I wasnt sure if any of my Aussie pals on this website are living in Canberra.
If any of you are - I hope you and your families are safe and well.
I have two friends who were evacuated this morning and I havent heard from them since - leaving me worried that they have no home or computer to go back to. :(

For the rest of the world who may not be aware - Canberra - our Nations Capital - has been ablaze since yesterday.  4 people have died and 400 homes destroyed so far.

I will keep all of you in my prayers.  Especially that they put the fire out quickly.  I saw the news about the fires and all I could think was "Not again"  last year was bad enough.

Well so far my two friends still have homes - tho one is on evacuation alert yet again tonight.

Of our staff in our head office over there - 12 have lost homes and 150 have homes so badly burned that they may need to be pulled down.

I have not been able to contact my aunt or cousin since saturday so I am really quite worried about them.

The oldest space Observatory in Oz - Mount Stromlo - was totally destroyed.  It had telescopes and lens's worth 40 million dollars inside.

For those who want more info - try this papers website www.smh.com.au  

My thoughts are with your friends, BMG.

My organisation has a head office of 70 or so staff.  I am on holidays so I don't know who is affected.  It is a fair bet that some are.

FB  :'(

My friends have just come back from holiday in Australia and had said how bad  the fires were.I hope your family are ok BMG.

Thinking of you, BMG

Sorry to hear about a terrible situation. Will keep your friends in my prayers.

I'd like to clarify it even further....

At yesterday's count Canberra ALONE had lost 508 homes, mercifully only 4 lives..

There are numerous fires in both New South Wales and Victoria as well.  Also there are fires near Bundaberg in Queensland.

South Australia and Victoria both have forecast temperatures in the 40's (celcius) (110 fahrenhite) for tomorrow with the promise of more to come.

This is all coming at a time of Australia's biggest drought in recorded history.

It is Australia Day on Sunday (most of your Saturday's).  The situation is so bad that both Sydney and Melbourne have cancelled their planned fireworks celebrations.

It is really bad news folks  >:(


Ironically, there is a massive cyclone threatening to develop of the north-west coast of Western Australia.  You can't win huh ?  :(

There are also fires threatening Hobart, the capital of Tasmania. New South Wales is under a total fire ban that's forced the cancellation of the annual Australia Day (Jan. 26) fireworks display. Along with the 508 homes in Canberra, there's been several in other states, as well as the Mt Stromlo Observatory. The cost of replacing that alone is in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

Hey Fussb & GoreR  thanks for further updates.

I have my fingers crossed for everyone over there with the heatwave conditions that have been forcast for the long weekend.

I work for federal gov and I think our head office has 1500 - 2000 staff so it stood to reason the odds of a lot of them being affected would be high.

FussB do you know how many from your work have been affected yet ?  Oh - dont worry bout the cyclone - its already blown itself out to nothing.  It was only ever a tropical low.  We havent had a decent one for 2 summers - could do with one just for the rain - could help the drought.

I still cant fathom a city with a population of 300,000 losing 500 homes.  With that few amount of people - it basically means that every single person has been or knows someone affected.  

Still havent heard from my relatives - I only have their mobile numbers and my text messages keep getting returned unsent.  Fingers crossed.

owwwwwwwwwwww :-/

I hope she is ok ?

Great to hear that no one else in your office lost property etc.  very good news.