JonDLundyn Parker 2 #11
February 17th 2007 04:02
Chapter (11)
The skies over Australia and much of the eastern half of the Pacific Ocean and Tasman Sea were covered in smoke. It was blown east from Western Australia, across the rocky and sandy deserts of the heartland, across South Australia, the driest state in the driest continent on earth where it picked up from the fires of the interior of the state and the Adelaide Hills and peninsulas of the wheat and wool belts. The clouds enveloped the Northern Territory and across Far North Queensland and the great Barrier Reef. The fires of the Southern States added to the cloud as the westerly winds and the high jet-stream picked up its share of the cloud and raced it at over three hundred miles an hour to obliterate the rising sun in the east.
Weary fire fighters worked like robots, not managing to do more than sleep sitting up in their trucks as they were whisked from catastrophic blaze to catastrophic blaze. Rhyme and reason for the fires had long ago disappeared. They would suddenly break out on one front and then again six miles ahead of that and six miles again ahead of that. Crews raced from scene to scene as controllers tried their best to put the valiant men and women into the most controllable areas. Citizens would take over where fire crews often had to depart to a more urgent call.
Major highways in all states were cut in many places as fires raged on either side of the road and thousands of cars and trucks were often isolated in islands of unburnt territory with fire-walls raging around them. The motorists could not be lifted out of danger as they had to stay with their vehicles to be able clear the roads as soon as some control was put on the fires. Supplies were dropped in by choppers and the sick, frail and children were sent out. All major road freight had come to a stand still. Truckers could not get in and out of the cities and rail was similarly cut and freight cars sat idle at sidings. Passengers too were affected, not being able to move. Emergency flights only were sent in and out of major city airports, with the smoke hazard being too great for regular flights, though computerised landing could be made it was decided against by the Air Transport Authorities, not wanting the chance of an air emergency to add to the plight of the nation.
People with respiratory diseases were clogging hospital and doctors waiting rooms. Asthmatics were in the biggest danger and many children were amongst them with siblings and parents often accompanying the child to the hospital. Elderly patients from nursing homes were on oxygen in many cases and the supplies were limited. Burns victims were clogging up hallways of hospitals and state governments had been forced to open up many long closed hospitals now being staffed by volunteer staff with little in the way of medication. These reopened hospitals only took patients affected by the fires, but soon they too were over flowing. First aid posts were set up in all suburbs and towns, run by volunteer St Johns Ambulance, Red Cross and other agencies. Army, Navy and airforce barracks were opened to the volunteer fire fighters and victims of the fires.
Now, large numbers of deaths were being reported directly attributed to the fires. People staying behind to fight the fires that had engulfed whole villages and towns were incinerated along with their property and livestock. People in cars caught on lonely roads and tracks as fires raced in fury, unabated and uncontrolled. Not one community in the whole of the country was unaffected in some way or another. Either having volunteers out fighting or helping fire fighters with food and drink stations or mourning the death of its citizens.
The skies over Australia and much of the eastern half of the Pacific Ocean and Tasman Sea were covered in smoke. It was blown east from Western Australia, across the rocky and sandy deserts of the heartland, across South Australia, the driest state in the driest continent on earth where it picked up from the fires of the interior of the state and the Adelaide Hills and peninsulas of the wheat and wool belts. The clouds enveloped the Northern Territory and across Far North Queensland and the great Barrier Reef. The fires of the Southern States added to the cloud as the westerly winds and the high jet-stream picked up its share of the cloud and raced it at over three hundred miles an hour to obliterate the rising sun in the east.
Weary fire fighters worked like robots, not managing to do more than sleep sitting up in their trucks as they were whisked from catastrophic blaze to catastrophic blaze. Rhyme and reason for the fires had long ago disappeared. They would suddenly break out on one front and then again six miles ahead of that and six miles again ahead of that. Crews raced from scene to scene as controllers tried their best to put the valiant men and women into the most controllable areas. Citizens would take over where fire crews often had to depart to a more urgent call.
Major highways in all states were cut in many places as fires raged on either side of the road and thousands of cars and trucks were often isolated in islands of unburnt territory with fire-walls raging around them. The motorists could not be lifted out of danger as they had to stay with their vehicles to be able clear the roads as soon as some control was put on the fires. Supplies were dropped in by choppers and the sick, frail and children were sent out. All major road freight had come to a stand still. Truckers could not get in and out of the cities and rail was similarly cut and freight cars sat idle at sidings. Passengers too were affected, not being able to move. Emergency flights only were sent in and out of major city airports, with the smoke hazard being too great for regular flights, though computerised landing could be made it was decided against by the Air Transport Authorities, not wanting the chance of an air emergency to add to the plight of the nation.
People with respiratory diseases were clogging hospital and doctors waiting rooms. Asthmatics were in the biggest danger and many children were amongst them with siblings and parents often accompanying the child to the hospital. Elderly patients from nursing homes were on oxygen in many cases and the supplies were limited. Burns victims were clogging up hallways of hospitals and state governments had been forced to open up many long closed hospitals now being staffed by volunteer staff with little in the way of medication. These reopened hospitals only took patients affected by the fires, but soon they too were over flowing. First aid posts were set up in all suburbs and towns, run by volunteer St Johns Ambulance, Red Cross and other agencies. Army, Navy and airforce barracks were opened to the volunteer fire fighters and victims of the fires.
Now, large numbers of deaths were being reported directly attributed to the fires. People staying behind to fight the fires that had engulfed whole villages and towns were incinerated along with their property and livestock. People in cars caught on lonely roads and tracks as fires raced in fury, unabated and uncontrolled. Not one community in the whole of the country was unaffected in some way or another. Either having volunteers out fighting or helping fire fighters with food and drink stations or mourning the death of its citizens.
| 44 |
| Vote |
subscribe to this blog
