the hotspot website which is a lot better than it did a few days ago

Regards Don

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Donk107 said..

shaggybaxter said..
Hi Don,
How are you guys travelling down there? Have the conditions eased at all?
Cheers,
SB

Hi Shaggy

Finally back home tonight after being evacuated on Monday and allis well

The Fire is still going but favourable condition during the last couple of days has slowed it down and allowed the fire fighters, helicopters and water bombing aircraft to make some progress against it

Not out of the woods yet with bad condition forecast for Sunday but we will wait and see what happens

3 homes have been lost so far on the northern boundary of the fire and a fair bit of damage to the Tahune Airwalk and the Southwood Mill but hopefully the fire fighters can keep it away from any other homes

This is what it looks like now on the hotspot website which is a lot better than it did a few days ago

Regards Don

Good to hear that you're back home Don. Hope they can keep a handle on it over the weekend. How's the smoke level down there?

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2bish said..

Donk107 said..

shaggybaxter said..
Hi Don,
How are you guys travelling down there? Have the conditions eased at all?
Cheers,
SB

Hi Shaggy

Finally back home tonight after being evacuated on Monday and allis well

The Fire is still going but favourable condition during the last couple of days has slowed it down and allowed the fire fighters, helicopters and water bombing aircraft to make some progress against it

Not out of the woods yet with bad condition forecast for Sunday but we will wait and see what happens

3 homes have been lost so far on the northern boundary of the fire and a fair bit of damage to the Tahune Airwalk and the Southwood Mill but hopefully the fire fighters can keep it away from any other homes

This is what it looks like now on the hotspot website which is a lot better than it did a few days ago

Regards Don

Good to hear that you're back home Don. Hope they can keep a handle on it over the weekend. How's the smoke level down there?

Hi 2bish

Still a lot of smoke around the area but it depends on the wind direction as to where it is going

Apparently Cygnet has been copping a fair bit since the fires started

Regards Don

Still lots of smoke and we will see what today brings

Regards Don

Lots happening down here this afternoon with the wind fanning the fire

Lots of fire and police vehicles heading south in a hurry and water bombing choppers flying overhead

We are back on emergency alert but the fire is a few miles south and the wind here has settled down so we are ok at the moment

I went out to the boat yesterday and it was filthy with lots of ash on it but otherwise it was ok

Regards Don

Hope all goes well Donk . its a tough time of year , lets hope we have enough water bommers to go around !!
We have a couple of bad ones here in vic as well .
Lets hope the gov keeps funding our emergency services !!
Those aircraft are so good for saving property.

Hi Sands

The good thing about Tassie is that nowhere is very far from the water if the choppers need to refill

There are some flying over with buckets underneath and others with hoses that hover over the water and suck it up with a hose and they have been working hard down here for the last couple of weeks but I think that until we get some decent rain this thing will be ongoing

At the moment the area that the fire has burnt is 57,000 hectares and we have had it all around us apart from the east where the river is

Regards Don

Another home lost just south of here and looking at the hotspot website it is moving south

Choppers and fixed wing water bombing all day today but this looks to be ongoing

Regards Don

It's rainng

yea

Regards Don

great news

That fantastic Don, glad to hear it. I hope its widespread, you know it's been 11 days since you first posted?
That's a big stint.
Glad to here good news, and a nod to all the SES and Fire services, they must be pretty stuffed by now.

Don
I am down tomorrow night to get the big boat and take it up town
see you up town over the weekend hopefully
L