Still Standing

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Black Saturday was Australia 's deadliest Bush fire event Ten Years ago, Australia experienced the worst ever Bush fire disaster, when 173 people died as a result of The State of Victoria. Immediately one of the darkest days in Australia 's peace time," Black Saturday branded "has left a deep legacy. Sharon Verghis reports.

"It was Like The Gates of hell. There is No Other way to describe it. "

Tony Thomas , 7. February 2009 began as another ordinary day. It was a summer of record temperatures, the prompt days of information security.

But Mr Thomas was not overly concerned; they had scorching days Like this.

In the lush, quiet hillside on The Outskirts of the small Marysville, about 90 kilometers (55 miles) North-East of Melbourne, he and His wife, Penni, had carved out a fruitful life, a bed and breakfast on a 60-acre plot of land.

His parents-in-law arrived was lunch for a birthday. It was a pleasant meeting, despite the suffocating heat. But in the Late Afternoon , smoke was discovered in The West . Go in for a closer look, she saw fire.

"It came from The Forest behind us on The Other Side - at 100k [kilometers] it is just roaring at us," said Mr Thomas told the BBC.

18. 45, The Fire -Hit - "and pretty hard". Mr Thomas ' family and the B& B guests ran for shelter in the house, as he, His brother-in-fighting law, and a member of staff against The Fire . There are three men with buckets and garden hoses against a noise was, in fact, wind-swept flames.

21. 30, another wind change swung The Fire at the hay shed: "The tossing burning hay-bombs landing around us for the next hour or so, a massive gluten and hay at us. "

" If you burn 20 to 30 Meter trees, and The Flames are well over That , Like a giant Ball . " His voice trails.

", Why people say gates of hell, because everything turned from light to dark very quickly - The Sun obscured by The Smoke .

"The only thing you could see is The Glow of The Fire through The Smoke . We were choking. We only had a large tea-towels, the we wetting constantly down and wrap around our faces so we can breathe. "

in the vicinity, David Baetge, the fight to survive on His Property near The Town of Buxton, directly adjacent to a large state Park .

devastated The Town of Kinglake and surrounding regions, Armed with a comprehensive fire plan and the previous fire Department experience, he had seen, to stay in The Smoke But decided. Like Mr Thomas, the decision would almost cost him His life.

around 1830, Mr. Baetge fire discovered at the top of the summit, about 3 km (2 miles) Away , with what he estimated to be 100m high fire-balls.

Also, for a Bush fire veteran, he was shocked by the speed of The Fire as it raced at him. "The sky was Red iridescent with a deafening roar Like standing next to a 747 jet anesthetic,"

"It was Like being in a cocoon of smoke, with a maximum visibility of about 30m and the whole of the hemisphere in every direction glowed cherry Red . "He said it was sandblasted, "Like sand But with burning embers".

All through this once-bucolic countryside, others facing similar fight.

Karen Curnow was among them. When her house caught on fire, she fled in her car with her Old Dog , locking on and burning the trees, the debt-to-beat, leaving you in a panic, horses behind.

nearby in Kinglake West, local artist Michelle Bolmat also was mad dash for safety.

"The ash began to fall, and The Darkness came... it was completely black everywhere," she told the BBC. A tree came down in front of her; to build But when The Heat began, you on tours of their engine and drove over them. "I looked back and saw The Fire . "

All four have That nightmare night.

came up But as The Sun the next morning, it was eerily quiet. The lush landscape was gone.

"Our World has turned from the beautiful colors of black and gray," Mr. Thomas recalls. "It was not a place on the Property That was not burned and it was the same over the whole area. "

Kinglake suffered the heaviest toll, with 120 loss. In Marysville, 39 people died - 34 of them locals - and the city was effectively wiped out.

"Probably 22 out of these 34, says friends of us," Mr. Thomas.

such As Marysville, Kinglake rows of buildings That are destroyed, After the last embers have been doused (in The Black Saturday fires until 14 March), the true extent of The Fire was revealed.

About 400 fires burned had most of the triggered due to defective Power Lines and lightning, But .

a total of 173 people died in Australia 's most deadly ever Bush fire event. He left behind several hundreds more injured, More Than 2,000 houses were destroyed, and More Than 7,500 people displaced. The RSPCA estimated That up to a million animals died.

It was unprecedented - even for a country used for a long time, the Bush fire.

over The Years , Australia has been Hit with several deadly blazes. But The Black Saturday fires in 2009 were unique in their ferocity - height of 1,500 atomic bombs.

The Fire -verb to burned the houses and the vehicles, which in this case is so difficult?

Kevin Parkyn, a Bureau of Meteorology senior forecaster, says it is a combination of record-breaking temperatures was unusually strong, the howling North-westerly winds of over 100 km/h (60 mph), and a tinder-dry landscape, courtesy of a long-running drought. In Melbourne, the temperature is 46 achieved. 4C.

"This is a record for Melbourne in 100 years," Mr Parkyn says. "If you went outside, it was just this Explosion, the Hot Air - it was Like a Hairdryer in your Face . "

No fire service force had a chance, especially when the fires Hit in Australia and is highly flammable eucalyptus forests, he said. Spot kilometers downwind jumped fires from the front.

"And all this fire in the huge fire area - we call them pyrocumulonimbus, began production of their own lightning," Mr Parkyn. "And, of course, lightning began to fire more. "

The result of the intense temperatures capable of melting metal: "It was almost Like a living, breathing animal. "

firefighters continue to fight blazes in The Weeks after Black Saturday, the Climate Change Has a role to play? Mr Parkyn refers to His scientific training, he says, it would be hard to say there is no link, given the record-breaking temperatures are now being experienced in Australia in particular, and the frequency of extreme weather disasters internationally. He refers to fires on last year's California, the U.S. state of most deadly, as an example.

The damage of Black Saturday was said also strengthened by the urbanization, he said. Risk frontiers, a research centre, has estimated That nearly a million addresses are in Australia , less than 100m from the Bush country.

In The Aftermath , a Royal Commission of inquiry was announced, resulting in widespread changes in bushfire preparation and protocols. The investigation of the financial cost of the disaster at A$4. 4bn (£2. 4bn; $3. 14bn).

- the largest Class Action settlement in Australian legal history. But That didn't account for The Invisible great.

A farmer struggling with the conditions on His Property , which surveyed More Than 1,000 people affected by The Fire , found evidence of significant Mental Health issues, including depression, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and severe mental stress. The prices were significantly higher than what would be expected in The General population found.

Lead researcher Prof Lisa Gibbs from the University of Melbourne, compares the accident with a broken window: the cracks are widely used, is increased by the small rural population. She has seen a measurable increase in domestic violence, those with Mental Health issues.

From the gluten, however, some good has come. Australia is now substantially better prepared on fire, with new measures, including a newly designed building codes, and improved alerts.

International-Australian researchers are now leads the way in many fire technologies - from the tanker perseveration strategies to a world-leading electric-fault-study. The Bush fire report is now available for International use.

A Bush fire ravaged region, shown two years after The Black Saturday Regeneration and growth has taken place on a more personal level. Mr Thomas is amazed at the resilience of The Locals . Communities have rebuilt, the bush has regenerated.

Karen Curnow, she says, it gave her a chance to start anew: "I see myself as a victim or a survivor. I consider myself a very lucky man. "

This Week , festive events to mark The Anniversary of The Tragedy .

But for the many scars, The Black Saturday, it is a relief when Thursday is over and people can move on, Mr Thomas says. Marysville is slowly recovering But , "it is never in the same city".

melbourne, australia fires, australia, severe weather, wildfires

Source of news: bbc.com