Australian bush fires seen from space

 

By CLAIRE BATES Last updated at 17:33pm on 8th December 2006

You would be forgiven for thinking this NASA snap of a swirling vortex above Australia was a swathe of cloud, but it is actually the smoke from 15 huge bush fires.

The satellite image shows an area of south-eastern Australia ravaged by blazes. The fires, thought to have been sparked by lightning, have burnt around 90,000 hectares of scrub and forest and continue to spread in the state of Victoria.

Officials predict as much as 600,000 hectares of land may be burned in the next week as temperatures rise to 37C.

 

like so many things, this is just ridiculous. bushfires in the australian outback have always been an issue for everyone, not just those living in the immediate region. there was a huge fire just 15km from where i live just 2 weeks ago, and there was a state of emergency called. 15 of them in the above area alone is just tragic and immensely damaging to the environment.

 

bloody useless bushfires :thinking:

Woke up this morning and noticed a smoke haze, cant see the sun at all. The smoke from the bushfires has reached the eastern parts of the state now, and causing delays at Melbourne airport, got to around 37C today but where the bushfires are occuring I think it got to about 41C. Fires so far have consumed almost 180,000 hectares of bush, really scary! We're going through a drought as well, we're not gonna get that downpour that could extinguish them sadly

shesh, it's reached there already! i think we really need a break from all this bad luck and harsh weather. australia are use to all that already but someone is definitely pushing the boundaries :shifty: lol but for real, we need water, and lots of it!

Exactly ...we need rain!!!!!

We had an ember attack this morning to say the least... :(

true, we need a plan.

you'd think that with the numerous annual bushfires we've experienced over the many decades, we'd have a stable plan of attack reliable enough to stop this from happening time and time again.

Yeah, we're just too lazy here. I think a bushfire would liven this place up a bit actually.

yeah really set the place on fire :rolleyes:

(that was a very mark-ish reply :uhoh: )

Lol well youve got no idea how boring this place is! :P

Thats true, but we're fighting nature here, thats a tough battle, no amount of preparation could overcome that. But things like putting more money into the CFA and buying more firefighting aircraft would really beneficial though, its not wasted money! Luckily we've got almost 4,000 firefighters out there doing their part, I really respect those guys

^ it definitely takes courage to face something so overpowering. i honestly hope everything gets under control in the least amount of time with the fewest number of casualties, if any.

o man its been raining so much lately, had thunder tonight ;D ... in auckland

Even worse is a "Dubya" bush fire!!:rolleyes:

watz taht??

sounds abodiginal

Wow. That's a heck of a lot of land. :freak:

 

Reminds me of the arson fires here in southern california 3 years ago.

 

There were thirteen fires that burned 600,000 acres (240000 hectares), destroyed 1,900 homes, and killed 16 people. Pretty much every school district in SoCal was closed for a week because of the smoke. The view out my window was kinda like this for a few days. :freak:

 

 

These parts that are being burned aren't as populated as SoCal, right? Right?! Cuz... that would freaking suck.

whoa!!! thats a wicked pic

we dnt rly getz bush fires but mah home city gotz 49 volcanoes around n amongst it, lucky they dont blow up much :D