8 January 2013

Yarrabin goes to emergency warning

| johnboy
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numeralla fire

The NSW Rural Fire Service has an excellent fire map.

Sadly the most serious one is right near us:

Yarrabin
ALERT LEVEL: Emergency Warning
LOCATION: Running South and East of Mount Forest Road. Approximately 12km East of Cooma and 12km south of Numeralla
COUNCIL AREA: Cooma-Monaro
STATUS: Out of Control
TYPE: Scrub/Grass fire
FIRE: Yes
SIZE: 500 ha
MAJOR FIRE UPDATE AS AT 8 Jan 2013 09:37: An Emergency Warning has been issued for an out of control bush fire burning in the Numeralla area. more
RESPONSIBLE AGENCY: Rural Fire Service
UPDATED: 8 Jan 2013 09:00

They advise it’s too late to leave so sit tight.

screenshot

[firemap screenshot current at 10:10 08/01/13, photo as tweeted by @NSWRFS]


Emergency Warning – Yarrabin Fire (Cooma-Monaro LGA) 08/01/13 11:10
Posted: 08/01/2013
An Emergency Warning has been issued for an out of control bush fire burning in the Numeralla area.

Current Information

The bush fire is burning near the Mount Forest Road, Carlaminda area and is currently impacting on properties.

The fire is burning in a south easterly direction and has crossed over the Numeralla River. It is travelling towards the Kybean Valley.

It is too late for people in the Kybean Valley to leave. They are advised to shelter in place as the fire impacts .

Police are doorknocking homes in the area to advise them of the risk.

People in the Dangelong, Numeralla and Countegany areas sould expect to be affected by smoke and embers. People in this area should stay aware of the fire activity.

Two Emergency Alert Telephone Warning messages have been sent to residents in the Mount Forest Road and Kybean Valley areas.

Advice

It is now too late to leave for people in the area of Mount Forest Road, Carlaminda and the Kybean Valley. If you are in this area you should shelter in place as the fire impacts.

Protect yourself from the radiant heat.

Other information

If your life is at risk, call Triple Zero (000) immediately.

Continue to stay up to date with the bush fire situation by checking the RFS website www.rfs.nsw.gov.au, listening to your local radio station or by calling theNSW RFS Bush Fire Information Line on 1800 679 737.

For information on road closures, check http://livetraffic.rta.nsw.gov.au. Roads may be closed without warning.

The next update on this fire will be by 11.40am or before if the situation changes.

[Courtesy NSW RFS]


https://twitter.com/rfsmedia/status/288450100336918529


UPDATE 13:30 08/01/13:

A team of ACT firefighters has been sent interstate this afternoon to help with extinguishing a fire near Cooma.

The ACT Fire & Rescue crews are part of a Queanbeyan based Fire Rescue NSW taskforce deployed to the Numeralla fire.

The ACT resources include an urban fire pumper, water tanker and Commander.

For more information on the fire go to www.rfs.nsw.gov.au

1:29 PM

[Courtesy ESA]

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Ryoma said :

I have (distant) relatives in that area, but no way to contact them directly. As of 6pm last night, I’d heard that their property was OK, but I fear that may have changed with the southerly change that came through.

The house has been in the family for over 100 years, and I hope it and the people of the entire valley are OK. Having said that, God only knows what will be left to make a living from if most of the land is charred and bare.

I’d like to offer help, but can’t imagine just turning up uninvited and unannounced one day, once the danger is well and truly passed. And I was keen to go down and assist, but was told I’d just get in the way of the RFS crews, and that’s probably true….

But a question for the hive mind – apart from the obvious stuff (food,clothing,etc), what do you give a farming family to help them to get back on their feet? Fencing wire? Water tanks (no pun intended – not in a joking mood…)? Is it possible to get a rural equivalent of a gift card, or to pay for a credit at the local stock and station agent that these people can use?

I would appreciate your thoughts without too much sarcasm, thank you 🙂

I spent the day helping out up in Kybean yesterday. Some very lucky escapes for the houses up there. The farm I spent the bulk of the day on had flames come less than a meter away from the house. The biggest losses of course were the stock and fencing. I haven’t spent time helping directly affected people before so i found it interesting learning what was actually important “the day after”. Spent the morning getting water back to the house after the graders had cut the lines. Clearing the trails into the most affected areas so that we could actually do a proper count of the losses. Then after getting into the areas having to turn around and get guns/knifes to help out some the the badly hurt ones. That consumed much of the day and I think it was really helpful for the owners not to have to be doing that themselves. Hard enough just driving around looking at the disaster and too much to then have to put down so much stock by yourself.

As we were getting started with that the LHPA (livestock health and pest authority) showed up. 2 blokes from bega and later one from jindi and the local fella. They were fantastic in helping with the injured stock and after we all split up, were able to get the whole job done by 2 pm. They went above and beyond in staying to help when we drafted the rams and made most of the hard choices for the owners about which to let go, and giving shots to the ones that could be saved. I’ve never seen that side to a fire and it was sad to hear how much their funding and workforce had been gutted for the last few years.

I also helped with moving equipment and horses that had been evacuated back to farms. there were loads of donated fencing materials and feed arriving that had to be stored and help would be needed getting it distributed. Seemed like there was an almost never ending list of things to help with that had nothing to do with fighting fires at all.

Conan of Cooma said :

Only one place has been lost, but lots of damage to the properties. More than anything they will need stock to replenish what was lost, so I doubt you can help out there – Unless you can get handy discounts on loads of sheep!

Provided the weather doesn’t go crazy again, the serious scare should be over. That said, the main ridge leading from Cooma North towards Canbs hasn’t had a serious fire in almost 90 years, there is a lot of fuel there ready to go up. This ridge extends almost to the Cooma CBD, so will be quite interesting to see what happens if we get a fire there.

That could have happened in 2003 but the weather of the major fire day settled down and didn’t keep pushing it. Trust me, it could have happened as bush out as far a Brandy Flat before the end of the tar on the Bobyan Road was scorched to within an inch of its life.

There was a fire in that range up the back of Bredbo on Sunday but there was no news of it so it must have been put out then. Having said that you could have had your wish……

That area behind Kydra and Packers Swamp has not had a going over for quite a while either and is heavily laden with fuel, if this fire had taken a massive hols I would have imagined it would have stopped at Bermagui.

Only one place has been lost, but lots of damage to the properties. More than anything they will need stock to replenish what was lost, so I doubt you can help out there – Unless you can get handy discounts on loads of sheep!

Provided the weather doesn’t go crazy again, the serious scare should be over. That said, the main ridge leading from Cooma North towards Canbs hasn’t had a serious fire in almost 90 years, there is a lot of fuel there ready to go up. This ridge extends almost to the Cooma CBD, so will be quite interesting to see what happens if we get a fire there.

Thank you Conan, I appreciate your feedback. I am very pleased to hear that only one property has been lost, although very sorry for whichever family it is that has lost their home. You’d be right about me not being able to get my hands upon lots of sheep – but maybe it’s something I can help to chase up for them.

Let’s hope that the southerly change is helping, not hindering, the firefighting efforts. In particular, that it gives everyone enough time to get some rest, and to put firebreaks in ahead of another hot weekend ahead of us…

Conan of Cooma11:18 am 09 Jan 13

Tymefor said :

everyone from the kybean got out already only the rfs left in there.

It’s just Kybean, no ‘the’ required. The road to Cooma never closed, there is no fire close enough.

Ryoma said :

I have (distant) relatives in that area, but no way to contact them directly. As of 6pm last night, I’d heard that their property was OK, but I fear that may have changed with the southerly change that came through.

The house has been in the family for over 100 years, and I hope it and the people of the entire valley are OK. Having said that, God only knows what will be left to make a living from if most of the land is charred and bare.

I’d like to offer help, but can’t imagine just turning up uninvited and unannounced one day, once the danger is well and truly passed. And I was keen to go down and assist, but was told I’d just get in the way of the RFS crews, and that’s probably true….

But a question for the hive mind – apart from the obvious stuff (food,clothing,etc), what do you give a farming family to help them to get back on their feet? Fencing wire? Water tanks (no pun intended – not in a joking mood…)? Is it possible to get a rural equivalent of a gift card, or to pay for a credit at the local stock and station agent that these people can use?

I would appreciate your thoughts without too much sarcasm, thank you 🙂

Only one place has been lost, but lots of damage to the properties. More than anything they will need stock to replenish what was lost, so I doubt you can help out there – Unless you can get handy discounts on loads of sheep!

Provided the weather doesn’t go crazy again, the serious scare should be over. That said, the main ridge leading from Cooma North towards Canbs hasn’t had a serious fire in almost 90 years, there is a lot of fuel there ready to go up. This ridge extends almost to the Cooma CBD, so will be quite interesting to see what happens if we get a fire there.

I have (distant) relatives in that area, but no way to contact them directly. As of 6pm last night, I’d heard that their property was OK, but I fear that may have changed with the southerly change that came through.

The house has been in the family for over 100 years, and I hope it and the people of the entire valley are OK. Having said that, God only knows what will be left to make a living from if most of the land is charred and bare.

I’d like to offer help, but can’t imagine just turning up uninvited and unannounced one day, once the danger is well and truly passed. And I was keen to go down and assist, but was told I’d just get in the way of the RFS crews, and that’s probably true….

But a question for the hive mind – apart from the obvious stuff (food,clothing,etc), what do you give a farming family to help them to get back on their feet? Fencing wire? Water tanks (no pun intended – not in a joking mood…)? Is it possible to get a rural equivalent of a gift card, or to pay for a credit at the local stock and station agent that these people can use?

I would appreciate your thoughts without too much sarcasm, thank you 🙂

c_c™ said :

RFS website down as of 2:50pm, throwing up a 503 error. Not good.

Seems to be working at the moment. There seems to be an out of control fire east of Bungendore too. Hopefully we get some rain from these clouds overhead.

RFS website down as of 2:50pm, throwing up a 503 error. Not good.

Jivrashia said :

Not sure if these bushfire smokes are supposed to show up on the BOM rain radar,
but is this it?

Picture – 128 km Canberra (Captains Flat) Radar Loop 01:10UTC

Bushfire smoke certainly shows up on radar – I remember watching the ones for Black Saturday clearly. The link above is in the right place for the current fire.

Jivrashia said :

Not sure if these bushfire smokes are supposed to show up on the BOM rain radar,
but is this it?

Picture – 128 km Canberra (Captains Flat) Radar Loop 01:10UTC

I don’t think it’s suppose to per-say, but if they are water bombing the place, there is likely a lot of steam, and that would look like a cloud to a weather radar.

Not sure if these bushfire smokes are supposed to show up on the BOM rain radar,
but is this it?

Picture – 128 km Canberra (Captains Flat) Radar Loop 01:10UTC

anyone know if you can make the drive to cooma?

everyone from the kybean got out already only the rfs left in there.

Conan of Cooma11:26 am 08 Jan 13

Good lucks to my peeps out Kybean and Numeralla way!

Fark……..stark contrast to what I was looking at on Sunday…….

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