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This morning I woke to some terrible news. I mentioned last week that my state here in Australia was going through a heatwave and that we were all worried about the threat of bushfires. Yesterday the temperature soared again to about 110 degrees. The state has literally exploded with something approaching 400 bushfires. The news I have heard is still sketchy but there are 25 confirmed deaths and that figure will surely rise.  One town(Marysville) has been left with only one house still standing. We heard of 6 people who were burnt to death in there automobile trying to escape. We have heard the 25 deaths include 2 children. There are 15 people that have been airlifted to the state's main trauma hospital with severe burns and that figure will no doubt also rise.
Last night I went to bed with the smell of smoke and fire in the air and smoke filling the sky to the north.
Please pray for all those affected by these fires and for the families of those lost. Also for the firefighters and emergency workers who are putting themselves at risk to help others.
Your brother in Christ,
Rob.

Ohhh, Rob!

I'm sitting here praying.  I can't even imagine what it must be like where you are.  Please, please keep us posted, Rob.

Thanks so much and God bless you and yours.

Praying here Rob

I just read the headline online that states the death toll has reached 35 now.     I am keeping you all in my prayers ... I can't even imagine what it must be like. 

Thank you all for your prayers. This is such a devastating time. To update you all the latest news I have(about an hour ago) is this:
About 330,000 Hectares of land have been burnt. Some firefronts are 50 miles long.
Homes totally destroyed so far are over 700.
The death toll so far is 66.
At least 80 people have been admitted to hospitals across the state suffering from burns. The most badly burnt people(at least 18) have been admitted to The Alfred Hospital in Melbourne which has a major burns trauma unit. Three of these poor souls are not expected to survive. The Prime Minister of Australia, Mr Rudd, and The Premier of Victoria, Mr Brumby(the equivalent of your President and State Governor), have been touring the worst affected areas. As with us all they have been deeply affected by this. The army has been activated and will be assisting the emergency services. The human suffering from this has been so tragic. Literally hundreds of families have lost everything, escaping with only the shirts on their backs. Many of the bodies found so far were in their cars trying to outrun fireballs described as 4 stories high travelling at phenomenal speeds. They were trying to drive through thick smoke and many simply drove into other vehicles or into trees. With fires of this magnitude it is not the flames that kill but the radiant heat that travels ahead of the main front. I have heard descriptions of houses literally exploding into flames. As I type this I am listening to an interview with our Prime Minister who has been advised that this is one of the worst if not the worst bushfire event since European settlement began.
Please keep praying for all the souls who have been devastated by all of this,
your brother in Christ,
Rob.

Oh My You are being prayed for.  I cannot even begin to imagine fire of this magnitude.

Rob, I will certainly keep your country and people in my prayers.  This would be so frightening if you had no place to go.

Oh Rob, how devastating!  I pray that our God will make Himself most real and present to you in this emergency.  May He give all the emergency workers and fleeing families special insight and wisdom, as well as safety.  May you all know Him present with you through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Thank you for the update, Rob.

Please take care of yourself.

I'm so sorry.  I will be praying.

I can't imagine fires to that extent!  How devastating!  I will be praying for Australia!

I gave the info to our pastor and we as a church prayed this AM, We are continuing to pray.

Thank you all so much for your prayers. We are all just in a numbed shock here. The death toll just keeps rising. It currently stands at 108 and I suppose it will keep climbing for some time yet. Three towns have been totally destroyed. Marysville has one house left standing, while Kinglake and Kinglake West each have three houses left. That one fire has a perimeter of hundreds of miles and is still out of control. I am praying for God's comfort for the victims of this tragedy. He is the one constant I know we can turn to during all of this. I will keep you updated as I hear more.
God bless you all,
Rob

Are you in any danger?  If so get out of there!!!!

We all are praying

Judy I have just had a phone call from my sister offering to go there if we need to.  To give an idea of how fast these fires move, I just heard an interview with one of the people in Kinglake. He said he had been in his pool and had no warning from anyone. He heard the roar of the fire coming and had about 20 seconds to get away. He made it but his neighbour two houses down the road was caught and when they found him he was still alive but was smouldering. I don't know if he has survived.
We have an evacuation plan and many of the things we will need are already packed(Bankbooks,passports,cash,family photos etc). The area we live in is about 4 miles from an area that was destroyed in 1983 which took 75 lives, and up until these recent fires they had been worst experienced. I should point out that unless you live in suburbia it doesn't matter where you live in the country in this part of Australia, the threat of bushfires is always constant. Just to update you further, the number of homes destroyed now stands at about 750 and there about 40 fires still burning out of control. New Zealand is flying over about 400 extra firefighters to help, and the Prime minister of Great Britain has also offered any assistance they can give.
Thank you for your concern and prayers. It is so comforting to be able to share this time with other Christian brothers and sisters knowing your prayers are being offered to our Lord. When immersed in it you feel so helpless.
Your brother in Christ,
Rob.

Quote from: photobro on February 08, 2009, 09:16:56 PM
When immersed in it you feel so helpless.
Your brother in Christ,
Rob.

Rob, this is exactly what your Christian family is for ... to uphold you in prayer when you are helpless.  God bless you, brother.

Rob, just to say my family is also praying for you and your's. 
Becky

Rob, thank you!

We've been praying.  Our church is praying as well.

I hope you don't mind but there are several Aussie and NZ friends on our Seniors and Friends website and I have a "Have You Prayed About It?" topic on there where some of those Christians gather and I've put excerpts  from your posts here just to let them know how to pray.

Thank you Pat, as I type this I am listening to the radio and hearing story after story of devastation and terror as people recount how they fled from the flames. People are now referring to this as not just a bushfire but as a "Firestorm". There is a lot of confusion happening now as people are looking for loved ones and can't find them. An image that stays with me is of our Prime Minister trying to offer comfort to a man who was obviously in shock. The man placed his head on the Prime Minister's shoulder and just broke down in tears.
The death toll has just been updated to 130. Listening to the radio, I have just heard another fire alert for a town to our north. The alert was as follows; "If you can see smoke on the horizon, you should evacuate. If you can see flames it is too late and you should stay with your property and defend it as best you can." I can only imagine what the people in that town must be feeling. These fires have cut electricity to many parts of the state. In fact we lost power for about 7 hours during the worst of it. I have just heard the power company is shedding power in the north of the state because the fire is threatening main supply lines. This is adding to the confusion.
Your brother in Christ,
Rob

My goodness, Rob.

Is this town just to your north near to you?  Should you not be leaving too?

No Pat, that town is about an hour north of us by road.

Alright, Rob.  But one hour north isn't all that far really.

I'm going to my bed but please know that I'll be praying for you as I go to sleep.  In the morning, I'll look for an update from you if there is one. 

My husband, Paul, and I just had our devotions together by phone (he's in Virginia, USA and I'm up here in Ontario, Canada) and we both prayed fervently about this situation.  And our devotions tonight was Psalm 144.  the first few verses were sort of eery reading about the fire on the mountains.  Verse 5 especially.

God bless you, Rob.

Thank you for the update.  Stay safe.

Please watch this folks:

A Whole Town is Burning

Pat with dial up I was unable to get this.  I have seen the reports on the news though.  It is terrible.

Have you heard from Rob?  I pray he is safe.

Haven't heard today, Judy.

Just heard though that the death total is now nearly 200.

Just so awful.

Rob:  My prayers are for everyone including families and firefighters.  Stay safe.  Pat is right as it sounds like these are going lightning fast and you need to get out before seeing any flames.  Take care - all of us are concerned for all of you. 

I am so sorry Rob.  This is a terrible time for Australia.  My sister, her daughter and SIL  all live in Meadow Brooks Retreat, Oakford, Western Australia.  Are the fires anywhere near that region?  I will continue to pray, as others are doing.

Liz

Thank you every body for your thoughts. Liz your relatives are on the other side of the country, well away from these fires and I am sure they are safe. The current official death toll stands at 173. It seems to be a waiting game for some of our towns in the north of the state at the moment. The fires surrounding them are still out of control but the winds are not high at this point. That can all change in minutes with a freshening of the breeze or a change of wind direction.The area around our home is currently safe and we are monitoring things using the "Country Fire Authority" website. There is a page in there which logs all the outbreaks and their status. I needed to drive to a town called Berwick this morning(about 15 miles away) and drove past the remains of a small outbreak on the outskirts of the town. If the winds had been high this could easily have swept down into the town. At the moment I don't think anyone living in rural Victoria is resting easily. My thoughts right now are with those poor people who have lost everything. It is hard to put a figure on those left homeless but I have heard the count to be as low as 3,500 and as high as 5,000. If I hear a more accurate figure I will let you know. This morning I recieved an email from my sister. It contained photos from a friend of ours who had a restaurant and bed and breadfast complex in a valley about 25 miles away. It has been destroyed. I have posted three of them here. As I type I have just heard the first 100 bodies of the those lost have been brought to a temporary Morgue in Melbourne. Identification for some is going take a while.
Your brother in Christ,
Rob

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I have been so concerned, I have been praying, but concerned.

Stay safe, don't wait till the last moment to leave if it becomes necessary.  We here at CP are continuing to pray, and I am praying you will have the correct words for those hurting.

May God be with you

I just cannot imagine anything like this.  And here we are surrounded by saturated wet land!  Even my phone is static-y due to the water in the ground. 

Just know my prayers are with Australia and hopefully these fires will cease soon!