Posted on 01/09/2020 3:47:01 PM PST by Mariner
American firefighters were welcomed with applause and cheers in the Sydney, Australia, airport this week as they arrived with gear in hand to help fight against the wildfires currently ravaging the country.
On Thursday, Shane Fitzsimmons, commissioner of New South Wales Rural Fire Service, shared a video of the emotional moment on Twitter:
This is the first time since 2010 that the U.S. has sent firefighters to help Australia battle wildfires. The National Interagency Fire Center, the government agency coordinating the U.S. firefighters going to Australia, told the Los Angeles Times that “roughly 100 firefighters” had been sent in December and early January, with “50 to 60 more planned to be dispatched” this week.
(Excerpt) Read more at yahoo.com ...
It's estimate that 1 billion animals have died. 2,000 homes destroyed and 25 person dead. Nearly 1/4 of Australia is on fire.
Worse than CA wildfires and a horrible tragedy.
Nice to see someone appreciates Americans; obviously democrats don’t.
Nearly 1/4 of Australia on fire - an unimaginable disaster but all too real.
Unbelieveable! God Help Australia, they need RAIN!
Just keep praying for slow, steady rains. Those are great people, they will need help getting their lives back on track. Aussies and Americans are a lot alike.
There are a lot of bats dying over there. Please pray for rain!
Thanks US firefighters.
According to one bushfire expert, 5% of Australia should burn every year, in order to reduce the combustible load, and government policies have them way overdue.
I wondered how the Aborigine people ever survived such a place, but they used to set fires to renew and control plant growth. Now most of them are in settlement towns and aren’t managing their lands the old way.
Most fire-prone country in the world. Even some hunting birds carry burning twigs and spread fire.
Less than 1% of Australia is on fire or has burned.
I have no idea where this 1/4 number comes from.
Thanks for the information. Are you in a danger area?
If so please stay safe.
L
Thank you for correcting this, I knew the number was incorrect, one of the American ‘media’ outlets produced a very misleading map which makes it look dire in Oz. Many people have not seen accurate representations.
My home is pretty safe, but I’m a volunteer firefighter who has been repeatedly sent to the fires in eastern Victoria. Home at the moment - likely to go back next week on current indicators.
It’s not actually all that dangerous as long as we are careful - we’re trained and we have good equipment.
But thanks for the good wishes.
Yes - I’ve seen some of the maps.
Some are fairly accurate in showing where the fires have been but to make them visible on a continent sized maps, a lot of the smaller fires are shown much larger than they actually are - we do have a few big ones burning but a lot more were quite small.
People don’t really get how big Australia is. The insanity of 25% of Australia being burned is a clear indicator of that. It would be the equivalent area equal to Alaska and Texas combined being burnt.
And the said fact is a quite a number of the fire have been deliberately set and adding to the fuel is the fact that in the past decade environmentalist’s have succeeded in preventing the Australian government from conducting controlled burns and removing dead undergrowth.
“It’s not actually all that dangerous as long as we are careful - we’re trained and we have good equipment.”
Wasn’t the Mylar-type fire shelter invented in Australia? I heard that somewhere, but couldn’t verify it in a quick internet search. I carried one of those a lot when I fought fires for the U.S. Forest Service in the 70s and 80s, but never had to use one, thank God.
Anyway, please be careful and stay safe.
For the Australian people and all those kangaroos, the prime symbol of Australia.
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