There but for the grace of God...

Victoria faces a terrible tragedy today. This weekend (and it continues even now) devastating bushfires have caused terrible loss to life and property across country Victoria. My heart goes out to all those affected - those who have lost homes and loved ones, those who have lost their livelihood and those who have fought the fires, or supported the victims. The current death toll is at 111, with authorities expecting it to rise substantially. Complete townships have been wiped out by the fire.

I could not work out how to load the code on my own blog, but a live map from the CFA RSS feed can be found on the Lifehacker blog. Donations can be given via the secure Red Cross website.

Having lived in a bushfire danger zone (I still do really, some may remember the photos I posted 2 years ago of helicopters dumping water opposite my house) and having relatives evacuated this weekend, this hits very close to home. I am working with my students on understanding and exploring this traumatic event, and I am finding it quite difficult to watch the visuals and listen to the audio we are providing for them.

My SCA group will be holding a Fighter Auction Tourney next Monday night, which will be a fun way to raise some money - are any groups you are part of planning any fundraising?

Fire

I have just realised that if I am going to keep this blog going now life is back to normal, I should be telling you about bits of excitement like last friday night....

On thursday and Friday last week we had a nasty little firebug running aorund our neck of the woods, with several fires starting in roughly the same spot over a 24 hr period. This culminated in a fire on friday afternoon that required 2 water helicopters to put out. All this was happening so close to our place that The Age photographer was taking photographs from our verandah! It was all taken care of pretty promptly, but was a bit too close for my liking. We did end up with some interesting photos though.....