Just evacuated because of a bushfire

those cooler temps must be a relief

glad that things are normallish

Thank you, take care.

The cooler temps are very unseasonal but very helpful. And a lot more pleasant.

I think this has become our new normal and will be for a while yet.

The worst of it's over now and things are pretty safe, relatively speaking anyway.

Good. I'm sure you won't, but don't let your guard down just yet.

No, I wont be doing that for a while. Not as long as I can still see smoke from my back door.

I'm sure you won't. If it were me anyone having a crafty fag would be in danger of being hosed down.

The fire has now broken the containment lines and a huge amount of smoke is heading in this direction. More firefighters and helicopters have been brought in, but it's hot and pretty windy so it's going to be a tough job for them. There's no immediate danger here but it could be a sleepless night.

Oh no.
It was going nicely and now this setback. Hoping it's just a brief setback and things are brought back to the improving zone soon (as in the next few hours at most).

It must be very difficult. I wouldn't be able to sleep.

The good thing is that, while it's windy, it isn't coming from all directions like it was on the night I evacuated, which makes it a bit easier to fight. Not that it's going to be easy at all. And we have a huge number of firefighters and equipment in the area already.

It is difficult. We had become pretty used to having the fire there, and life just went on almost as usual, but this is a bit of a wake up call. A reminder that bushfires aren't over until they are well and truly out.

We had a community meeting tonight to get the latest updates and things really aren't getting any better.

The temps have been in the high 30's for the last few days, and that's expected to last for the next week or so. The next 3 -4 days are the biggest worry as strong winds are predicted from the east and we are directly west of the fire, right in its path if it takes off.

The primary school has been closed for tomorrow (Friday) and the high school buses wont be running as a precaution.

It was strongly suggested that if we don't really need to be here this might be a good time to go away for a few days.

Just to top it off we had thunderstorms earlier tonight which have started a couple more fires, but they're a little further up the mountains and hopefully will be dealt with pretty quickly.

Just do what you have to do and keep safe.

It's Sunday morning here and everything is very quiet. Frighteningly quiet. Today is supposed to be the day when we get the strong winds and it all turns to ****. There are no birds singing, there's no traffic and the helicopters have gone to other fires.

This is a tourist area and usually on the weekends the roads would be full of people coming up to go camping and four wheel driving but they've been advised to stay away and have obviously listened.

It's fairly still at the moment, hopefully it will stay that way, but I don't think so.

Most of eastern Victoria seems to burning just now. A band of thunderstorms went through on Friday night and started fires everywhere. The main concern is one about 100km from here in the Bunyip State Park. Multiple fires started there and joined up, whole towns have been advised to evacuate, and the freeway and railway to Melbourne have been closed since yesterday afternoon. It's all not looking good.

We had 6 more fires start in this area yesterday, 3 of which are still burning. At this stage they're fairly small but if we get the winds we're meant to be getting that will change rapidly.

Firefighting resources are stretched pretty thin at the moment, which is why we have no helicopters here, but more are coming from interstate.

The lack of birds chirping and singing makes me uncomfortable. I hope it's just that they all temporarily exited due to the inhospitable environment and conditions (smoke, noise, etc.).

Keeping fingers and toes crossed that the wind doesn't churn itself up too much. (weather forecasters here at least are known to be wrong most times, may that be the case there too)

Oh boy stay safe, cherrie.

yikes - came in to check as I'd just seen dlowan post on FB about more fires in the area

no bird sounds? that would really freak me out

be cautious and aware (I'm sure you are - but typing it makes it doubly sure )

Yes, it's the silence that's the most unnerving thing at the moment. This isn't a noisy place at any time, but today the silence is very noticeable.
Our weather forecasters get it wrong pretty often too so fingers crossed they're wrong this time.

I'm hoping to. If it comes to it I will leave again but with the amount of fires happening we're in danger of running out of safe places to evacuate to.