Bush fires - where are they

We've been getting lots of messages from people all over the world - so this post will try to explain where we are in relation to the fires and the impact it's having on people we know.

Moora is a few km south of a town called Gisborne - 50 km from the centre of Melbourne and at about 10 o'clock (North west from Melbourne). We are just off the Calder Highway - which goes to Bendigo.

The main fires are to the east of us. One of the most serious started at Kilmore East - similar distance from Melbourne, but at 12 o'clock. It swept south from there through Wandong (5 past 12) to Whittlesea (1-00 and closer to Melbourne) and Kinglake (1-30) then on to St Andrews (2 o'clock and closer in again).

We lived just south of Kilmore for 12 years. We know many people who must be affected. Our kids went to school in Kilmore - they have many friends with family in the area. I know the area around Kilmore and Wandong well enough to be able to piece together what happened and to easily imagine the horror of it all.

Our old place hasn't burned. It would be about 5 km west and a little south of where it started. At first the winds were screaming down from the north - and pushing the fire south. Then the wind changed to the south west - and the fire was going away from Kilmore.

Although the super hot temperatures of last week and the week before have now passed, there is still a significant threat. That will last at least until we get some good rain - and that could be weeks, or even months, away. Until then, we will be concerned about Moora. That said, we actively manage it for the lowest possible fire risk. We have relatively few native trees on the farm - and almost none around the house. We have no long grass anywhere.

The worst loss of life has occurred / is occurring in areas that are heavily treed with eucalypts - which burn very readily. Eucalypt forest generally copes well with fire - it burns quickly and, provided the fuel load is not too high, it burns 'coolly'. The trouble is our forests don't burn often enough now - and fuel loads then accumulate. In a cool fire, a fire front can pass over someone in a car or house or shed, and they might (probably will) survive. In hot fires, there is too much fuel on the ground that continues to burn - and there are fewer (or no) survivors.

Personally, I would never live in or adjacent to a eucalypt forest. They may only burn catastrophically once in 30 to 50 years, but that is too often for me. I grew up in New Zealand, but within a few years of arriving in Victoria I had heard of the 1939 fires - and started to form my ideas about acceptable risk.

Thank you all for your messages of concern and goodwill. Like Pancho and Lefty - 'we need your prayers tonight'!