This is the result of the horrible heat waves we've been having...

[Black Angel]

Victorian bushfire death toll hits 35 (http://news.ninemsn.com.au/national/744864/worst-day-in-history-vic-fires-kill-14)

This isn't in my state, and thank goodness our heat wave here has ended, but some of the footage from these fires is downright scary. I feel so sorry for the people and families caught by these bushfires. They think the death toll is going to be higher too, they just haven't been able to get to all the areas that have been hit by the fires so far. :(

[Squash Cop]

I think there's a cream for that now.

[Ergeheilalt]

:rimshot:

[Black Angel]

They're now saying 65 are dead. (http://news.ninemsn.com.au/national/744864/worst-day-in-history-vic-fires-kill-14)

This sucks. :(

[Lady Fury]

That's awful.:( Being burned to death/smoke inhalation is a horrible way to die.

[Megamieuwsel]

76 now.
Damn serious stuff; even makes it to our local newspaper.

And I've read, the police has reason to believe the fires are set deliberately...

[Black Angel]

Yeah that's just the worst! :mad: I can't believe people are so stupid/careless/cruel. Stupid/careless, because people have said some of the fires might have been started by people throwing cigarette butts out of car windows. I mean really. It's a 46 degree day and gale force winds. What did they think would happen?! And cruel, because there really are crazy people out there that like to start this stuff. It's just so wrong.

[Edena_of_Neith]

My sincere regrets. About the 76 dead. About the fires. About the heat wave.

Has this been an all-time record heat wave? Or just a really bad heat wave?
How many hectares of land have burned?

[shiningbrow]

This is a terrible business. I had no idea that arson was a possible cause. That's just awful. It's shocking to see the photos of burned cars and people being burned out of their homes. I hope it ends soon without further loss of life.

[Freedom Canadian]

We're also having a heat wave. The snow is melting.

[Morbidity]

We're now up to 108 dead and rising (80 in hospital not all expected to survive). I think this makes it the worst bushfires in recorded history in Australia. I just hope they catch the arsonists and roast them slowly. What a horrible, horrible way for anyone to die.

Temperatures are cooler today finally with rain, so hopefully all the fires can be got under control.

Edit: Edena the stats are 108 dead, 750 homes destroyed, 330,000 hectares burned.

[Dawnstar]

Holy Crap. If someone set that fire then they need to be stoned to death. I mean to set a fire that killed so many people. This is just very sad.

[Edena_of_Neith]

http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090208/NATION/902080323/1020

It's like Yellowstone National Park was, only this went through heavily populated areas.
It's really, really, really bad.

An area equal to 2% of the size of the entire State of Michigan (both peninsulas) has burned.

[Morbidity]

We've currently got national disasters declared in 2 states. 60% of Queensland is under water and Victoria has the bushfires. I'm in New South Wales which is between Victoria and Queensland and has so far escaped both fire (just had a couple of ones which were contained) and flood.

I think we're waiting on the plague of locusts now.

[Lmik]

Its terrible over there - I read this morning that a volunteer firefighter fought fires all day and then came home to find his wife and child dead.

[Name Lips]

Holy Crap. If someone set that fire then they need to be stoned to death. I mean to set a fire that killed so many people. This is just very sad.

It's not uncommon... hell here in NM a couple years ago it turned out that a big fire was started by a fucking forest fire fighter - he was upset that there was no work and he was broke so he thought he'd go start a few fires to drum up business.

[Ancalagon]

this is horrible! 108 dead (and probably more), what a terrible way to die... :(

[Random Encounter]

This quote from the article on cnn gives me hope for humanity.

So many people have brought donations to relief centers in Victoria that the police have asked them to stop.

"Police appreciate that people want to help the victims of the fire," senior constable Wayne Wilson said in a statement, but added: "The number of people bringing items to the centers is causing difficulties in the operation of these centers."

It's a problem but people want to help each other and not just a few but enough to cause issues.

[Ancalagon]

death toll now up to 128 :(

[Xavier Lang]

This quote from the article on cnn gives me hope for humanity.



It's a problem but people want to help each other and not just a few but enough to cause issues.

That is nice to hear.

[Black Angel]

Now THIS (http://catchthefire.com.au/blog/2009/02/10/media-release-abortion-laws-to-blame-for-bush-fires/#more-2215) just pisses me the hell off! I have no words for how immensely stupid this media release is. :what: :mad:

[Morbidity]

BA you beat me too it. They are currently predicting 300+ dead and some nutty Christian group is claiming that it's because Victoria legalised abortion.

Grrrrr...

Edit now that I'm calmer. I'm now thinking about what a horrible being God would be if he randomly killed 300 people including children because abortion was legalised. How awful to have that kind of vengefulness as one's supreme being.

[Ancalagon]

:mad:

You know what that BS reminds me of? It reminds me of that cook - was it phelps? - who claimed that 9-11 happened because God removed his "shield of protection" over the USA due to his anger over gays.

Hell has a special place for the people who set those fires, but it has a lesser but still special place for those who spew this kind of crap too!

[doc]

People are nuts. BA, Morbs I haven't seen the lads on here (PIS and Atticuss are they ok ?

[Edena_of_Neith]

How many square miles in total have now burned?
Michigan is around 53,000 square miles, in comparison. Your fire is MASSIVE.

(If the loss is in hectares, how many acres are in a hectare? Anyone?)

And ...

I am really sorry about the (deleted) things those people said ... : (

[Morbidity]

1 hectare = 2.47 acres
330,000 hectares = 815,448 acres

[there_is_no_bob]

(If the loss is in hectares, how many acres are in a hectare? Anyone?)
Google will answer this question - just enter

# unit1 in unit 2

into a Google search

For example:
1 hectare in acres
1 square mile in square kilometers
1 quart in liters
1 imperial quart in liters
1 imperial quart in cubic meters

will all give the appropriate unit conversion, and you can just replace the '1' with the number you want converted.

[Ancalagon]

a hectare is 100 meters by 100 meters. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre

[Name Lips]

See, in America we have more reasonable units of measurment, like "the amount of land one ox can plow in a day." I mean, who doesn't get an exact picture in their mind of how much land that represents?

[Edena_of_Neith]

How many square miles of land, total, have burned in Australia, so far?

[Random Encounter]

How many square miles of land, total, have burned in Australia, so far?

CNN's last report said it was 901,935 acres destroyed. Which according to google is 1409.27 sq miles.

[Pigs in Space]

How many square miles of land, total, have burned in Australia, so far?

I don't know, pick a few US states worth.

[Random Encounter]

I don't know, pick a few US states worth.

The 10 smallest States in America for comparison.

West Virginia ---- 24,231 square miles
Maryland ------- 12,407 square miles
Hawaii ---------- 10,932 square miles
Massachusetts -- 10,555 square miles
Vermont --------- 9,615 square miles
New Hampshire -- 9,351 square miles
New Jersey ------ 8,722 square miles
Connecticut ----- 5,544 square miles
Delaware -------- 1,954 square miles
Rhode Island ---- 1,545 square miles
District of Columbia - 68.25 square miles (176.75 square km)

So about the same as the entire state of Rhode Island including water.