It’s tragic and the loss of life could be much higher than the 14 so far confirmed. The thing that bothers me is how those people in the Wandong & Kinglake area for instance were not told to evacuate. It was an out of control fire-storm and no one should have been given the option of staying to defend their homes.

That said, as we speak a fire that started south of Beechworth late Saturday afternoon is now down as far as Myrtleford & Rosewhite. It’s actually headed this way. I doubt we’ll see any loss of life because a weather change should take it away from Myrtleford and prevent it from threatening Bright, but we need to be alert. You can see the red glow and the massive pall of smoke outside, take a look.

I think you’ve missed the point of the post. This is a ‘Statewide alert’ and it’s not just confined to ‘rural areas’ or to the north east.

Melbourne is expecting a record temperature with “revolting conditions” (weather bureau’s description, not mine) and there’s already a big fire burning at Bunyip on the outer east of Melbourne that is predicted to threaten homes, yet the authorities have seen fit to warn people to stay away from ‘rural areas’ even though being in Melbourne’s outer suburbs clearly poses a greater danger to human life.

The point is that nowhere is immune to fire risk tomorrow so why should the authorities be telling people not to go away for the weekend? And, I repeat, a fire up here is far less likely to take human life than one on Melbourne’s outskirts, even it’s deliberately lit behind my place in your worst case scenario (I’d just jump in the pool, along with the females guests).

Don’t bank on “plenty of warning”! Let me pose a “what if” scenario.

Some idiot decides to light a fire tomorrow close to Bright, let’s say in the hills on either side of the Great Alpine Road near Grevillea Gardens (we’ve had a few morons caught lately despite the restrictions & fire ban days), it gets out of control fed by a screaming northerly wind with 45degree temperatures ,creating a fire storm heading into the heart of town.

Couldn’t happen? Think again, buster!

That doesn’t make any sense. Going by your logic we’d just shut the area down for the bulk of summer. Sheez.

As for your ‘armageddon’ scenario, I think we’d find refuge, Noel – and we’d get plenty of warning. Canberra happened because the NSW Fire Authorities just ignored a threatening fire that had been burning for a few days.

We shouldn’t let fear determine our destiny.

Bright for one is at the neck of the Ovens Valley, surrounded by forest and pine plantations. Should the unthinkable happen there’d be a mad scramble to evacuate the town. There would be the risk of panic and confusion, compounded by poor visibility from smoke and heavy road traffic. Nobody would attempt to get out via Mt Hotham, so we’d see a mass exodus via Myrtleford. If Myrtleford was also under attack from surrounding pine plantations, then Gawd help us!

It would be most unfortunate under the circumstances if people heeded your advice and got out of Melbourne and came up here to escape the heat and local conflagrations. I for one would rather see us survive this summer free of serious public risk than having to contend with visitors who generally are not as fire savvy as us locals.

Don’t say it can never happen – remember Canberra in 2003 – they thought they were safe too!