Hello and welcome to the blog...and howdy to Peru, Brazil, Canada, and Indonesia...and another bizarre weather day in South Eastern Australia leading to terrible bushfires across Victoria, and a sudden re-flare of the Bangor fire near the Flinders Ranges here in South Australia, threatening several small towns like Laura and Wirrabarra...that fire's been burning for 3 weeks.
In Queensland there is a devastating drought inland but record-breaking rains and flooding on the coast due to tropical lows, but that rain is not making it inland...and very similar conditions exist across northern New South Wales...and it is 5 years to the day (yesterday) since the Black Saturday fires killed 170 people across Victoria.
Yesterday Adelaide, or at least the Hills area around Crafers, Belair, etc, dodged several bullets as 4 fires (?-it may have been 1 fire that spotted-out) were reportedly deliberately started around the outskirts of the Belair National Park...other reports suggest it may have been a goods train's brakes...fortunately the weather conditions were very benign and the fires were controlled...on one night mid-week there were 11-12 fires deliberately lit around Adelaide's outer Southern suburbs, and again relatively calm conditions allowed Country Fire Service units to control them...good work.
The Herald Sun Cycle Race event's last day to be held around the Mornington Peninsula (South-East of Melbourne) has been cancelled by organisers...going by the general graphic on ABC TV 24 Greater Melbourne is effectively ringed by fires if not actually directly threatened as such...Melbourne itself covers a huge area so many of these semi-rural peripheral areas are considered as outer suburbs.
Victoria has copped the worst it, with the cool change that has pushed through here around 0600 this morning now driving winds Easterly so that they fuel the fires...temperatures are dropping but it's still dry as, with very strong winds...I've heard reports of some confirmed arson re these fires, but I believe that lightning strikes are most likely responsible for the Bangor fires...and this is all part of the third heatwave in a month, and there is only more to come...('heatwaves' are loosely defined as 5 or more days above 35C).
ABC News 24 is just now running graphic footage taken from a helicopter of several homes burning in the Gisborne(?) area and the fire sweeping forward in waves...one moment it was one side of the house, then along side it, then passed it and through to the road...it looked like it had gone by so quickly that the house was ok, but then you could see flames along the rear eaves, and all the few fire-fighters on hand could do was try to stop it spreading further away from the house.
This fire appears to have started/is burning in what is effectively heavily wooded suburbs and a clear demonstration of what would happen through-out the Adelaide Hills or even in Mt Gambier...even with the apparently quite sparse tree coverage in Mt Gambier itself, when you look down the slope from the Lakes area you can barely see the buildings for the trees...and it's the buildings that burn hardest and hottest if a fire gets a hold.
No clever segues here because the latest round of pointless self-justification from Mt Gambier City Council about it's ludicrous 'Plan For The Futurrrrrrrrryaayaayaya' relates directly to their failure to do the things they should be doing...and that includes fire protection of Mt Gambier...I have covered this in several posts recently...the ridiculous, nepotistic, frivolous, wanton, self-serving decision processes of Council have seen fire-protection measures around Mt Gambier completely neglected.
And I'll go there again...Councillors, Mayor, CEO, I know you're reading this blog or at least aware of it's content...and I put you on notice that you all are responsible should the unthinkable happen...with your dodgy cafes for each other, and dodgier land re-zonings, and insider trading and nepotism, all the money you have wasted on the most ludicrous things, eg, re-paving the Main Street...with that one project alone you have 'burned' (pardon the pun) well over $1million...that money and those personnel should have been used to address the massive fuel load in the Lakes area.
Yes, I know the Blue Lake is controlled by SA Water and entirely their responsibility, but that leaves the huge area around the Valley and Leg of Mutton Lakes, and you, Council, have greatly increased the fuel load by chopping trees down and then leaving them where they fall...and there is still so much fuel in roadside verges in many places around town, and some of that falls to the Grant District Council...but I digress...
The latest effort by Council is a series of workshops with 'experts in the field' to figure out 4 themes about development in Mt Gambier...whilst I have covered the general theme of 'It's A Bit Bloody Late' in many previous posts, eg, boundary adjustments, development controlled by Grant District Council, City Council's appalling decisions that compound the GDC controlled damage, etc, etc, this deserves a full dismantling tomorrow...
And let me take a wild stab at where these learned academics stay when they come to Mt Gambier to tell us how to improve ourselves...where do these people stay, those so learned in the ways of science, the acts that appear at the Sir Robert Helpmann Theatre, etc, etc...and I do mean virtually all of them...with our Mayor Steve Perryman at his fine establishment...(yeah well McMahons didn't stay there during the Old Hospital Demolition did they?...you put paid to that with all ya' whingin'-Ed)...Ed, you're back, good to have you along but where have you been?
(Well being as I am the light relief, I just felt that my presence was unwarranted and inappropriate over the last couple of posts-Ed)...no, you're way more than light relief...you often offer an illuminating opinion ...(ta-Ed)...so anyhoos, what brings you back?...(well, you started on about City Council's self-declared desire for 'Public Consultation', and quite frankly I'm not missing that chance to mock them for their blatant deceits and petulant, hypocritical indignation-Ed)...I think I love you Ed...
(Who the shrek do they think they're fooling when they bang on repeatedly about getting 'Public Consultation' and how important it is to them, etc?...you, Council, have proven time and again to do exactly what your constituent members want for yourselves and your mates...you do not listen and you do not care...nobody believes you...but to then whinge about how poorly the Transport Department treats you re the Bicycle Lanes when they refuse to do 'Consultation', that's just a joke-Ed)...
And in The Border Watch Friday 7th February 2014, another Graham Greenwood article that addresses the bizarre nomination and appointment of Councillor Penny Richardson as Deputy Mayor ...and the quite bizarre observation that Cr Ian Von Stanke is lobbying to be Mayor...(bizarre-Ed)...I still have not figured out exactly what sort of stunt Council is pulling here, but everyone I've spoken to says that it stinks...why would Cr Richardson's greatest critic Cr Mutton suddenly nominate her?
Sorry, but I'm knackered, so I'm going to bail here...until,
Tomorrow: More Council, More Frackin', More of Everythin'
Thanks again for your patronage, patience, and some feedback I'll cover as well tomorrow...
I am Nick Fletcher and this is my blog...cheers and laters...
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