It seems incomprehensible now, but eventually the enormity of the devastation in Victoria will hit home. At the time of writing 181 individuals have perished & it may well be a much bigger number over the next couple of weeks.

I woke last Sunday morning & was stunned at every channel covering the fires throughout Victoria. They had been burning during the preceding days, but fire is such an unknown quantity, being able to turn from a small paddock fire into a massive inferno in minutes.

The footage is astounding & even the reporters are putting their lives on the line to bring it to us. I'd probably be happier to not see the images of destruction & know less people are in danger but then we'd have less knowledge of what's happening.

It was only a few weeks ago that I did the walk from Waterfall Gully to the top of Mount Lofty on the outskirts of Adelaide. It's a damn hard walk, but the view from the top is worth the effort. However, it was only 26 years ago, that Mount Lofty was caught in the infamous Ash Wednesday fires back in 1983. 75 people lost their lives in South Australia & Victoria & while I was only 8 years old, I can still remember the tension in everyone's voice & the images of burnt out landmarks I knew so well. Most of those landmarks have been rebuilt & the area shows no signs of the tragedy with which it is associated. With the rebuild, the memories fade & the lessons which should have been clearly learned, tend to be forgotten.

Unfortunately, with the dry spell we've been having recently, the whole area is at risk of going up in flames again. I just hope those living in the hills area are seeing that fire doesn't discriminate & the best prepared are still at risk.

The threat of major fires isn't just for country areas, with a fire only a couple of kilometres from my home on Friday.



Apparently, it was caused by some nutter lighting a campfire & letting it get out of control. It caused the fire brigade to evacuate three streets & the closure of the Southern Expressway, which had it's own problem with a seven & five car pileup due to spectators checking out the fire.

My first realisation of the fire was a helicopter hovering & creating a drone which caught my attention. I couldn't tell if they were clouds or smoke plumes drifting in the area until a small water bombing plane flew straight over my head.



The plane made about five trips between the fire & Mount Bold Reservoir & on one flight it came through low enough that I could see the pilot.

Thankfully, no major damage was caused this time around & it clears a bit of land which won't burn again for a while.

While I'm not in any real danger where I live, I'm not taking any chances & I've secured my important documents so they have more chance of surviving should something happen. After all, in the Victorian fires, it's not so much the flames which have burnt down so many houses, as the embers which can fly many kilometres before landing on a rooftop & torching a property!