Andrew Posted February 8, 2009 Report Share Posted February 8, 2009 Bushfires in my state. The death toll from the Victorian bushfires is now 35, and at least one town has "virtually ceased to exist".Marysville north of Melbourne has been all but wiped off the map and ambulance authorities say there are not enough vehicles to reach all the injured in nearby Kinglake, a town which is also feared to have been destroyed. Click: "Video: Bushfires devastate Marysville (ABC News)" in the middle column to see the fire going through. I was taking my girlfriend there for Valentine's Day. That town was so amazing and full of life. Probably the best small town I've ever been to. And now it's gone. Fucking depressing. I was there not even a month ago. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Update: Death toll is now 128. My girlfriend's dad's suburb was threatened in the morning (about 11am) but it turned out to be a false alarm. (Country Fire Authority Current Incident Report) Continuing updated map of the bush fires with death annotations: http://maps.google.com.au/maps/ms?hl=en&ie=UTF8&msa=0&msid=102249094339782735107.0004625ef88fc64cf65fe&ll=-37.326489,145.733643&spn=3.057537,4.669189&z=7&source=embed -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- There is also now reports the fire in Marysville may have been dilberately lit. (source) Marysville - an unthinkable grave -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Pictures: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aerosol Posted February 8, 2009 Report Share Posted February 8, 2009 Wow. That's fucking eerie man. Heart goes out to the victims. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Naoshi Posted February 8, 2009 Report Share Posted February 8, 2009 That's really awful and depressing. What the hell Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cyborg_ar Posted February 8, 2009 Report Share Posted February 8, 2009 ;_; that really sucks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1LT Worm Posted February 8, 2009 Report Share Posted February 8, 2009 I've read that these fires were probably caused by arsonists (Source). I hope they get shoved on to a pyre. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew Posted February 9, 2009 Author Report Share Posted February 9, 2009 I've updated with more info. The death toll is now 128 with the number expected to rise further still. There's one fantastic story I read on the neogaf thread though: "My brother's friend was over with us and was worried that he'd lost his dad. He heard he had lost his house, but his dad tried to save the house and dogs and they hadn't heard from him since. After hours of worry, we were watching the news and saw his dad helping fight fires around Wandong. He was so relieved he burst into tears." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rael0505 Posted February 9, 2009 Report Share Posted February 9, 2009 Holy shit, this is insane. How sure are they it's arson? It's hard to believe someone would be successful in burning an entire town to the ground. Hope whoever is responsible gets caught. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Major.Dump Posted February 9, 2009 Report Share Posted February 9, 2009 The fireman looks like a zombie. ________ FISTING GIRL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hRook Posted February 9, 2009 Report Share Posted February 9, 2009 Nice input, douchebag. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smidge204 Posted February 9, 2009 Report Share Posted February 9, 2009 Nice input, douchebag. Yeah, seriously. You should never use fire against zombies. =Smidge= Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew Posted February 10, 2009 Author Report Share Posted February 10, 2009 I'd just like to mention that the previous bushfires that claimed the most fatalities was Ash Wednesday and claimed 75 lives, and destroyed roughly 2000-3000 homes. This has been depressing me all week. I know of one person in danger of the fires and my friend's cousins lost their house in the fires also. But yeah, I'd appreciate it if you guys didn't joke about this as it's pretty fucking heavy. Then again, this is the internet. Edit: Also, according to the CFA's site, a new fire broke out about 15 minutes ago on a massive scale with 92 fucking fire trucks there right now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rael0505 Posted February 10, 2009 Report Share Posted February 10, 2009 But yeah, I'd appreciate it if you guys didn't joke about this as it's pretty fucking heavy. Then again, this is the internet. Agreed. This is serious. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spike Posted February 10, 2009 Report Share Posted February 10, 2009 Then again, this is the internet. Which is still no excuse for people to hide behind their anonymity and say something that would get their ass kicked in real life. There's one fantastic story I read on the neogaf thread though: "My brother's friend was over with us and was worried that he'd lost his dad. He heard he had lost his house, but his dad tried to save the house and dogs and they hadn't heard from him since. After hours of worry, we were watching the news and saw his dad helping fight fires around Wandong. He was so relieved he burst into tears." Wow... His dad couldn't even say "Hey, I'm alright. Ganna go help. Bye."? That story may be heartwarming, but it really didn't need to happen when you think about it. I don't know how I could stand knowing that I didn't tell my family I was okay when our house burned and crumbled with me supposedly inside it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Koray Posted February 11, 2009 Report Share Posted February 11, 2009 You were the first person I thought of Andrew.. Glad you're okay. I've been following this since I first saw the articles on reddit. It's fucking terrible.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Candescence Posted February 11, 2009 Report Share Posted February 11, 2009 Jesus. I don't live in Vic, but my heart goes out to the poor people out there... Nearly 200 fatalities, and what's worse, it may be arson. What a disaster. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew Posted February 13, 2009 Author Report Share Posted February 13, 2009 Yeah, Koray, I'm fine. I'm far far away from the fires, but going outside just smells like smoke anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew Posted February 13, 2009 Author Report Share Posted February 13, 2009 Wow... His dad couldn't even say "Hey, I'm alright. Ganna go help. Bye."? That story may be heartwarming, but it really didn't need to happen when you think about it. I don't know how I could stand knowing that I didn't tell my family I was okay when our house burned and crumbled with me supposedly inside it. Well put it this way, it burnt everything. While the ground phone lines are probably still in tact, the phones themselves are gone. No mobile coverage out there either. So it was more than likely just couldn't happen. As far as I know also, the rest of the family left him there to fight the flames. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1LT Worm Posted February 13, 2009 Report Share Posted February 13, 2009 They might have arrested the arsonist Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ila Posted February 13, 2009 Report Share Posted February 13, 2009 Give the arsonist death. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyber Rat Posted February 13, 2009 Report Share Posted February 13, 2009 Death by fire would be nice. No, seriously. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spike Posted February 13, 2009 Report Share Posted February 13, 2009 Give the arsonist death. Well, it makes sense. He knew that fire caused death, so why shouldn't it be 200 counts of murder? I'd think that life in prison would be worse than the death penalty, though. If I heard I was about to get life, I'd probably start begging for the death penalty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Shadix Posted February 13, 2009 Report Share Posted February 13, 2009 Sure, from the emotional "give him justice" perspective death seems like a suitable punishment, but at the same time, he didnt personally kill those 200 people, nor did he have next to any role in who died and who lived. It seems like the perfect crime. (I'm surprised they even found the guy, or at least someone to accuse) It may be hard to convict to him to a punishment that extreme, as well as it may be hard to prove that he indeed did intentionally start that fire with that intent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spike Posted February 13, 2009 Report Share Posted February 13, 2009 Sure, from the emotional "give him justice" perspective death seems like a suitable punishment, but at the same time, he didnt personally kill those 200 people, nor did he have next to any role in who died and who lived. If someone went out into a crowded area, pulled out a gun, and shot randomly with his eyes closed all around him, would you be able to say "he didnt personally kill those 200 people, nor did he have next to any role in who died and who lived"? It just doesn't work. He knew he was doing something very deadly and that it very well could kill people. From a legal standpoint (and not a common sense one), you're probably right, though. He'll just bust busted for arson. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kain Posted February 14, 2009 Report Share Posted February 14, 2009 Ignition alone does not a catastrophic bushfire make. Look to policy change regarding the maintenance of bush (also weather control machines), not scapegoats. Granted there were a lot of less-than-controllable factors that came into play to create this scenario including worst drought in a century and record high temperatures and big winds (potentially influenced by climate change, maybe, who knows). And for clarity, there are over 30 separate fires under varying degrees of control and I believe there has only been an arsonist arrested for one (which caused some 30 or so deaths). No single person could have possibly ignited them all, much less fueled and spread them. It's not "murder on a grand scale", it's natural disaster exacerbated by human carelessness and a few sporadic accounts of malicious intent (which should be dealt with with due severity). But more important than who's at fault is what can be done for the future. You can't do too much to prevent eventual ignition, but there are numerous things you can attempt to do to control its source of fuel (the most common of which is initiating controlled burns, which is something the Australian government seems to have been quite reluctant to do). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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