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Hoping it didn't cause too much destruction.

Hope you are OK Jeremy.

Fortunately for us it is extremely rare that we have anything like this here. I hope that it soon burn out without causing any personal damage. I know that certain trees and plants benefit from such fires but animals and people alike are the losers.

Keep yourself and your family safe Jeremy............

Many thanks for your concern - much appreciated. But S.Aust got out of this one cheap. The Emergency Fire Service(EFS) put out this one very smartly. In Victoria they are going through hell - 25 dead (current count) and huge property losses.

We are thinking of you folks over there, this is reported on our national news.

I've just been reading the reports inhttp://www.timesonline.co.uk The fires in Victoria sound horrific, together with the temperatures (49C in Melbourne). Your firefighters do a truly astounding job - they all deserve medals. Shame they can't divert all that surplus water from the North. Everything seems so out of balance these days.

Hi Wagger. Unfortunately the death toll has now risen to 84 - which is higher than the Ash Wednesday firestorm in 1983 which was, until now, our deadliest bushfire in recent history. To make matters worse it now seems as though some of the fires were deliberately lit. That makes it seem even worse somehow.

Hi All,

We is SA got a cool change - thank goodness and they are predicting rain in the south (Kangaroo Island). Some of the fires in NSW are out of control and the evening news reported a 31 yr. old bloke is in custody for starting a fire.

Yes those CFS chaps are good, very good but there is a limit to what they can do.

Jeremy.

If they catch firestarters they should be charged with murder. We seem to hear this every year of fires lit deliberately - anybody think harsher penalties might change that?

Re:If they catch firestarters they should be charged with murder

Yes, we should deport them to Afghanistan!

Even that is too good for them, I have been reading terrible accounts of the fires, it is very hard to imagine what it is like to live through something like that, one particular account in the Times was very moving the guy was a reporter and managed to survive by getting in his car with his family and what pets they could find, he lost everything he owned but as he says he is alive.
Jeremy I had to come back to your picture to make sure all was ok your end....had just looked at the pic, when it was reported, not knowing much about your part of the world, was worried it might have been your area.

Daisy (?),

Thankyou for your concern. I hail from South Australia and so far we have been very lucky so we are fine, But SA has had some very bad fires and on Kangaroo Island. I know that the destruction of human life and property has been almost complete in some towns and this is a shocking tragedy. But I feel for all the animals especially the story of Gizmo the dog - see "timesonline".