Fingers crossed for you east gippy..

[Tackleberry]

My mates farm has several spot fires burning now , it looks like he will get a few showers in the next hour .

[re-tyred]

Had a torrid time last night but fire kept away. Relaxing tonight. Better of than many

[rb85]

Cub1n Grant Shorland Facebook page shows a few videos he was just on abc news as I typed this.

[purple5ive]

Apparently they are sending the navy/army down to coota to help those that are stranded at the wharf.

Plenty of support from our local volunteers happening as we speak, if you can help.in any way then please do so.
Lots of info on Facebook about pickup points etc.
Cheers

[Tackleberry]

Had a torrid time last night but fire kept away. Relaxing tonight. Better of than many

Mate and his miss's lost a shed each in sarsfeild . she had a **** load of great **** in that shed dirt and road bikes . And a ski ......

[Whiskers]

Thanks for peoples concern. It has been a bit hairy here for a while now.

Monday was a bad day here in Orbost, blood red smoke filled skies all day and by 6pm it was already dark. At 6.30 Orbost lost power and it only came back on a little while ago.

The town was surrounded by fire and those of us who stayed spent most of the night on ember watch. A change was forecast to come in around 1.30 a.m. It arrived a bit later with strong southerly winds. Those winds pushed back a huge blaze that was very close to entering the town. The height of the flames, noise, smoke, ash and embers is unbelievable.

But, all was well and Orbost dodged a bullet although fires are still burning all around this district and with a hot weekend forecast things may get worse again in a hurry.

Transport has been difficult with major road closures, including the Princess Highway. It was opened up for 2 hours earlier today, just to let out thousands of stranded tourists. No traffic was allowed in, just out.

So far it's been a Xmas and New Year that we won't forget in a hurry!

[DougieK]

Buddy of mine who's a vol FF just got choppered out of 'Coota. Said he's never been that scared in his life.

[cobby]

Thanks for peoples concern. It has been a bit hairy here for a while now.

Monday was a bad day here in Orbost, blood red smoke filled skies all day and by 6pm it was already dark. At 6.30 Orbost lost power and it only came back on a little while ago.

The town was surrounded by fire and those of us who stayed spent most of the night on ember watch. A change was forecast to come in around 1.30 a.m. It arrived a bit later with strong southerly winds. Those winds pushed back a huge blaze that was very close to entering the town. The height of the flames, noise, smoke, ash and embers is unbelievable.

But, all was well and Orbost dodged a bullet although fires are still burning all around this district and with a hot weekend forecast things may get worse again in a hurry.

Transport has been difficult with major road closures, including the Princess Highway. It was opened up for 2 hours earlier today, just to let out thousands of stranded tourists. No traffic was allowed in, just out.

So far it's been a Xmas and New Year that we won't forget in a hurry!

Glad to hear you're all good mate. This has been a disaster waiting to happen for a long time. The bush along B Rd through Jarrahmond once past the farms was a total mess for years when I was heading that way and the Bonang Rd area through to the Broddy reserve was even worse. And access to help prevent this situation was never improved either. Why non locals didn't follow boony and leave by Monday morning when told to while the fires were still well north at Bruthen/Buchan and Goongerah is beyond me. Those in Coota didn't have that luxury.

Hopefully this weekend is a much better one for all of you out that way

[purple5ive]

Looks like we lost cootacraft factory in the fires.
Friday night and saturday are again looking like problem days...
I hope the wind doesn't pickup like it's meant to.

[cobby]

Looks like we lost cootacraft factory in the fires.
Friday night and saturday are again looking like problem days...
I hope the wind doesn't pickup like it's meant to.

Mark and Mel saved the factory and all their moulds. They stored some elsewhere and had others by the water ready to sink them if needed. The ab co op went up though