Victoria Fires

[Moke]

Just watching the news and all the coverage is about the fires. I hope all you Victorian teams are okay.

There was a shot of a guy running from the fire that looked like Rob from RMIT, we hope it's not him.

[Moke]

Just watching the news and all the coverage is about the fires. I hope all you Victorian teams are okay.

There was a shot of a guy running from the fire that looked like Rob from RMIT, we hope it's not him.

[oz_olly]

The fires have been terrible. It is the worst bushfire tradgedy in Australia ever. It is great to see Australia uniting to support all the people who have been affected. I was listening to a radio pledge on the way home this afternoon and there were at least two personal $20,000 donations, quite amazing.

It will be interesting to see what outcomes the Royal Inquiry comes up with. It has been suggested for a long time in Australia that we should have underground bush fire shelters. Instead we have tended to invest more money on fire fighting equipment. It seems as though the people who stayed to protect their homes got caught out because once they realised they couldn't protect their home they had no where to go. The worst story I have heard so far was of a blokes family that was killed along with several others in their house. It had been specially designed with an integral fire fighting system with sprinklers built into the roof so people thought it would be safe and shetlered there. Unfortunately the system was inadequate.

It makes me thing if you can not stop the fire and you don't evacuate what sort of designs/ideas give people the best chance at survival. Some sort of cheap underground shelter with a system to prevent the fire from consuming your air supply as it passes over would work. I think this would be especially effective for people who live on isolated properties who may not receive a lot of warning when a big fire is approaching.

All the best wishes to those affected.

Olly

[carbon_black]

Indeed. In Switzerland for a long time it was mandatory for all buildings being built to contain an underground bomb shelter. It was much more relevant in the past, and now a days everyone has a nice cool wine cellar. Isn't there a similar thing in America with regards to tornadoes?

A fair few of the houses that were tragically lost in Victoria did not meet current day building standards. I believe it is illegal to build a cedar house in the bush now, all though as a lot of the houses were older - they did not need to conform to that rule.

Both of those are fairly administrative/legislative measures, but it would be nice to hear any suggestions for innovation in the actual design of the houses to mitigate the risk of bush fires.

Best wishes to all affect,
Pete.

[D Collins Jr]

Pete, in my part of the country, tornadoes are rather frequent and often very devastating. However, there are no mandatory requirements for shelters. That may have something to do with everyone here’s attitude towards the role of government, but many people have their own shelters, or the new “safe rooms” that are anchored into the ground with 8 foot poles.
Good luck and best wishes to those near the fires.

[Charlie]

http://www.redcross.org.au/vic...ires-appeal-2009.htm (http://www.redcross.org.au/vic/services_emergencyservices_victorian-bushfires-appeal-2009.htm)

https://www.salvationarmy.com....onate.asp?oneoff=yes (https://www.salvationarmy.com.au/partners/donate.asp?oneoff=yes)