Thread: ****ing Arsonists

The reason we get them so bad in Vic is because the hotter it gets the drier it becomes. Further Nth of the country the humidity is a lot higher which makes you a little less likely to have a bushfire.

An hour ago (3.30) the temp at Tatura was 38 deg and the humidity was a low 14%

Yesterday with similar temps it was 11%.

For a comparison I have just plucked a town off the map from Qld.

It happened to be Winton. Between 11.30 and 3.00 pm today they had temps ranging from 32to 35. The humidity there has fluctuated during this time from low 40's to high 40's%

I think that most arsonists don't want to get caught and they probably get exited once the fire season comes in as it gives them a chance to watch fires either started by them, others or as true natural happening. I therefore think that it is most likely that arsonists will be active during the fire season.

Well our local arsonist has been caught and charged with 41 counts.

Bail was refused due to yesterdays and today's conditions.

And guess what. She was already on bail for similar offences.

Surprise surprise

Originally Posted by Bytemrk

Surprise surprise

Mark, you left out a surprise, aka Gomer Pyle, if you are old enough to remember him.

I am... sshhhh

Originally Posted by d2dave

The reason we get them so bad in Vic is because the hotter it gets the drier it becomes. Further Nth of the country the humidity is a lot higher which makes you a little less likely to have a bushfire.

An hour ago (3.30) the temp at Tatura was 38 deg and the humidity was a low 14%

Yesterday with similar temps it was 11%.

For a comparison I have just plucked a town off the map from Qld.

It happened to be Winton. Between 11.30 and 3.00 pm today they had temps ranging from 32to 35. The humidity there has fluctuated during this time from low 40's to high 40's%

Out of interest I have just done a bit of a search. On the day of the black Saturday fires in 09, the temp for Melb hit 46.4 and the humidity went as low as 6%

I was at the Southern 80 ski racing that day and the races were cancelled, not because of any fire risk, but because all the CFA trucks and personal that were required to be on standby for the event were despatched to the fires burning elsewhere.

It is also the time of year for Vic/SA fire season.

(Looking at conditions in Winton and finding it humid I would suggest is maybe a bit of an anomaly)

The fire seasons in Aus and particularly the east coast move south with the sun.
The fire season in northern NSW is generally spring, so fires in the New England area will start around August/September and would normally finish around December as the summer rains start.
Around Sydney we tend to have a drier spring so our fire season is late spring/early summer, 'normally' if we get past Christmas then things tend to settle down, however if it's dry and we do get fires at this time of year they are usually more severe ie 1994
By January/Feb then the season has moved into Vic and SA, couple it with a drought and some hotter weather then things are well and truly primed. Bad seasons tend to be late Jan into Feb. ie Ash Wednesday 1983, Black Sat 2009. What is happening now may only be the start of things (this is how 1983 built up)
When we start talking about grass country then this can potentially burn each season, whereas bush land (scrub/trees) does not recover the fuel loads as fast.
It is accepted that SE of a line from Brisbane to Adelaide is the most fire prone land in the world.

During 2001 I was working as part of a NSW Incident Management Team with both NSWRFS and Vic CFA with a meteorologist from Vic. The met guy made the statement that bad fire weather in Vic only lasted a couple of days before a cooler change reduced conditions, things seem to have changed somewhat.
Not pushing global warming, but something is changing as fire as fire conditions in SE Aus go. We never used to string bad seasons together like what seems to be happening now.


Martyn