Fires round-up

[ribbert]

Have a look at these then imagine it from one end of the country to the other.....

https://www.demilked.com/australia-bush-fires-photos/

We are very grateful for a large contingent of fire fighters from the US, Canada and NZ. For those that may not know, this is a reciprocal arrangement that has existed for many years with those countries.

On a lighter note, one of the news stories this morning was about how few Americans were aware that Australia is much the same size as the US.



Noel

[Urban_Legend]

Yes the land mass is roughly the same, but the population is very different. US is about 300 million to Australia's 22 million. One of the things going for us, with relation to the fire death (all very sad) is our sparse population.

Also unfortunately is that we have a government who looks at our resoureses (rivers and land) for its econimic value. Not its cultural or heritage value, which has lead to gross missmangement.  

Mark

[Tuned forks]

I read an article the other day that showed CalFire (the California state fire agency) wants to send help to Australia but that agreement you mentioned prohibits state agencies from acting alone.  The agreement supposedly goes through our federal gov't only.  The Feds have to ask the local agencies to send help to foreign countries.

Noel, count me in as one of the Americans that didn't realize Australia similar in size to the continental USA.  From your map, it looks like AUS is actually larger in square miles.

Joe