Mt Archer, the mountain I live on is on fire, and I’ve just spent most of the night awake, spraying the outside of my Oregon Pine house with water to keep it cool and damp, and dousing the flying embers which kept landing on the roof and veranda’s.
Right now, it’s 7am, the wind has died down and it looks like the worst of it has passed us and is now heading towards the town below the mountains, so I’m taking some time out to write this
Have a look at this pic I took in the night,of the fire raging below a neighbours house. It’s just the same view from my house but the smoke was thicker around mine so this pic is better. Because I used a very wide angle lens the flames look quite distant, but the reality is that fires were raging everywhere – a small fire was raging through a gully less than 50 yards away and bushes in the garden burst into flames.
The whole mountain is on fire. It’s just been on the national news. One house has been destroyed, people lower down the mountain have been evacuated,and it’s been a highly dangerous night.
It’s been quite scary, though the mountain is still swarming with fire crew and they tell me they’ll be here until it’s over.
Here’s a brief news story on the fires, and a photo
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Hi Phil,
That’s a crazy story. I’m shocked that the flames come that close to your house. You labored hard all night to keep your home safe, then found the time to let us all know what was going on. Wow!
I’m glad that your house is safe now – keep us posted on the latest developments!
Hi Phil,
I think I would have been out of there quicker than the wild life. I like heat but more as the sun provides it, at a greater distance than those flames. Even with the long night of watering the woodwork its good to hear you escaped the worst possibilities as Carlton
would say Phil stay frosty and alert.
Hey Phil, stay safe, my friend. I hope your loss has been kept to a minimum. Fire is an amazing phenomena, especially when it occurs on the scale of what you are experiencing. OUr cabin at Lake Tahoe in the States came close to burning a couple years ago and hundreds lost their homes. We were spared. I hope you and the family are, as well. All the best, Rick (Burns, Oregon, USA)
Hi Phil,
I now live at Torquay Hervey Bay and the smell of smoke in the early morning dew this morning was phenomenal. I’ve been watching the news & apparently there’s about 144 fires burning in Qld in the last 24 hours. This is shaping up to be a horrendous summer for fires and I’m glad you are safe so far. Please stay that way I only like your sizzling emails, nothing else needs to burn thanks, OK? LOL
Take extreme care and try for some rest while the goings good,
Cheers,
Jan
And I thought your email subject ‘My house is on fire’ was just a ploy to get me to open the email and sell me something!
More seriously I hope you’re all safe. We got some quite graphic accounts of the Aussie bush fires over here earlier this year I think it was, and for the first time it became obvious to people in the UK that you can’t just ‘leg it’ to safety.
Keep one eye on the wind mate!
Best of luck
Tony
Hi, Phil – I hope that you and the house remain unscathed. It’s so scary seeing those pics of the fire. A new build house near us went on fire one night – and we were thankful that the weather was still because the flames shot straight up in the air. I dread to think what would have happened had the night been windy … Also, we were amazed at the heat generated.
Best from Scotland
Margaret and Sandy MacGillivray
Glad you’re OK, Phil!
Neil.
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