[Megan Fitzgerald]

Today is the first day that the fire bans have been lifted since Christmas
in some areas !
Fires are still burning back home (2hours North of Sydney), homes still in
danger and people still being warned they might have to evacuate!

Last week I spent some time in a cabin on Wiseman's Ferry (1 hour from
Sydney).  I was about to take my first sip of vodka in the cabin's outside
spa when all the lights went out in the valley.  All you could see was
burning bushland on the hill, the smoke was so strong you could have sworn
you were sitting right next to a smouldering fire.  Big pieces of ash in the
spa!
Turns out the fires got so bad they had to turn off the communities power so
they could use it to fight the fires.

The next morning I drove through a place called Spencer and everything was
still cooking...at one point it felt so wrong driving along road while
bushland either side of me was still burning,  I thought I'd driven through
a road block.  Bush either side of the road had caught on fire, kilometre
after Kilometre of it.  Its so hard to imagine how those residents could
continue living with that smoke.    In a span of 30mins I almost hit a
Kangaroo and its joey, a massive wombat grazing on the side of the road, and
had to dodge a lace monitor (big bloody lizard) that also ran across the
road.  Oh and I had a crazy cockatoo fly into my windscreen but it survived
the collision.  I presume the reason why I saw so much wildlife was because
these animals don't have anywhere else to go.  So sad...

And just when I thought it was all over I saw a tree fall across the road
100 metres ahead of me.  Earlier on I drove past an  electronic boards along
the side of the road saying "Caution Falling Trees" but I was surprised to
see it actually happen.  Luckily I was driving a 30 year old SS Holden that
had struggled up the dirt road a little earlier otherwise the tree could
have taken me and the car out

My heart goes out to all those people who have had their lives and property
taken by these fires. The sick individuals who light these fires need to see
the destruction they have caused to people, bushland and all the animals
that have nothing left now.

Megan




-----Original Message-----
From: LLOYD_Ian@canon.com.au [mailto:LLOYD_Ian@canon.com.au]
Sent: Wednesday, 2 January 2002 11:25 AM
To: powderworks@cs.colorado.edu
Subject: [Powderworks] BUSHFIRES


I'm sitting here at work looking at fires which are only a matter of km's
away being water bombed by
helicopters!
I wasn't here during 94' but heard the stories, now unfortunately i'm
witnessing it over again the
2nd time.
Sorry for the NMOC!
Cheers!

IAN LLOYD - National Sales Admin. Team Leader
CANON - Business Imaging Solutions Group
Level 2, 1 Thomas Holt Drive, North Ryde 2113
PH: (02) 9805 2384
FAX: 1800 352227
E-MAIL: lloyd_ian@canon.com.au


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