Much as it pains me to take issue with The Times ...

[blamebrampton]

It seems incomprehensible to some media commentators that over 181 people could die in fires in Australia. They have been casting about, trying to place blame, saying that things were done poorly, done wrong.

This is not true. What is true is that the right things to do, the things that kept you alive in every other year, every other fire, are now no longer necessarily right.

Everyone who lives through an Australian summer has some experience of bushfire, even if it is only red-blazing sunsets in smoke-filled skies. The trees explode on the hot summer days, and half the flora is designed to regenerate after burning.

There are rules. You choose whether you will leave early or stay and fight. If you're leaving, you pack your papers and photos, grab the kids and pets, make sure you have water and towels or blankets in the car in case the worst happens, and you leave before or when you see the smoke. Lock the house and tell the fire brigade where it is. They'll do what they can.

Stick to the main roads, drive steadily, obey the police or the fierys, pick up pedestrians if you need to. When you get to the evacuation centre, give your names and details, call your friends. Let the officials know if you move on.

If you stay, you fill everything you can inside the house with water. You wet everything you can outside. Clear all debris from around the house (you should have done this weeks ago). Use a tractor if you have one. Fuck the garden, you can replant. Bring in the pets. Have the car nearby, have the keys in your pocket. Have your backpacks of things each of you really need ready to go. Do what you can for the horses. If the flames are small and slow, you can stay outside and keep hosing. If they're fast and large, go in. Close everything. Put wet towels around every gap, have a ladder near the roof access. Stay down, keep the kids together; the bathroom is a good place, it's cool and strong and you can sit them in the bath. If you see flames coming inside and can wet them, do so. Wait till the front passes.

This is what you do in a normal fire. This is what you have time to do in a normal fire.

When it passes, you run around the house and put out the flames that are starting inside. You climb into the roof cavity and wet down any hot spots. You go outside and use your generator to pump water from the tanks, or the pool or the dam to hose down the roof and the property. If the house is too well alight, you leave it. You grab the kids, pets and packs and you climb into the car and drive away. The car is usually all right; it's the embers blown by the wind that have set fire to the house. You can often drive out through the burnt region, there's nothing left for the fire there anymore. Your tires may be a bit fucked-up by the hot tarmac, but it doesn't matter, you'll get to the country fire authority, or the town, or the sports oval.

This is what happens normally.

You stand around with the CFA and the SES and the Parks service and every other firefighter, and you shake hands and you say thanks, or bad luck, and you pitch in if your house is standing and your neighbour's isn't, and you see about handing out sausage sandwiches and cups of bad coffee and good tea. The CWA ladies bring cakes and fruit and toys for the little ones and make sure the fierys all have a good feed and get some sleep. The McDonald's managers and the local takeaway owners bring trays of juice and water and burgers and sandwiches, the pub brings beer by the slab.

Every year, it happens. Houses burn, livestock are lost, and people turn to each other and say that it sounded like a train, that the fire moved as fast as they could run. That they lost the house but the kids are okay. It's horrible, but it's normal.

None of this is normal.

This fire moved faster than any car, twice as fast in some places. The noise was like a jet engine, they say, and the oxygen was sucked from the air leaving people sheltering inside gasping desperately as the front passed. The weather had stood above 40 for a week, the air was crisp and the vegetation bone dry. On the day the fires swept through it was 46 in Victoria.

It's never 46. Never. Not till now. The records were shattered by several degrees.

The radiant heat has been described as like Dresden. Houses were exploding into flame ahead of the firefront. While normal ember attacks give you a decent length of time for the house to stand before it is unsalvageable (the eaves and under the house start smouldering, small fires begin, but it's usually after the front has past that the house really catches light), this time large properties were gone in minutes. Normally the embers strike when the fire is up to a kilometre away, this time it was many times that.

Some people trying to escape died of dehydration before the fire reached them. Others who escaped the flames had skin crisped from their bodies as they ran well ahead or away. Some lived, and are in hospital fighting for their lives now. Cars have turned into makeshift crematoria, sometimes beside trees that are scorched from heat but not burned.

There were warnings where there could be warnings. All day the ABC and the local stations kept as far ahead of the fire as they could, but for Kinglake and some other towns, the fire moved faster than the news. The brigades were mostly fighting established fronts, trying to keep them from residential areas. The new fronts took them by surprise, many coming from nothing, possibly from arsonists.

I know that it is human to look for blame. I know that there are many who are angry and who wish to say that something or someone failed. But for the most part, no one failed. It was impossible to succeed.

There are systems. This country is used to fire and plans accordingly. The fire danger is rated from 1 to 100, so the authorities know how prepared they need to be, how many crews they need in place. On Saturday in Victoria, it was 320. More than three times worse than the experienced authorities had imagined they would ever need to prepare for. There was no way that people could deal with those flames.

And still they went out and did what they could. When I worked for the parks service in NSW I helped in two safe areas of two comparatively piddling fires. I was scared to the bones, and I am someone who keeps her head in a crisis. The sheer mental toughness of everyone who went up against those fires cannot be overstated.

So if your news service starts with the question 'what went wrong' and answers it with anything other than 'nature is a fucking bitch in Australia', please tell them to piss off in your best Hugh Jackman tones.

The lovely and admirable Ms Quentin Bryce, Governor-General of Australia has just made a gentle and compassionate plea to the nation to help where they can. In the far north of Queensland, people who have lost everything but the house in severe floods (because Australian nature s a fucking bitch with a truly twisted sense of humour) have been donating part of their emergency payments to the fire victims. The continent may be a place of horror, but the Australian people have genuine grace.

Thank you so much to everyone who has reached into their pockets to help people and animals recover from this disaster. The Australian Red Cross will take any donation from A$5 up. That's essentially a coffee.

During the writing of this post, the number at the start of this post has gone up. The police say that it will go up more.

Comments

[winnett.livejournal.com]

Wow... It is amazing to hear this coming from you and your perspective. My heart goes out to you, your family, your countrymen, my fellow humans and critters on this earth. I have donated and I hope it helps. I wish I could go over there and help out.

It is events like this that remind us that Nature cannot always be harnessed.

[thisgirl-is.livejournal.com]

It's really hard to know what to say in the face of all this. But it occured to me that saying nothing at all was not the forward.

Thanks for this - it helps when explaining it to people to be able to say more than, "It's bad, very bad".

There is this weird disconnect between my Real Life and the internet at the moment. My internet people are finding ways to donate, or encourage others to donate, and sending messages of support. The people in RL are barely if at all aware that it is even happening, and I don't even know how to start that conversation at the office.

I'm going to go hit the Red Cross site, and leave messages on the LJs of random Australians.

[venturous1.livejournal.com]

wow, that is deeply affecting. Thank you for helping me understand even more the situation and how devastating it is.

my prayers (and dollars)are going out to you.

Yes.

[delirieuse.livejournal.com]

Thanks for this. I have a friend who lived in Marysville, and she did everything right. Followed her fireplan to the letter. Stayed next door in the 'fireproof' house. Only survived by luck, since the fireproof house wasn't stupid-amounts-of-radiant-heat proof (there was a tiny bit of wood upstairs around a windowframe that started smoking, then the window cracked and they had to evacuate).

I spent Tuesday night listening to her story, and it enrages me that people think that there is someone to blame for what happened. Some dickhead at my partner's work said that people were stupid for sticking around. In Marysville they didn't have TIME to evacuate.

[parthenia14.livejournal.com]

Here from meredyth 13, I think.

This is an amazing post. I'm in the Uk - I am so bowled over by the warmth and support that you guys are giving each other.

putting it where it belongs-blamebrampton

[(Anonymous)]

I came across your article, 10th Feb, through an email sent to me.
I so strongly felt the need to tell you of my admiration for your strength, conviction, directness and honesty in your explanation on the current fire situation in Victoria. Your article would do well to be printed in all newspapers across the country. Seriously. It cuts to the chase...says it how it really is. Hopefully your words might just make some people think twice about feeling the need to blame and accept what was.

[realmotk.livejournal.com]

BUT BUT BUT THE GREENIES

Someone plpease put Miranda Devine back in her box.

[liadlaith.livejournal.com]

Oh fuck yes.

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

I know exactly the box I would like to put her in. And the address I would send it to. At least it would be padded, and I'd give her airholes out of compassion.

[ashlein.livejournal.com]

*random comment* Oh I will help you. Or just watch. That woman I swear. Her and Germaine Greer nead to go very, very far away.

Also this guy ( http://www.theage.com.au/national/fire-divine-retribution-says-minister-20090210-83o9.html ) well I want to do more to him than put him in a box.

[lyras.livejournal.com]

Here via parthenia14, and thank you. For the past few days, I have been sitting in my safe little apartment in Sydney and watching the horrifying events unfold. Someone not in Australia said to me, "they live there knowing the risks; they make that choice," and I wanted to slap them.

This is nothing like anything else, nothing like any other fire, nothing like the usual weather, and I wish the overseas media could understand that.

[tree_and_leaf]

That's just terrifying - I haven't been able to picture what the fires are like, but this has helped. It's unimaginably horrible and difficult to process.

(Here from sweet_adelheid's link, by the way.)

[calanthe-b.livejournal.com]

Thanks for writing this. What got me furious was news stories casting blame on Emergency operators who were unable to immediately answer all of the 000 calls made on Saturday--when it was because they were working at full capacity, doing their level best to get to every call that came in and find some way to help, even while in some instances listening to the people they were trying to help die in the middle of the call.

Unbelievable.

May I link?

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

Fuck ... those poor people on the phones. At both ends. Yes, of course you can link. I feel thoroughly useless a state away, but hope that I can be of some small use in helping people outside Australia in particular understand how things happened.

[verbicide.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much for writing this. Nature truly can be vicious in ways we can't predict.

I donated yesterday and will donate again after my next payday.

[orbitaldiamonds.livejournal.com]

My goodness.

Even with the detailed accounts and the pictures and the video, I still can't quite imagine what y'all are going through.

I'm sending some of my husband's deployment pay to the Australian Red Cross with his blessing. It's not a hell of a lot, but I hope it helps. :)

[dharawal.livejournal.com]

Here via Cleolindas' LJ.

I lived through the Black Friday bushfires of 1967 in Tasmania, I was young, but believe me I *STILL* have nightmares about the sound of the fires coming over the hill towards our house, and my Mum was valiantly trying to wet the fence with a hose that had no water pressure.

It was the radiant heat that did for most of the 70 odd people that died that day, you could feel and hear the fire long before you could see it.

My heart breaks for those in Victoria, this is not something you easily recover from, financially yes, that is possible, it's the mental and emotional side that is the hard part.

[lovefromgirl.livejournal.com]

Linked you from my journal.

One of my flisters is pretty much on the front lines out there, working volunteer shifts, so if anyone sees a blond called Jess, tell her she's fantastic, okay?

[elbales]

I'm here from cleolinda's journal. God. I am so sorry. My prayers go out to the people out there. I live in California (the misty north, thank god), where we have fires pretty much every year, and I can still hardly get my mind around what's happening.

[whiteadelphi.livejournal.com]

From a fellow Australian ...thank you for articulating this so well where I didn't even know where to start. May I link this?

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

You're very welcome, and of course you may. Anything that either helps people to understand or encourages a bit of dosh going towards the Red Cross.

[torak303.livejournal.com]

So if your news service starts with the question 'what went wrong' and answers it with anything other than 'nature is a fucking bitch in Australia'...

HAHAHAHAHA too right, buddy. I'm looking out my window at work right now in the middle of Melbourne, and instead of seeing the crystal blue water of the bay and all the suburbs, I can hardly see the buildings half a k away.

I live in the country, in an area totally wiped out by the Ash Wednesday fires, and thank god we weren't hit. But it's fucking scary, and the rest of the world needs to get that. Bushfires are what we're used to. I've only recently moved up to the country so I can live with my girlfriend, who learned bushfire safety since primary school. As a middle of the city girl, that seemed weird, but now I get it.

But this was like nothing else we've ever seen. It was the hottest day, ever. Literally, EVER. When winds go at 100km/h+, the fire goes 100km/h+. You can't out run it, you can't hide from something that will take your house from beneath. I've heard stories about trees burning up from the inside, and then their roots catching fire underground and burning foundations, and then the house from the bottom up. I've heard stories about people who tried to find safety in baths and spas and water tanks and literally boiled to death.

You're right in saying there was no success possible. All we can do now is rebuild the best we can and give all we can.

Thanks for a genuine view on things. Good luck in NSW.

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

I can't imagine what it's like in Victoria at the moment. There have been two big fires since I have lived in Sydney, but in both of them the people who died made big mistakes. To do everything right and still have no chance ... it just defies understanding.

And as for the heat, I've read 48.8 in some parts -- just madness.

We've been lucky up here, lower temperatures and actual rain. Of course, it's now flooding north of Sydney, but I know which disaster I prefer. Good luck with the rest of the fire season, and we are all thinking of you down there. I think it's the first time since I have lived in Australia that New South Welshmen have genuinely been all in favour of Victorians :-)

[okaasan59.livejournal.com]

Thank you for posting this. There has been some news coverage in the U.S. but not enough.

The "searching for blame" reminds me of the fallout from the effects of Hurricane Katrina in Louisiana. Blame was put on local government for not being prepared, but we've been dealing with hurricanes on nearly a yearly basis for several hundred years. The precautions that were put in place were things that had worked for generations. In hind sight, they were not as stringent as they should have been, but no matter how prepared you are, Nature can destroy all your hard work in seconds.

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

I think it's a really similar situation, even down to the survivors' disbelief at how unlike anything they had ever seen before the disaster was. The one upside here has been that the disaster relief efforts have been fast and focussed, but it's still a horrible loss.

The two Victorian newspapers, www.theage.com.au and http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun both have very good coverage. From the latter I just learned that Pink is donating a quarter of a million dollars, which is probably the first time since BandAid that a popstar has brought a tear to my eye ...

[leelastarsky.livejournal.com]

A truely excellent post! Thankyou!

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

I thought it would be more useful than sending hundreds of furious Letters to the Editors ...

[robinmc.livejournal.com]

Here from cleolinda's LJ. I was wondering if it would be ok for me to link to this post on my Facebook page? Reading this is what prompted me to donate to the Australian Red Cross, and I'd love for other people to be able to read it.

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much for your generosity, looking at the news of an evening it's easy to see the difference the Red Cross is already making, thanks to people like you. And yes, it's fine to link, too.

[daksian.livejournal.com]

Hi, I was linked here by leelastarsky. I just moved to Melbourne from Canada a week before the bushfires. While the tragedy in no way made me regret my move, I was nonetheless awed by the response of the fire services, the federal and state governments, and the people of Australia. I donated as soon as I could and I wish I could donate more. I completely agree with the notion that this was a phenomenon that could not have been 'prepared' for. I blame the arsonists and perhaps global warming, but I don't blame the people or government of Australia, who have humbled me in their efforts to help those in need.

[cleo-jay.livejournal.com]

Here through alaana_fair. Your post was heartbreaking and made me cry...but thank you for writing it because from a wet UK it's difficult to comprehend the scale of it...though we are getting decent (& yet horrific) media coverage here. I can only imagine the utter hell on earth those in Victoria have gone through (& are still going through)...and to start blaming the people who exhausted themselves trying to help is so utterly reprehensible.
I donated before, & will donate again when I get paid at the end of the month, because god only knows how much time & money it will take for them to recover. Despite being on the other side of the world & a pommie, I have such pride & admiration for how the Australian people have pulled together. It feels like there is so little we can do here other than donate, but at midnight on Friday our time (11am on Saturday in Melbourne), my family & friends will be watching the memorial service and holding a two-minute silence for those who lost their lives. It is the very least we can do for our fellow human beings.
Thank you again, blamebrampton, & may I say I'm glad you're safe in Sydney!