"It was 1 a.m. and I struggled to sleep as wind blasted through the forest canopy and the smell of smoke hung in the air from distant fires. Pastures and bushland were fueling a widening fire-front about 90 kilometers (56 miles) to the north of our mountain home on the edge of Melbourne. In between, endless valleys of fire-prone Eucalyptus forest, dried out over hot summer weeks, were a tinderbox ready to explode."
"During those fires, we were based in Germany. But this time, we are in the same house we lived in when the devastating 2009 "Black Saturday" fires swept through the region, killing 173 people many in the valleys just beyond our forest cabin. Back then, we were very naive. We only left the property at the last minute as ash fell from the sky and cyclonic winds turn"
It was 1 a.m. as wind and smoke from distant fires prevented sleep near a mountain home outside Melbourne. Pastures and eucalyptus bush, dried by prolonged heat, fueled a widening fire-front about 90 kilometers to the north, with endless valleys of fire-prone forest between. A single road provided the only practical escape. A neighbour evacuated most of his family while forecasts of 46°C and powerful winds triggered a 'catastrophic' fire danger warning. The conditions echoed the 2019-2020 Black Summer and the deadly 2009 Black Saturday fires, underscoring severe risk to people, homes and wildlife.
Read at www.dw.com
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