My brother isn't in the non-smoking section yet.
written by Julie R. Neidlinger 1 comments link this post
My brother Jerry has been helping fight the fires down in Australia. The photo here shows the smoke from fires that were a bit of a distance away still covering the area. This is his backyard. You can see another photo here.
I was there in 2002 and was so fascinated by how Australians built their homes with the ever-present danger of fire in mind. They had water tanks, sprinkler systems on the metal roofs, covered gutters, and a fairly intensive practice of brush control up around thier homes. The fires in 2002 weren't as bad as these, I don't think.
My sister-in-law, Julie, had sent an email with a map of the state-wide fire situation. You can check that out here. They live up near Wangaratta and Wondonga, towards the top right-hand corner of the map.
I'd emailed him and told him to be safe. Now, two weeks later (in a timely manner), he emails me back a little info on how the fires were still going strong, that a couple of Kiwi's got hurt, and one guy died from falling off of a trailer and then getting run over. He told of how an historic home in Beechworth was burnt down by a fire accidently started by a man trying to mow brush down in a gorge.
its usually pretty boring being out on the fire line ... usually watching it, backburning and blacking out (spraying the backburnt section down so no embers can reignite) . i didn't mind doing the night watch... it was cooler...but really hard to stay awake for part of it....
He ends his email asking if I'm excited for Christmas yet (I can't say that I am), and that he hasn't gotten around to getting me a pair of Blundstones yet but he would when everything settles down. Gotta get me some of those Aussie boots.
Copyright (c) Julie R. Neidlinger 12/19/2006 09:06:00 AM
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1 Comments:
Your brother and family are in my prayers.
Unfortunately I am not in the proper Christmas Spirit either, and that does not bode well for my Christmas Eve sermon preparations.
By 
Will, at
19/12/06 12:07
