Australian Fires
Hopefully this post will keep the E&Ms happy as it has nothing to do with engineering!
Some of you will have seen the Australian Bushfires on the news and just flicked past the articles without too much thought.
A few weeks ago, the fires were particularly bad west of Sydney, causing the air quality in the city to be equivalent to smoking 40 cigarettes a day.
Most of the Australian countryside is like a tinder box with high temperatures and little rain making it perfect conditions for the fires which have continued to spread. Last night strong winds and dry lightening storms added to the number and scale of the fires. (The winds were so strong a volunteer fireman was killed when the wind lifted and overturned his 10t truck).
This morning we got a text alert notifying us of an emergency fire situation in Batemans Bay where my site attachment was (we moved down to Melbourne 4 weeks ago). I viewed the online fire tracking website which showed the town is practically cut off by fires. This prompted me to log onto my old project time-lapse cameras to take a look. (Pictures taken one daylight and links below).
Today a picture from Batemans Bay has made BBC news and is probably one of the headlines you are waking up to this morning. It is difficult to describe the scale and impact of the devastation from the fires.
Currently there is no works on the project site due to the Christmas shut-down. Hopefully the situation will have improved in a weeks time when the site re-opens.
Sadly the fires are like this along most of the coast from the Queensland boarder in the north to parts of East Victoria in the south. All PET students are safe in cities and ready to see in the new year in Australian style.
Wherever you are and however you are celebrating I wish you all a happy new year from Australia.
Holdfast Training Services Trial Blog 
Mark, a Happy New Year to you all from the home team. Let’s hope the rain comes soon to damp things down.
Difficult to understand just how bad/unusual the situation is down there. Most of our news is just click-bait. I thought that it was worse than normal but you seem to suggest it’s a bit worse that that again?
Anyway at least your Phase 2 project is still standing…My record is with Rich Phillips. His phase 2 project burnt down soon after he left site….still have my doubts!
HNY
I think the true scale of the fires has since been more widely publicised. Batemans Bay and the area I lived in have featured heavily in the BBC footage and as well as Mallacoota which is closer to Melbourne. I have more photos which I’m happy to email if you’re interested as I’m not sure this is the right forum.
Luckily there were no segments erected with temp PT as fire slackening the PT is the biggest risk to this type of bridge.
I’m not sure of the impact at the main project site but I know the precast yard has been affected with a telehandler destroyed and fire damage to the site offices and storage shipping containers. I think further damage will be uncovered when they return to site.
Tomorrow the conditions will deteriorate again so things could get a whole lot worse before they get better.
Although surrounded by fires – Sydney itself isn’t burning!
Two factors were a concern on site prior to me leaving:
– increased heat from the greenhouse effect of the smog, meaning that very early in the day the temperature exceeded the guidelines for pouring concrete.
– horrendous air quality, which at times was reported to be the worst in the world.
The John Holland hierarchy gave direction that ‘if you wanted to’ you could cease works with no penalties on site due to the air quality. Akin to your wife saying ‘don’t worry about getting me a Christmas present’ – it’s a trap! As such no one actually left site.
On the worst days we’ve had ash coming down like snow, the beaches black with it and air quality that makes it difficult to breathe. I shudder to think of the conditions the volunteer fire force are facing. The fires are due to burn to March!
Random fact – there’s an Australian bird that has learnt to drop fire embers in dry grass to flush out it’s prey! Smart…until it burns the whole forest down.