that's fantastic news GB... hopefully things continue to improve down your way so people can start to do whatever they need to do to get on with their lives as best they can.

The radio is currently reporting that of those dead 145 were killed in the Kinglake-Whittlesea fires. So many people in such a small area, there will be almost no one touched in some way by the toll, whether it be a friend of a friend or a close relative

 

Two small fires have now started near the ski lodge that my parents and I have shares in at Mt Baw Baw, so far it's being controlled but it's only about 10km away near the town of Tanil Bren (please keep safe everyone there) and we've been warned that a bit of wind in the wrong direction and it could go racing up the hill and they won't be protecting property as it's ust not accessible enough...

The radio is currently reporting that of those dead 145 were killed in the Kinglake-Whittlesea fires. So many people in such a small area, there will be almost no one touched in some way by the toll, whether it be a friend of a friend or a close relative

 

Two small fires have now started near the ski lodge that my parents and I have shares in at Mt Baw Baw, so far it's being controlled but it's only about 10km away near the town of Tanil Bren (please keep safe everyone there) and we've been warned that a bit of wind in the wrong direction and it could go racing up the hill and they won't be protecting property as it's ust not accessible enough...

 

its the wind change thats the threat where i am also

we have town meeting tonight at 7pm

just finished clearing yard again its constent need to keep everything clear

its the wind change thats the threat where i am also

we have town meeting tonight at 7pm

just finished clearing yard again its constent need to keep everything clear

 

Willing you strength of mind and body to get past all this mate :angel1:

its the wind change thats the threat where i am also

we have town meeting tonight at 7pm

just finished clearing yard again its constent need to keep everything clear

 

Willing you strength of mind and body to get past all this mate :angel1:

 

i going to pack my birds and have my wallet ready

have the kids ready we been told that if they come and say out you leave instently or stuck in town either way your in or out for few days i rather be out

they say its safe but i dont feel like i should push my luck been so lucky they saying we safe in the fire site in that but on other side of stick i have 7 fires burning around me one controled but are they ever really

one on other side dam but fires jump

one just down road in pig paddock

fam is saying its all good but if we have to leave they expect me to leave my birds like ***

all animals of mine come including baby quail that just hatched last week

so i think i should just leave now

and

Just found out that one of my uni lecturers died in the fires The worst part is I'm not sure which one, by the description on the news it could only be one of a couple but I'm waiting for more news. Either way these are people I've known for about 6 years, so they are friends really not just acquaintances :sad:

Just found out that one of my uni lecturers died in the fires The worst part is I'm not sure which one, by the description on the news it could only be one of a couple but I'm waiting for more news. Either way these are people I've known for about 6 years, so they are friends really not just acquaintances :sad:

That is really sad news They say that one way or another every one of us will be touched by this. Everyone in Australia will soon personally know of someone killed in these fires.

Sorry to hear that MB. Hugs.

GB I just checked the CFA site as I'm only five minutes down the road from Diamond creek and the only fire listed in that area was at Upper Plenty which was a small grass fire now listed as safe so tell your sister there isn't much to worry about there. That page is on constant update so if it's not on there it isn't burning :budgiedance:

 

I haven't logged on here for ages but since today is one of my first quiet days in a long time...

 

I am also in Diamond Creek. My son was devastated at the death of Sue, the lovely woman who owned and ran the Diamond Creek Pet Shop, where he stopped by every Friday on his way home from school to buy his bird seed and budgie supplies.

 

On that horrifically hot Saturday, my 12 year old son spent the whole day working at keeping his budgies alive. He took a soaking wet wool blanket and hung it on the side of his outdoor aviary to catch the wind, and had to keep wetting the blanket down every few minutes because the searing hot winds were drying it as fast as he could pour more water on it. In the end, we decided we had to get the budgies into the house, which meant taking the back door off its hinges to get the cage inside! He managed to keep them all alive. I'm really proud of him.

 

The terrible news of the death toll started trickling in on Sunday morning.

 

I was working on the Diamond Creek Relief Centre every day since Sunday 8th Feb and one by one, people I knew from the local community and beyond started coming in, all with stories of horror at the things they had seen. A very dear friend from Strathewen managed to get out alive with her husband and two young children after sheltering in their burning house, which exploded around them.

 

At the relief centre, it was heartening to see such an outpouring of community support. The government departments were all falling over themselves to be more important than each other, but the real heroes of the operation were the people from local communities who rallied together to help each other.

 

The weather forecast for next week is frightening and people are not even wondering whether to stay - they are just getting the *** out and trying to save their lives. I hope next week is boring and uneventful. It's been so terrible around here. Everyone in this community knows someone who lost their home and most people know someone who was killed.

your boy should be proud of his efforts

i am glad you see the importance of his birds and suported him

good job

it is very heart rentching to hear the storys of certain peoples terror i myself know well the pain of lossing friends tradgiclly

alot of the young children will be trurmatized for years to come if not helped to express their emotion it is delicate when children are involved and they need to be able to express in their own way even if that means us adults need to just let certian behaviours slip but without allowing bad habbits to be allowed i find with the really young drawings and paintings about what they felt is a good start with older children writtings and music is their main way of copeing so it pays to keep an ear out at the words in the music they are playing and seeing if it is a big veriation as to what they may normally listen to

all children have been afected by these fires either inavertivlly or not they need to be incoraged to open up and express their angziaty in all diffrent ways it is important that even the smallest words be heard and encoraged for these children to heal

many schools are involving the kids to partake in fundrasing even things like cooking and donating items just to help them feel like they are able to make a diffrence this is very good and i comend their understanding of the childs mind and the feeling that they have given to others helps them as much as it does us adults i have seen small children aged 3 and up to five giving the most strangest things for afected people but if it helps them heal does not matter what it is they must be allowed to give it

the biggest lesson alot of people young and old are learning is that life is unreplacable and almost everything else is .

He's a great boy GB. I am very proud of him.

 

The memorial service for Sue from the Diamond Creek Pet Shop will be held next Tuesday and my son wants to go. He said he's going to bring a couple of his budgies as well, in their travelling cage because he knows Sue would have loved to have pets there at her service. I just don't know how I'm going to face it. I'm tearing up right now just thinking about it.

 

I have two funerals to attend this weekend as well