As you may have heard, over the past 24 hours Victoria has suffered from the worst bushfires seen in decades. The worst is the King Lake fire north of Melbourne, which has burned over 200,000 hectares (almost 800 square miles). Some of the towns in the area are completely destroyed. The historic town of Marysville has only one building left. Hundreds of homes have been burnt, and at least 65 people have died and the number of deaths is expected to reach over 100. Many of the people that died did so trying to escape – the roads in the areas are littered with burnt cars, but the fires moved too quickly and unpredictably and people got caught.
Luckily, Wodonga isn’t threatened, but there is a fire nearby that is threatening towns such as Beechworth and Yackandandah. They are only 30-40km away and are home to many people that work in Albury-Wodonga, including several people that work at the University. The winds have died down a bit, so hopefully the fires won’t spread as quickly and the towns will be spared.
When I moved to Australia, I knew about the hazards of the fires, but it didn’t seem very real. Part of me wanted to experience a bad fire season, just to see what it was like. I don’t like it very much. It’s sad and horrible. I hope it doesn’t happen again.
Posted by bedwetter 
Posted by bedwetter 
