Blaze in Blue II: Apricot Haze, Angry Orange

The devastation caused by the spring bushfires in the Blue Mountains and beyond has become distressingly evident today.



In the Blueys, people who have managed to save their homes through several other bushfires have found themselves stunned by the sheer rapidity of this one. In Springwood, Winmalee and Yellow Rock, the scale, the randomness and the fury of the destruction is barely comprehensible to those of us not directly affected.

Our hearts are with all those directly affected. You can make donations to Vinnies or the Salvos (if you donate to the Salvos at any Woolworths checkout, Woolies have pledged to match the donation dollar for dollar for the next two weeks).

It is heartbreaking to see the decimation of people's homes, but I hold tight to my hope that there will be a minimum loss of life - human and animal - throughout this.

And the bushfire dangers continue. In ReeD-land, the winds have evaporated overnight. The fires are no longer as out of control as they were yesterday. But that can change in an instant, and we all know it. I check into the RFS site - in all its online incarnations - with an obsessive regularity that would put a stalker to shame.

The smoke is no longer being pushed in a particular direction. It has spent all day milling around, gathering into haze and loitering like an unwanted guest. Visibility has been sharply reduced; we cannot see any of the hills which, last night, were edged with smeared with orange smoke and/or spotted with embers.

Tiny bits of ash float haphazardly outside like the ghosts of snowflakes. The air is tinted sharp and acrid and it slinks determinedly into every room of the house. Breathing makes the nose, mouth and throat feel raw - as though they are coated with sand.



Towards evening, the wind picks up for the first time today. It is now blowing towards us. We hope it will help dispel the haze.

We are keeping a usual occasional eye outside. At 8.30pm we are startled to realise that the ridge (the same one that was waterbombed yesterday in the controlled convoy) has flared angrily into life again, no doubt fanned by the wind. Unlike last night when it remained as a smear of faded orange smoke, there are definite flames now.

Beneath a full orange moon on a cold night, the flames at this point of the ridge seem to multiply very quickly. It is less than a kilometre away and it feels close. There are houses at the foot of this ridge.

Embers seem to spread and highlight the outline of the ridge in both directions like dots of lava. They spill down the hill too and set up blazing camps.

But the Fireys must be in attendance. The main flames on the ridge are suddenly and miraculously ruthlessly subdued and the smell of smoke increases tenfold. Everything becomes quiet for a while. RFS advice that this is not out of control suddenly feels more believable again.

After a while, orderly orange points appear at various points on the ridge. They glow and burn - sometimes fiercely - but mostly steady and restrained. They match the neat glowing lines we have seen on other hills. We assume this means backburning is happening.

Fireys rock.

Back into waiting and watching.



ReeDaBee