American reacts to Australia's Worst Bushfire Ever

[@mizapril9131]

Oh my…My dad lost his best man in that fire. He was one of the firefighters caught underneath the Beaconsfield fire truck. Rest in peace Peter Singleton and all the other dear souls who were lost that day. 🙏🇦🇺❤️

[@barbaraparsons6643]

also had a close family friend found who died with those firemen a that truck, he lived in Upper Beaconsfield and ran ran toward them help. The wind changed and then they were all trapped. so very sad. And then my daughter who lived in Whittlsea and worked at KIng Lake escaped the Black Friday fires .

[@Kim_Kardashcam]

Bless them all, and prayers for everyone in this coming fire season.

[@LisaS23N]

😢 thank you for sharing.

[@tara-leedawn5509]

Firefighters are true hero’s. 💜💜

[@EEmB]

❤🙏😢

[@hayleyschmaal4232]

I don't normally comment, but, My Dad fought in those fires as a very young man in the CFS, he witnessed the death and destruction, and after that he could never stand the smell of cooking pork, it would make him sick. It really affected him, he would always tell us stories and make sure we were bushfire prepared. He passed last year too young from lung disease. This video just reminded me of how much bravery that must have taken. RIP and thanks for your service Dad.

[@lonelyboy9852]

Hope your doing alright mate, your dad sounds like an amazing man. And yeah it does take a shit tone of bravery to do that and i thank your father with helping.

[@angelapolykandrites2422]

Thank God for people like your father who put their lives on the line. ❤

[@aaronpcs2]

My dad volunteered too

[@belindahutchinson5333]

So sorry for your loss. What an amazing man your dad had been. Thank you 🙏

[@primategaberocco]

And your dad is a legend. 👍

[@BlessedBe70]

Answers to some of your questions. 1.) Yes, the fires were actually on the Catholic Ash Wednesday. 2.) Australian bush fires produced their own weather systems. The stronger the fire the more wind it produces and that in turn increases the fire. It is a catch 22 situation. The 2 trucks that were caught in the wind change were Narre Warren and Paton Hills. My husband, who was a firefighter in the fires told me that they actually radioed in at told the rest of the firefighters not to come after them. True heroes.

[@35manning]

I was a firefighter during the Black Saturday bushfire. I was one of many who were awarded the National Emergency Medal. The fires were the first time the medals were eligible to be awarded.

[@turquoisebubbles2042]

Thanks for your service mate …. Truely appreciated 🌻

[@hopejurgens2821]

Thank you

[@pandasrover]

Thanks mate. You are so very appreciated.

[@primategaberocco]

Thank you immensely. 👍

[@grouchogroucho7743]

As a past volunteer rural firefighter, I’d say that it depends on how you classify the “worst ever”. Number of lives lost? Area burned? Number of dwellings destroyed? Number of livestock killed? Cost? A combination of all of these? There have been plenty of terrible bushfires over the last couple of hundred years. One of the big reasons is that when Europeans arrived, traditional burning practices disappeared along with the local Aboriginal tribes as they were pushed off the land. Europeans tended to let forests just grow or clear fell, there wasn’t much in between. We are slowly learning to re-introduce these practices with the help of Indigenous advisors. There’s a long way to go but it is happening and where it is done right, the bushfire season is much more manageable. Here is just a short selection of other past fires: 1851 - 12 dead - two thirds of the state of Victoria burned to ash 1898 - 12 dead - 2000 homes destroyed in Victoria 1926 - 60 dead - 1000 homes destroyed in Victoria 1939/40 - 71 dead - 3700 homes destroyed in Victoria 1967 - 62 dead - 1293 homes destroyed.

[@jameswoodbridge668]

2009 - Black Saturday - 173 lives lost

[@davidareeves]

I grew up with grandparents telling us of these old fires. My father being an MMBW caretaker in the mountains, most of our chores on weekends was either making sure the fire break around our house was maintained and clear. Other weekends would be spent helping fell trees and removal of debris around the eastern water ways. For us is was fun getting chance to be in charge of the chainsaws, or ride on mowers etc. We were well trained, as a kid can be, to be firesafe and prepared. I remember a night during the Ash Wednesday fires, a lightning strike missed the Liquid Chlorine (30,000 liters) shed by a few hundred meters and a new fire front had started. The old lady had to be coaxed away from her home as the helicopter tried to maintain a break as the fire truck tried to get there. She was, oh laddie, it's only a couple sparks it'll be fine, back in '26 or '39, now they were a fire. Thankfully, her house and the shed was saved, that would not have been pretty if the shed went up

[@Merrid67play]

They usually mean human lives lost for "worst". But it's an arbitrary measure at best.

[@MargaretLangley]

Actually Europeans did clear the dead underbrush in the forests until the stupid greens and Labour party stopped this happening .The worst bushfires were in the 1800s Two thirds of Victoria was burned out.The difference today is people are building in bushfire prone areas. I quote a poem by Dorothy McKeller I love a sunburt country. A land of sweeping . Of rugged mountain ranges Of droughts and flooding rain I love he far horizon I love her jewel sea Her beauty and her terror The wide brown land for me. We have cyclones, not hurricans.

[@jade7249]

You forgot the fires in Hobart in the 60s and all the other deadly fires in Australia example the blue mountains bushfire

[@Danceofmasks]

Never mind ash wednesday, every time an american says "black friday," older australians get PTSD

[@xyrt99]

Black Saturday. But yeah I was a telecoms engineer at these. Going in afterwards. It was like walking into a wasteland each time afterwards.

[@Danceofmasks]

@@xyrt99 Nope, I'm talking about black friday. The fact that you don't know about it, probably means you're less than 60 years old.

[@rhyshutchin5]

@@Danceofmasks Not many would know all the events of black friday as it happened in 1939. Most of the people who endured those fires and knew about them at the time would be around 90 years old today if they were kids back then. But I'd consider Black Saturday far worse. Far more deaths and injuries.

[@jencooper3371]

⁠@@xyrt99 the Black Friday bush fires were in 1939. My grand mother and her siblings survived by lying in a creek with wet mattresses over them.

[@Danceofmasks]

@@rhyshutchin5 I'm not even 60 years old, and I heard dozens of stories about it. At some point, people would know. However, your estimation of damage is flawed. See, if there was a fire in 3000BC that killed 50 people, it would be far worse than today, because the human population is many orders of magnitude larger now, that 50 people is statistically negligible.

[@awf6554]

My brigade lost 5 members on Ash Wednesday and it had a big impact on our small town. Every year, we have a sundown memorial service at the bush setting where they were lost. Back then fire trucks were petrol rather than diesel. Not only were they more flammable, but the fuel could evaporate in the lines in the heat, stalling the engine. That happened as the truck was ascending a steep track, and the fire caught up with them.

[@unsub0007]

Majority of our firefighters are also volunteers who leave their families and risk their lives to fight fires.

[@kerrygould6676]

Yes our Volunteer Fire Fighters are up around the 70,000 mark which makes it the biggest in the world. They are our absolute heroes.

[@tnytyson]

Our volunteers fire brigade rock

[@StormTalara]

Honestly can’t count the number of times i’ve ran out the door instead of sitting down for the meal just ready to eat. And I’m in a relatively “quiet” area. I truly commend those in busier/urbanised areas.

[@sventer198]

👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

[@MajorMalfunction]

I was 12. We lived in a growing western Melbourne suburb in the grasslands. The fire came right up to the very edges and burnt some of the fences. Everyone was out with hoses and buckets defending their property. The smoke was so thick you could barely see your feet. The wind was so strong there were whole branches ON FIRE raining down from the sky from the forest 5km away. My Dad and I had swimming goggles on, and wet towels around our heads. Dad was on the hose wetting the roof, and I was running around the backyard with buckets and pots my Mum was filling in the kitchen sink and bath, putting out the burning debris raining in our yard. The next day, half the trees in the street had blown down, even been blown DOWN the street. It was a big clean up. A day I'll certainly never forget.

[@Darryl_Frost]

I was in the Australian Navy at the time, I went and help fight these fires. Hardest work I have ever done over a few days. Still many strong memories of that time.

[@TheMschipp]

thank you for your hard work mate!

[@musicalneptunian]

That's interesting. Were you based at HMAS Cerberus? I never thought of the Navy helping out. As someone who lived through Ash Wednesday in outer SE Melbourne thank you!

[@theimperfectscrapper5313]

Legend mate!

[@Darryl_Frost]

@@musicalneptunian I can't remember I may have been at HMAS Nirimba, or possibly on the SWAN by then. It was not the only one I went too either. I went to the big one in the Vic snow fields (Mt Bright ?? ). We were used to mainly cut fire breaks. (and 'blacking out'). With out rakehoe's. Thanks for your replay.

[@tammymcleod4504]

I live in Cockatoo, which was mentioned in the video. It was one of the hardest hit in those fires. Been here for 10 years now, so I wasn't here when the fires went through, but I tell you what, many of us don't refer to spring and summer here, it's 'bushfire season' instead. There are residents who lived through the fires here who still suffer from PTSD over the Ash Wednesday fires. Women and children sheltered in the kindergarten the day of the fires, and that kindergarten was spared, and is now a memorial and bushfire education centre. Cockatoo's a beautiful place to live, but, with that beauty, comes the danger of bushfires. Nowadays, we have a lot of ways to help if there are fires. I stayed home when the Gembrook/Bunyip fires went through in 2019, and, although it was pretty hairy, I kept an eye on all the apps... Vic Emergency app, Vic Fires, wind direction apps, the radio scanner that catches the CFA broadcasts, stuff like that, and, of course, had the car packed up ready to go (my car is usually packed up with necessities from mid spring to mid autumn should I need to evacuate). You need to have a good fire plan in place just in case the shit does hit the fan.

[@heatherwardell2501]

We lived at Emerald up there and had to evacuate too. We were lucky though. Our house was up for, it didn't help that much

[@huntz3215]

My brother was stuck on my Grandparents farm towards Mt Burnett, they had spot fires to put out. Lucky to have avoided the worst of it. I remember work collegues leaving to go home n release horses or evacuate there families.

[@harperr2180]

We watched from a look out/dam in the Dandenongs as we were tying to figure out what to do and we saw a fireball go through cockatoo. It was horrifying, we had friends who lost homes some with houses left standing while everything else was gone. We moved out of the hills and when Black Saturday happened I found myself totally shaken from the smell of the smoke and I realised how much it had impacted us through the years.

[@skwervin1]

I remember that a brave young man, 18 I think and an older gentleman stayed on the roof of the kindergarten with hoses, constantly wetting it down while the fire raged around them. If not for their efforts, those sheltering inside would have died.

[@papadingo]

We were visiting my wife's sister in Trafalgar during that time, and drove through Cockatoo to visit an elder aunt of mine in Mansfield. It was literally just a couple of hours after we drove through Cockatoo that it was almost completely gone. There wasn't any fire there when we drove through. That's just how fast that for was.

[@nathanhallisey441]

I was a member of the Narre Warren fire brigade from 2008 to 2019. The total loss of Narre Warren and Panton Hill tanker during Ash Wednesday is still remembered. There is a photo of Narre Warren getting the keys to their new truck. Days later it and six members were lost. RIP.

[@Kim_Kardashcam]

Australian Rural Volunteer Firefighters are legends. When called they leave their homes and jobs immediately, and in severe circumstances, fight incredible blazes for weeks on end to help the community in some cases leaving their own homes to burn

[@darrenashley126]

I remember that day well. I was pulled out of school by my stepdad because I was the only one who could call the horses. The fire ended up 1 -2 feet from our bottom fence and the wind changed direction saving our property, the neighbours all lost property and livestock. It was awful. The 2019-2020 fires bought it all back.

[@EEmB]

💔

[@joriley7543]

Have a look at Black Saturday on the 7th February 2009 in Victoria Australia. There were 173 deaths in that one. It was horrific.

[@mickcain2203]

Back in my day I was still a kid then, but mate I can still remember the pain and pure sorrow I felt for each and everyone involved, and just watching this has brought back the heart palpitations and tears, god bless ALL the volunteers and commissioned personnel WE CANNOT THANK THEM ENOUGH FOR EVERYTHING THEY DO.🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏

[@terben7339]

In South Australia, this fire is Called Ash Wednesday II. There had been a fire 3 years earlier, which had been named the Ash Wednesday fire. This earlier fire was renamed Ash Wednesday I after 1983. One thing not mentioned in the video was that the temperature that day was in excess of 43°C. (~110°F)

[@alphgeek]

The whole prior two weeks was oppressive, most days at or near 40. We were on severe water restrictions, it hadn't rained for months. Mt Macedon, Vic.

[@barryduffman9467]

Volunteer Rural Fire Service member here. Couple of points that may interest you. The blankets are standard issue on all trucks and when it is very hot outside, the blankets are put up inside (not the windscreen, obviously) to lessen the effect of radiant heat. I have been on trucks, used the blankets, get clear of the fireground and then inspect the truck to find heaps of the plastic attachments (door handles and such) melted. Another interesting point is that one of the trucks was using its windscreen wipers as there was water hitting the windscreen. It is not raining. All trucks have overspray sprinklers that can wet down the trucks going through "warmish" areas lol.

[@nolaj114]

There were some incredible satellite shots taken showing the extent of the fires over the country in January 2020. Sadly, there are many articles saying "worst fire in Australian history", or words to that effect, with successive dates as each seems to surpass the last. And haunting images of burnt koalas and other animals, survivors but terrible burns. RIP to all those lost. Salute to the firefighters.

[@WraithReaper09]

Those fires started end of September 2019 and burned into March 2020. The country burned for around 6 months.

[@Peter-wj1lp]

I remember as a teen living in Adelaide, looking up at the hills in the evening and seeing the tops of the hills on fire. What a devastating day for south Australia and Victoria.

[@datwistyman]

I live in the South Burnett region of Queensland and about 150kms to 200kms away from me near the town of Tara there are crazy bushfires happening right now, yesterday there was 2 people dead and a few homes destroyed. Have watched the news yet today but I'm betting the it's gotten a lot worse.

[@mikeyhau]

I'm heading to the western Downs region on Saturday to help with recovery efforts. There are hundreds of people displaced by the fires and they need basic services. Luckily my little bit won't involve me in fighting the beast, I'll just be helping people get through the consequences. I take my hat off to the brave people who do the real hard and dangerous work, on the fire fronts. It is always sad to see the consequences of disaster but it also makes me proud of all the brave people as well as the ordinary people who step forward to help.

[@pieman2656]

What people need to remember is when you stand in front of a radiant heater you can feel it and it is only 2KW per hour. Bush fires can exceed 50KW per square meter even higher when oils from Eucalyptus and pine reach flashpoint and radiant heat goes a good distance. Yesterday Ryan showed videos of fire trucks driving through the fire and you hear a call put the blanket up. The radiant heat coming into the cab cooks everything so you put a barrier in the way. Keep up the good work ex volunteer, some called us the Jolly Volley's but there is a time where we all pitch in. Cheers from over the ditch in New Zealand.

[@duncandownham4726]

My condolences to those affected by past fires (and those in the future). Respect to the firefighters that battle the bushfires, legit heroes. Could be a rough one this season, stay as safe as you can people.

[@hothead2306]

The Christian Ash Wednesday happens 6.5 weeks before Easter so between 4th Feb and 11th March. The bushfires were a series of bushfires that occurred in south-eastern Australia in 1983 on 16 February, which was the Christian holy day Ash Wednesday in that year.

[@belindahutchinson5333]

Australia didn’t celebrate the Catholic Ash Wednesday..

[@cgkennedy]

​@@belindahutchinson5333Most practising Catholics do.

[@AussieDi_678]

G'day Ryan. I remember Ash Wednesday. I live at the foot of the Dandenong Ranges in Melbourne. I had a friend who was evacuated and they lost half the house and horses. It was horrific. P.s. Our Aussie Fire fighters went to help in the California fires. 👍

[@whisperslmao798]

I was a volunteer at this time at the local RSPCA (animal shelter), it was devastating time for our vets with the amount of animals that had survived the fire but needed to put down. So much devastation for every one who lost every thing.

[@ItsKATH]

I was in the middle of Ash Wednesday. On the news the said no houses were left standing in our road which scared our family in the city. Phone lines were out for days so no one knew if we were alive. The closest town to us lost 535 houses and buildings and 27 lives. We spent the night in the middle of a paddock my dad had plowed watching the fire 360* around us! I remember the night like it was yesterday

[@threestumps7560]

Hey Ryan, Ash Wednesday is one of many bad bushfires we have had in Victoria. The Aireys Inlet and Lorne area mentioned in the video really hits home to me. In history, other parts of Australia have also had their own bushfire disasters: Black Tuesday (Tasmania, 1967), Black Sunday (Sth Aust, 1955), Black Friday (Victoria, 1939), Black Saturday (Victoria, 2009) and Black Summer (nationwide, 2019/20) amongst many other. My grandparents use to talk about Black Friday when they were young. My parents talk about Ash Wednesday and I will talk about Black Saturday.

[@allenjones5525]

I remember my ex brother in law talking his experiences in Airey's Inlet in 83. He said when he saw the flywire screens on the windows melting to liquid with the heat he decided to abandon the house and head to the beach. If he had not he would have died as the house was totally destroyed

[@oceanapearl3503]

I'll forever associate Summer with smoke.

[@infin8ee]

Although it's beautiful to live in the bush fire is certainly a very real factor. Respect and many thanks to everyone who has ever or will ever be involved in helping to "fight" fire. I know we're all worried for this summer as the death toll has already started with the fire's currently burning. Prayers to everyone involved

[@vtbn53]

Wish me luck Ryan, we are just heading into our fire season here and it looks like being a bad one, in 2019 the fires reached within a hundred yards of my house, I had to evacuate 15 times and one night I gave up on my house only to wake in the morning to find those beautiful magnificent firies had stopped the fire in it's tracks just 100 yards away, unbelievable courage and determination. Sadly at least 12 houses in my village and surrounds were lost.

[@duncandownham4726]

Good luck, I too am worried about the new season. Where I live is pretty safe, but my heart goes out to those who aren't. Looks terrifying, and good on the brave people that fight those fires

[@vtbn53]

@@duncandownham4726 Thank you very much, yes they are incredibly brave people but also are incredibly nice people, I noticed two firies in the vacant lot next door (hazard checking I assume) and I asked them if they could comment on the fire prep work I had been doing. They both jumped over the fence and spent at least an hour with me going over the house and property telling to do this and do that, so very very helpful (this was my first bushfire situation BTW so knew basically nothing.).

[@ladylynnmaree]

This Ash Wednesday Bushfires destroyed my home town. I attended a 40th commemorative anniversary this February, and it was mentioned that this was the first of the climate change fires. This fire didn't behave like traditional fires, so many cha ges were made in how to approach fire fighting.

[@fugawiaus]

So all the other previous fires weren’t climate change but this one was? You do realise how silly that sounds don’t you. Australia has a long history of massive bushfires on record going back to 1788 and aboriginal memory a hell of a lot further but this one was climate change? Riiiiiight

[@ladylynnmaree]

Tell that to the head of the CFA and all the representatives from each fire stations involved in Ash Wednesday that was present at the official event. Their words not mine, but I was there in 1983 and I agree with them.

[@fugawiaus]

@@ladylynnmaree how about you use your own brain cells for once. Thousands of years of bushfire history but this single one was climate change. There was a fire in the early 1900s that burnt out 2/3 of Victoria which was natural. All before it were natural and all the bush fires after were natural until 1983 which was climate change all of a sudden. Haha By the way… Not the CFAs words, your words. The words climate change didn’t exist until the early 2000s, it was global warming and few even mentioned it until the 90s, it was a fringe thing by early computer modellers. Previous to that it was global cooling throughout the 70s to early 80s. So no, they didn’t.

[@thatfelladownunder9396]

I was in the Army in Central Victoria in ‘83 and myself and my housemates were watching the fires in tv, which were a fair way south from us. And it was bizarre because I looked at my mates and said “ I can smell it!” We went outside (nighttime) and could see the smoke haze around the streetlight. A dear family friend and an old schoolmate were killed when their fire truck was overrun in SA. Where I’m from. The Adelaide hills, again, where I’m from originally burned in both 1978 and 1983. Devastating.

[@brettbridger362]

Sorry to break this too you, but we NEVER get cool air in Australia running of the Arctic. The Antarctic yes, Artic, no.

[@carokat1111]

It's not our only bad fire. 64 people died in Tasmania in the February 1967 fire and the psychological scars still remain for many older people I know. Sadly, there have been plenty of other bad ones too. Australia has cyclones.

[@kyato2480]

Most cyclones happen in the northern parts of Australia, on the northern coasts of Queensland, Western Australia and in the Gulf of Northern Territory. The most noticeable one being Cyclone Tracy that hit Darwin on Christmas Day. Other areas do get some (or the tail end of cyclones) but this isn't as often as the previously mentioned areas.

[@AndyViant]

My parents moved from Hobart to Melbourne after those fires. Little did they know what they were getting into.

[@jade7249]

I remember Hobart's fire only too well worrying about family and friends hoping they got out safely I'm from Lonnie

[@davidius74]

Being from Adelaide, I was in primary school when the fire started near Mt Lofty. It was such a hot day that we got sent home from school early. I remember watching channel 9 news that night with Rob Kelvin reporting on location down the street from his home and while he was broadcasting he watched as his house burnt down. Later that night as you looked up towards Mt Lofty you could see a ring of fire in the hills. While that looked great at night, the destruction it caused was not and the smoke made it hard to breathe even as the fires pushed further east and were contained closer to Adelaide. There is a museum at Mt Lofty dedicated to the fire and yes as others have said it did occur on the catholic Ash Wednesday.

[@amandamoroni9584]

There have been so many devastating fires in southern Australia, currently NSW coast is burning and the rest of Southern Australia is bracing for another bad bushfire season. I lived in Bendigo during black friday and was part of the clean up around king lake which was one of the towns wiped out ..... Absolutely heartbreaking and something I'll never forget

[@gavinmclean3174]

This was my first big fire in the CFA and very lucky to have very experienced people around me that managed to keep the team safe, this also changed the trucks we now use so we have a chance to survive if we are over run by the fire front, I've been at all big ones since Ash Wednesday and all our small local fires. A big problem is the amount of fires lit on purpose I'd love to get my hands on those people, most of us feel the same way.

[@karenr1688]

My husband was a volunteer and fought this fire. My husband and another volunteer was left out all night because the fire truck forgot about them and left so they were out till they were picked up in the morning. He said it was the scariest night of his life! 😮

[@heatherwardell2501]

Oh no!

[@StormTalara]

Sounds like what happened to my dad with the helicopter one time. Got dropped into deep bush and heli got called away and never came back for them. Had to hike 20km to get out.

[@karenr1688]

@@StormTalara It sounds crazy! But it does happen 😮

[@wdazza]

Eucalyptus trees have leaves that contain eucalyptus oil which is very flammable and so they burn even when they are still green. The Blue Mountains are blue because of the oil produced by the leaves and which enters the air. This is a bit like the blue smoke produced from the exhaust of a car that is burning oil because of a damage piston ring.

[@competitionglen]

And the strong wind just blows that much more oxygen to feed the fire

[@dee-smart]

The way they fight bushfires is to put in breaks and hope to slow down and halt the spread of the area. Containing it in one specific area and not allowing it to move on. However when the winds are rapid fires jump massive distances and it is virtually impossible to stop the spread. That is why fires can rage not just hours and days, but weeks and months, like the last big one we had in 2019/2020. Also gum trees (eucalyptus) fuel the fires too. They are prevalent in the Australian bush and are the main food source for koalas.

[@tyeadel]

There have been many large bush fires. Around about 1953 my dad drove us along a coastal road with a view toward the Adelaide Hills. They were ablaze for miles and miles; you never forget a sight like that. Over here on Kangaroo Island we had a blaze about three years ago that burnt about 60% of the island (its about 100 miles long). We were evacuated twice.

[@helenlecornu1651]

Ryan, as I'm sure many other people have said we have Cyclones (hurricanes), Tornadoes, Floods, Bushfires, Earthquakes, Waterspouts, dust devils and of course massive droughts in Australia - Plus a lot of things that love to bite!

[@AndyViant]

I was at school during the dust storm and remember it well. Some of my school friends were involved in the ASH WEDNESDAY bushfire, losing friends, family and animals at Beaconsfield, Cockatoo and Gembrook.

[@Pavlovaboi38]

I remember this, my mum was in a school bus with her class going at full speed to the allocated meeting spot, the fire litteraly went over the bus and the people in the car behind them sadly died. She remembers being at school with her friend and looking over at the hills and they where ALL burning they thought it was dust, there was ash falling over them and they where out aying in it because they didn't know what it was. That story still terrifies me.

[@gamortie]

0:51 it did happen on the ecclesiastical Ash Wednesday. I was in my first year of high school, and, due to my involvement in and proximity to the local Salvation Army, I was involved in the distribution side of relief efforts.

[@alphgeek]

10:30 Our house at Mt Macedon burned down on Ash Wednesday when I was 12yo. I still remember it like yesterday. We thought the risk had passed by late evening so we were having a late dinner around 10pm. Nobody realised that the wind changed and was blowing the fire towards us in a huge front. My first realisation was what I thought was rain hitting the roof - strange given it had been dry for months. I went to take a look and saw the sky filled with glowing embers. I jumped out of my skin. We were in the car and leaving within two minutes and ended up driving out in a logjam of cars with fires on both sides. We spent the night with dozens of others at a huge house in Woodend. We went back the next day and the only building standing within 500m of where our home had been was the CFA station. I also remember the dust storm that preceded the fire, I was at school when we heard and they sent the whole school home early. I was at home when it came through. We'd also had a another fire a week before THAT in which my Aunt's fancy house with huge gardens had burned.

[@glenod]

my mum and dad had friends there, jim and rose mackilhose, their house was spared, each house next door was gone.

[@jasonfield8823]

I used to be a volunteer fire fighter. These kinds of fires happens nearly every summer here.

[@benjaminlloyd-martin4339]

and it's getting worse, from a casual observer. parts of tassie went up in flames during 2019-2020 that don't normally have fires

[@claytonjones897]

Ryan - for context Black Saturday burnt out 450,000 hectares - in perspective draw a line from Thorntown to Mooresville across to Shelbyville, up to Anderson and back to Thorntown - anything in that square was just gone. Thanks to anyone who puts their community before thier safety to fight bushfires - they are all hero’s in my book!!

[@charlotteharvey3442]

our firefighters are true heros and most are volunteers', they are saving us in fires and their own homes have burnt to the ground, they are more than heroes, words cannot express our respect for these wonderful men and woman and our ses volunteers'

[@jenniferslack-smith5129]

Brave men. They are volunteers and have been fighting bushfires for years.

[@jenniferharrison8915]

Happy Arvo Ryan! 😯👍 Yes, it's the name of a religious day! 🤔 This is horrifying! 😵 Great to hear the video commentary is in a genuine Aussie accent! The loss of communication must have been really devastating and very stressful! The poor defenseless animals, what a horrible thought! 😪 Yes, the noise of a big fire is terrifying, the heat, the smell! 😳😭

[@PsychMeds_Cjayy]

Well in Australia, we don’t get tornados, but we do get something I like to call ‘leaf swirlies’ but it’s not like tornados it’s just an abrupt change in direction of the wind, making it so there’s residual gust in the opposite direction influencing each other

[@bigs1546]

These types of fires used be periodic with recovery and re-greening time in between - now they happen regularly. I can remember the 1968 Blue Mountains bushfires which burnt uncontrolled for almost 70 days with 5 days of absolute terror. 14 people killed, over 250 million acres destroyed. Grey ash fell on Sydney for days like it was snow. Cars were catching fire on the highway trying to escape - it was terrifying as a 10 year old .......... we lived in the outer Western Sydney and wondered when it would come down to us. The fires made it to Terrey Hills. It just happens more frequently now and I believe that Australia is one of the "canary in the coal-mine" countries for global climate change - and now we see unprecedented weather events happening globally.

[@gabbab9863]

I grow up in palm beach on the coast north of Sydney and remember seeing ash falling on the ocean from a fire in the blue mountains over 100 kilometres away. Blew my mind.

[@jadendrysdale8864]

During Ash Wednesday there was a fire that almost destroyed our home town and my mother had to evacuate from school.

[@dawolf3199]

At Anglesey you can still see some of the original burnt tree's

[@c8Lorraine1]

The worst fires took place in 2019/20. Over a billion animals killed some species wiped out. 100s people killed including firefighters who came over from Canada to help us. They returned home in coffins. The fires in 2009 in Victoria took out a whole town, people weren’t given notice to evacuate.

[@benjaminlloyd-martin4339]

i was just thinking the same. there was the town where they all had to jump into the water at the beach, a team was trying to protect the wollemi pine. i swear we called it black summer?

[@karenglenn6707]

This is a day that just about every Victorian who was alive at the time will never forget. The thick smoke all over the state, into the cbd. The fear and terror that we all felt will never leave us. The bravery and sacrifice of so many volunteers who we respect and give thanks to every single day for their bravery and complete and utter dedication to their fellow Aussies. They are never and will never be forgotten. So many terrible stories that will stay with us always. And peace and love to the families who lost their loved ones, I cannot begin to imagine your suffering.

[@rolla5731]

Worst fire in australia by far is the kinglake fires 173 ppl, 120 were from kinglake alone, 3500 buildings including 2000 homes were burnt to the ground, and this is why we now live in beautiful port macquarie 😊

[@Aquarium-Downunder]

Port Macquarie was lots of fun in 2019/20

[@rolla5731]

@@Aquarium-Downunder once the fires stopped it was, we moved from the fires and they followed us 😔

[@Aquarium-Downunder]

@@rolla5731 I would like to name a place in Australia that you are safe from fires, but I know better.

[@angelapolykandrites2422]

Indeed, the kinglake fires were absolute hell, I agree they were the worst. RIP to all those who perished.

[@googleuser__1416]

I went through Ash Wednesday, as a 5yo and lived not far from Cockatoo. I still remember the sound of the fire coming over the hill. I will never forget it.

[@NicoleTilley-q3x]

We are still putting out fire on our property as we speak. My husband and I live in Millmerran Downs Qld and have had a horrific few days. Scary, scary stuff. All hail our fire fighters, our modern day superheroes.

[@tiaelina1090]

We lived in Adelaide during that time and it was frightening, you could see the smoke and the darkness, eerie red colour in the sky surrounding the Adelaide Hills. After the fires were out we took a ride into the hills to look at the devastation. It was horrific and so sad.

[@jessovenden]

Eucalyptus trees are full of oil that’s highly flammable. California has lots of eucalyptus trees, imported from Australia I think. So do most of the many places in the world that had bushfires this year. Please somebody correct me if I am wrong.

[@becsutherland4506]

I was in Albania and was so surprised to see eucalypts. They planted them to deal with salinity from memory.

[@jackvos8047]

They release the oil into the air as a survival mechanism in case of fire. A fast burning fire is better for the tree than a slow one as a slow burning fire has more chance of killing the tree by turning it into charcoal. I think it is that they release more oil into the air the hotter it gets.

[@jackvos8047]

​@@becsutherland4506I saw somewhere years ago that Israel was planting them for much the same reason.

[@juliejefferies291]

They also regenerate after fire - they rise up from the ashes literally. Most Australian native plants needs fire to germinate their seeds. So about a month after a bushfire when you drive past again you see all this green vegetation, it is actually beautiful

[@TracyFromAus]

I lived in Cockatoo at the time of the fires, our house burnt the ground in 4 minutes. the only thing recognisable was an IceCube tray and the garden hose!

[@Karl-Benny]

Look Up Cyclone Tracy

[@LittlewolfMacca]

I was only 4yrs old an it was like a huge ring of fire tall as anything an the people all come together as one huge community to get through it. God bless all who fight these fires then an now

[@stephenhoward8433]

Mate black Saturday in 2009 is by far the worst. Maybe not in total area but definitely worst in terms of the ferocity and devastation. Some heartbreaking stories from that day

[@ROWSELLTV]

The ash wednesday fires burnt 486,030 hectares and the Black summer fires (2019/2020) burnt 18,626,000 hectares. And Australia is on the verge of another major bushfire season and there's a very high chance it will happen again

[@bigoz1977]

Mate, during the 2019/2020 fires over 1 billion animals were thought to of died. I’m guessing this video was released before then. The 09 fires happen just after I left Australia and moved to the UK. That was scary as I had friends and family very close to that one. The 2020 ones I was back here for and that was very close to me, well some parts were as the fires spread around massive areas of the country. Also being called Ash Wednesday has nothing to do with religion. Just as you said so much ash.

[@dee-smart]

I heard 2 billion actually in the worst bushfires we had in 2019/2020. It was a HAARP activated bushfire - in other words using energy weapons. Used in the Californian bushfires that happened around the same time too.

[@The_Calm_Chaos]

Sadly it was actually close to 3 billion animals, including around 64,000 koalas.

[@The_Calm_Chaos]

Oh god, please don't bring that conspiracy sh1t in here on such an important topic. @@dee-smart

[@k.vn.k]

@@The_Calm_Chaosmore like 10 billion animals including unhatched eggs, all insects and reptiles

[@lynnmoses3563]

The Ash Wednesday fires were actually on Ash Wednesday in that year, 1983

[@lifewithalistair.]

I was in the pool at school when the dust storm came and it was like a solar eclipse. In 2009 when we had the black Saturday bushfires, the smoke was so bad it was like a thick fog all over Melbourne. We could hardly breathe. I did a job in a town burnt out by the bush fire three months after it happened, and I could still smell ash everywhere around me. Bush fires usually happen in the hilly terrain with lots of trees.

[@justjj4319]

If this is about the 1983 AshWednesday fire/s it s called that because it WAS on the religiosi AshWednesday. Our farm was burned out; neighbours on local farms and tiny township* died ... children in my daughter's classroom (and where I had taught) died. I would like to add that the South Australian State Government of the day swung into action VERY fast and offered absolutely brilliant (and unmatched since) support. Am happy to detail it if wished *Kalangadoo. PS I enjoy the spirit of your reactions j

[@OutbackLife656]

Ryan FYI we are in the bushfire season..27th October 2023. I am in outback Queensland . We received a notice this morning to prepare to evacuate. The smoke was very thick this morning . Water bomber brought in as firefighters battle four major blazes around were I am ... two areas near me have had to evacuate.. We are ready to go if needed . - Dozens of fires are still active across Queensland as the state is hit by some of the worst blazes in 40 years. We all love our volunteer firefighters out here...

[@mattdeves1900]

FAIRDINKUM my man! You're definately bringing up a lot of memories for us Aussies. It's good though, we need to remember our hero's. As I've said before, they don't need capes, or undies on the outside, they are every where. Good bless all our hero's, and their family's! Thankyou ladies and gentlemen for your service! Lots of love to you all!

[@onarollof4]

The bushfires experienced in the 2019-20 season burned 19 million hectares of land in southern Australia, greater than the combined area burned in the Black Saturday 2009 and Ash Wednesday 1983 bushfires.

[@narellesmith7932]

Just before Ash Wednesday a huge wave of dust came from Country Vic over melbourne like a tidal wave and blotted out the sun for hours . It was 40 degrees and I had a temperature the same so was sent home from work. Couldn’t breath outside and needed a scarf over mouth nose and eyes to run inside.

[@OriginalLittleDragon]

To answer your random thought question, YES, Australia can get tornadoes, but there has never been a recorded EF5, though two that we had could technically be classed as it, especially one that happened in the 1970s

[@shanebarker3131]

It did happen on Ash wednesday. I can remember being 7 yrs old and sitting in school, i lived in Adelaide and we had a howling hot northerly all day.

[@suzannesmith1805]

Fire here in rural Australia is a major concern we spend weeks preparing. I am always in awe of the volunteers as they do this for free. Both my husband and I have in the past have been involved as volunteers.

[@tomthumb4142]

My wife and I owned a block of land at Cockatoo in the Dandenong ranges, luckily we had not built on it but it was in the fires and got burnt, at the back of our land was a house which somehow did not get burnt because the firefighters were dowsing it with water, we had trees at the back of our land which were only burnt on our side and not burnt at all on the other side...In Victoria we are so thankful for our CFA (Country Fire Association) who volunteer their time and put their lives on the line for all of us especially as they are not paid...God bless them and keep them safe.

[@theimperfectscrapper5313]

At the time, I lived only 40km south of the Macedon Ranges. Was swimming in a friends pool and ash was literally falling out of the sky and into the pool with us. These days I now live in that area - and I’m worried about the heat this summer.

[@Shattered65]

I had a friend that was part of the crew from Panton Hill that died when their tanker was burned. He survived because he was late getting home from work that afternoon and the tanker went out without him. The trauma he suffered at the loss of his friends was devastating and has had a terrible toll on the rest of his life.

[@hairy-dairyman]

My father's first fire was ash wendsday. Mine was black Saturday. 5:00 we don't fight that sort of fire. We try to save lives and limit damage. Find defensible structures and do your best.

[@compphysgeek]

I didn't live in Australia in 1983 and just came to Australia in 2009, but if you're looking up that 2009 fire, also look up the 2019/2020 fire. I don't know how the last one compares to the other ones regarding casualties, but its extent was almost the entire east coast of Australia in Victoria and New South Wales.

[@carlynsonny4ever]

That was Black Saturday, over 100 lives were lost.

[@kimvenning2801]

Hi Ryan, There were also the 2019/2020 fires that went through Qld, NSW, Vic, SA etc. All these big bushfires can make their own weather systems; fire tornadoes included. Pyrocumulonimbus clouds with dry lighting can feed and spread the fire. Volunteer fire service names vary from state to state. Country Fire Service (CFS) and Rural Fire Service (RFS) as well as CFA. We also get other isolated tornadoes from time to time, usually fairly small and localised... but sometimes larger and more destructive. Also we do have the odd earthquake. Ash Wednesday is also an important day for Anglicans. The fires occurred on the same day as Ash Wednesday in 1983.

[@snakezdewiggle6084]

Anyone notice that we (Aussies), very rarely speak of bush fires. Heart felt thanks to all the men and women, past and present. We will never forget.

[@kazdean]

I remember the Ash Wednesday fires well. At the time I was an army reservist doing a regular army training course. Because our course had recently done fire training they put our course on standby to fight the fire heading towards the Bandiana ammo storage area. Fortunately the wind shifted and we were stood down.

[@pcole1232]

The dust storm moved right across all Australian states,cities and towns, country NSW was affected. The dust storm came through our town. I heard a loud noise outside, so I opened the front door it was the wind, all I could see was a huge rolling cloud of brown dust. I quickly closed the door, put towels across the bottom of the doors and windows. I was hoping and praying that my home wouldn't be blown away. It so eerie.

[@rebeccatompkins]

It happened on February 16th, 1980; my mother's 40th birthday. I was 12 years old. I remember the radio and TV news updates. It was scary and devastating. I was a teenager then. Two week later, floods caused more chaos in the Barossa Valley. My hometown, Nuriootpa, was left with at least 2 ft of mud. My street was flooded. I was the only dummy to walk to my high school to find out it was wrecked by the flood. Australia has hurricanes.

[@downundarob]

9:00 - Yes we have a twister equivalent, but they mostly occur in sparsely occupied regions, so they tend to knock over trees and such rather than houses. google for firenado, or 'fire tornado australia'

[@louise8001]

I remember these fires. It happened just before we moved to Adelaide from Sydney. We were visiting my dad's sister, and we could see the flames in the Adelaide Hills from West Beach Caravan park where we were staying. It was a scary sight when you are 8 years old.

[@1970GenXer]

Back in the 70's & 80's the Canadian's help train a lot of our bushfire Firies, they were the leaders at the time in fighter bushfires. They have a team called Smoke Jumper's.

[@hexvolter]

I work in the Pilbara for most of the year (top of WA) and we have a cyclone season, towns prep for cyclones and a lot are built to withstand them. Tropical cyclones are usually a yearly occurrence

[@jaydubbelyoo]

Ash Wednesday spread across two states. I was 2yrs old and the fire was approaching our house in the Adelaide Hills. It didn't reach us thankfully.

[@50NewEyes]

I lived through it I was 7 at the time, we lived on top a mountain range with a massive horse shoe valleys on either side and we were surrounded by it, we saw it all burn but some how luckily it never hit our house, the old boys fire protection system paid off, sprinklers everywhere even covering the roof…. It was crazy… will never forget how black e every thing was, as far as you could see was just burnt it a crisp…..

[@lillyrose9084]

9:00 tornados do not occur here, only rarely

[@adriaandeleeuw8339]

I remember this clearly, first the dust storm I was driving a truck with eight tons of cement bags on the back, I was travelling from a place called Lilydale to Croydon a short distance, out of Lilydale was a steep climb and as I crested the hill I glanced to the West and saw the huge dust storm in the distance, as I descended the hill on the other side I was buffeted by the winds noting the dust was still way off in the distance, the wind was so strong it literally pushed my truck out of its lane onto the side of the road, I continued on and entered a less windy patch of the highway and this continued until I reached my workplace.... I pulled my truck into the yard and drove it straight into the shed, wound up the windows of the truck, ran inside the building and started to shut the doors. The boss asked me what I was doing, I told him, about the dust storm coming. The amount of dust over everything was phenomenal.

[@brim5675]

Im 44 my grandfather lost everythi g in ash wednesday fires. It is only today that i learn ash wednesday has a reliogious meaning!

[@RebelRose666]

I remember sitting on our shed roof and watching so many fires in the hills and new ones starting. Our house was on the crest of a hill and was the perfect view to such devastation

[@BeatWittwer-x8p]

I was on a fire truck just near Lorne. We had no choice but to drive to the beach and watch our truck burn in the car park as we sat on the beach. The heat/fire was so intense the bitumen on the road was on fire behind us as we raced to the ocean out of the nearby hills. Black Saturday was even worse but to my good fortune our fire truck was despatched to the Buffalo Valley ( NE Victoria) to stop fires from exiting and heading towards nearby towns... thankfully it never did. Ryan, please note.... rapid (strong) wind changes are a nightmare for firefighters .... a fire heading south in a narrow front ( due to wind from the north) suddenly swaps to a broad front as the wind swings west/east. A 1 mile front can become a 30 mile front in minutes. Thankfully our firefighters now have excellent links with the Weather Bx. and we now get advanced warnings of any approaching shift .... this was not the case 15-20 years ago.

[@laughingjackaso8163]

started on a wednesday. i was 13 at the time and my dad was fighting it as a member of the Selby CFA (Country Fire Authority - a volunteer based system). was very scary at the time as most of the surrounding hills/bush around Melbourne was burning, and visibility was almost nothing due to smoke haze over the city and suburbs.