Well hi all, I am actually close to one of the hot spots here. I am south of the bunyip state park. I am staying in gembrook. Gembrook's fire status was down graded from urgent to alert status. The best place for pics is definately on the cfa's website.

www.cfa.vic.gov.au

there is also the dse site

www.dse.vic.gov.au

The sites give you the location of the fire and it's size and severity and whether or not they are under control.

The worst hit area's were whittlesea and kinglake. Whittlesea has had the highest fatality rate. Just for a comparison:

Ash wednesday (1983) 75 fatalities.
Ash wednesday burned though a much larger area and actually crept north into NSW.

This fire has had 175 fatalities and is still climbing as they have only just gotten into some area's to extract bodies etc.

There have been donations coming in to the fire relief fund and it up to $15mil so far. Which for the obvious reasons will be used for rebuilding alot of these burnt out communities.

I will keep you all updated as to any new developments. For the most part those 2 sites I have put up are the most up to date and are the best source for information. Also www.ninemsn.com.au has news feeds running in regards to the destruction and devastation. It has been likened to a war zone and even a halucaust.

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My stories
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Secretary learns how to take a dicktation
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Just heard the toll is now at 183......So tragic

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My stories
An erotic story
The instructor and student
Secretary learns how to take a dicktation
The story of sister stephanie

Thanks Mark for the update. We are all following this tragedy and hoping the numbers will stop climbing.

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It hasn't. As of the news report I read this morning, the "official" count was at 181, with 'at least' 50 bodies not included in the 'official' count (yet). The claim was also advanced taht Australian official were nearly ready to release facial photos (presumably composites from sketches) of the arsonist(s) thought responsible for some of the fires.

...but there was no word on how many of the fires were under control.

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On the kinkometer, my kink measures as a sine wave.

That is incorrect...Kinglake won that unfortunate title

Quoted from News.com.au

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Also the bushfire tragedy fund has more than doubled over night. I just saw the news it is at almost $34mil.

Also thank you for that Sharni, as we here the news so quick it is hard to hear what area had the highest hit. The fire near us has not changed it's status overnight. It is still at alert only status.

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My stories
An erotic story
The instructor and student
Secretary learns how to take a dicktation
The story of sister stephanie

Thanks for the update, Mark. Please stay safe.

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Well we have some of the CFA guys from SA as well here in VIC helping us. Obviously not so far east as gembrook. They would be in the northen areas worst hit.

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My stories
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The instructor and student
Secretary learns how to take a dicktation
The story of sister stephanie

South Australia was affected in the Ash Wednesday fires, too. I remember ash raining down on my suburban high school.

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*Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm*




I think I've figured this out. First there's seven years of drought. Then half the country floods while the other half cooks. Then you get a
tsunami of fire washing over whole states.

Ayres rock is really a secret Aussie pyramid you're building at night, right?

You better let those slaves go before you get the frogs next.

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You almost got it. We are about to commence an export drive on pre-prepared frogs legs for the French market. Lacking water (and frogs) this was the only way the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade could come up with the raw materials without massive and expensive infrastructure investment.

A bonus, as the Carbon Trading Scheme comes online, the carbon is now in a much more readily identifiable form.

Does anybody out there have a use for 10 million mobility impaired frogs?

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Calm, quiet, smooth, devastating

Now that is funny...you missed one vital clue there PF......Ayers rock is just that a rock......a bloody big one I might add. It just sits there near alice springs and does what a rock does best.......nothing.

__________________
My stories
An erotic story
The instructor and student
Secretary learns how to take a dicktation
The story of sister stephanie

I am 25km from the fires north of Melbourne, we had 2 fires one to the west of us and one to the east of us, I feel so much for those that have lost thier lives, to see the photos and stories of whole familys that perished leaves a pain in your heart and more than 1 tear in your eye. The reports on the news have been in general wrong, they reported that the town of Marysville was almost completly destroyed but everyone had managed to get out ok, well it looks like this may be wrong and they are now saying 100+ people have perished and they are calling Marysville ground zero. I never thought i would see this again after Ash Wednesday

Anothter view of the situation.

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25km isn't all that much distance...Are the fires in your particular locale among the ones reported under control, or is it time for you to start thinking about getting out?

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On the kinkometer, my kink measures as a sine wave.