Wow! I hope it doesn't get much worse!
We did the same thing (but bigger, so far) a decade or so ago, when hot,
dry winds turned a little brush fire into a firestorm through parts of
Oakland. Fortunately, the wind was blowing away from us, but we went up
to the end of a street a few blocks away and watched a ridge burn.
Whoosh, up went a tree into a tower of flame. A few minutes later,
Whoomph, up went the house next to it. People I knew were completely
burned out, nothing left but foundation and ashes. Financially and
psychologically devasting, at least in the short run. The human animal
is remarkably resilient. People I know have gone on with their lives and
largely recovered. Except everybody, burned out or not, now gets a sense
of unease when those hot, dry East winds blow in the fall.
Moose
John Wheeler wrote:
One of our most photogenic cities was yesterday partly decimated by summer
bushfires. Currently the toll amounts to 4 people dead with about 30
injured, some seriously, and 388 homes gutted. The city is Canberra, our
national capital and emergency services report that the worst is not yet over.
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