Australian Chef Matt Golinski was burned and his wife and three daughters perished in a fire at their home in Australia’s Sunshine Coast. Golinski is a chef on the Australian cooking show Ready Steady Cook.
Matt Golinski is a man of few words, and those he does use are fairly understated. If you ask him where he has worked he’ll tell you that he hasn’t worked “with the Roux Brothers, Marco Pierre White, Jamie Oliver or Gordon Ramsay.” Read more
A blaze, which erupted at the couple’s Sunshine Coast home about 3.30am yesterday, claimed the lives of Rachael and daughters Starlia, Sage and Willow.
Mr Golinski was left in a critical condition with burns to 40 per cent of his body.
Paramedics are still on a call to rescue two tourist/hikers down in Australia. The medics have been at it for over 5 hours now. They have reached the tourists by helicopter but couldn’t rescue them due to the wind. They will now begin the 5 hour walk out of the region. That sounds like fun!
The NSW Ambulance Service said two special casualty access team (SCAT) paramedics have begun the trek in the Kanangra Boyd Forest after the men set off a beacon.
Once the SCAT crew reach the men they will then decide to either walk back with the tourists or stay in the area overnight. Read the entire article or here
In the wake of Black Saturday, the Brumby led Government will be unveiling a new “Mega-Fire” warning for bushfires. The new category will be very similar to the cyclone warning system for major storms. The “Mega-Fire” warning will only be used a couple of times a year and will be the next step beyond the current “extreme fire danger warning”.
After approving all of the commission’s recommendations in principle on receipt of the interim report earlier this month, Premier John Brumby today will formally accept all 51 recommendations and outline guidelines for their practical application, including the building of neighbourhood safe zones.
What really caught my eye in the article was this:
Under the new vegetation rules councils will no longer be able to place the health of endangered flora and fauna above the potential threat to human life. Read the entire article here.
Black Saturday was a series of wildfires that burned on or around February 7, 2009 and claimed the lives of 173 people.You can read all about Black Saturday here.
Map of affected areas and number of casualties in each area. Black Saturday. Image source Wikipedia
You have got to be kidding me! Actually no, this is for real. This story occurred in Australia. The report is from CNN.com.
Police had received a report that the man and some others were sniffing glue, Munnee said.
At the sight of the arriving officers, the man ran out of the house with a container of gasoline and a cigarette lighter, police said.
When he ignored the officer’s command to stop, the officer fired his Taser stun gun — and the man “caught Talight,” Munnee said.
WTF? To add insult to injury, while the police officer was trying to put the man out a woman was throwing rocks at him (at the cop). The officer was treated for burns and cuts from the rocks. It just doesn’t pay does it? That is why I am a firefighter and not a cop!
Six luxury boats have been destroyed by fire at a Sydney marina. The boats have burned in a domino effect after one boat caught fire while being worked on. During a scramble to move the boats on fire to open water a couple more caught fire. Part of the marina was reportedly damaged by fire as well.
A police spokesman said early investigations suggest someone was working on their boat when it caught alight while moored near Beaconsfield Street, Newport, about 2.30pm (AEST).
The flames spread to two other boats which were moored nearby, police said.
Two of the burning craft were dragged to sand bars and extinguished, but one drifted to the nearby Sirsi Marina, and set another two boats alight, a police spokesman said.
Good Monday Morning everyone. Today I bring you an Around the World Fire Report. This is not a normal column by The Fire Critic, but you will see it time to time.
A lightning-sparked wildfire in the Inyo National Forest near Bishop surged to 2,000 acres on Sunday and forced the evacuation of a small community and several campgrounds, authorities said.
THE military should be better used in future bushfire disasters, the head of Victoria’s bushfire recovery says.
Victorian Bushfire Reconstruction and Recovery Authority chief Christine Nixon says the army is equipped to help out quickly in recovery efforts, but was not used enough during the February fires.
“I’d get more of the army in,” Ms Nixon told the Emergency Management Conference when asked about future bushfire seasons.
A WOMAN is in intensive care with burns and smoke inhalation and seven police were taken to hospital after a dramatic fire rescue in Sydney’s inner west.
Responding to calls from concerned locals, police forced their way into the 39-year-old woman’s burning unit in Newtown at 11.20pm (AEST) on yesterday and pulled her out unconscious.
“When they arrived at her address on Susan St they found her unit well-alight,” police said.
Rescuers rush to the site after the three-story building, which was to be dismantled to make way for a park, collapsed at about 8:40 AM Monday, July 20, 2009 in Liuzhou City, Guangxi, killing two people instantly. Photo: CRIENGLISH.com
The Charlotte Observer reported Monday that Burke County District Court Judge John Mull of Drexel drowned Sunday evening in the Catawba River. Sheriff John McDevitt says Mull had jumped into the river to help his 17-year-old son who was experiencing cramps.
This week we are welcoming the newest column (weekly post) titled Saturday Hotshot. Enjoy.
INFERNO: Firefighters battle a fire raging at Darwin River (above) and (below, right) the furious blaze bears down on a Berry Springs rural firefighters’ vehicle. Pictures: BRAD FLEET
As seen in the photo above (Story Here), Australia’s Bravest get to work on a fire in Darwin. I don’t know about you but I like to fight fires this big with a hell of a lot more water than that. Then again, I am an Urban Firefighter and don’t (fingers crossed) have to worry about woodland fires such as the one depicted in the photograph…lucky me.
RESIDENTS had to evacuate their homes yesterday as a raging fire ripped through their back yards in Darwin’s rural area.
Many were forced to watch the devastation from the safety of the roadside as flames “as high as the rooftops” came within metres of their homes.
Plumes of dark smoke quickly filled the sky as the blaze erupted in a paddock behind homes and businesses, including a service station, along the Stuart Highway at Coolalinga, about 30km south of Darwin, about 11am.
The scene after a woman died in a collision in Lynbrook this morning. Picture: Trevor Pinder
You have seen them, I have seen them. It seems as though they are everywhere nowadays. A short drive on most interstates will yield plenty of them. They are roadside tributes. Flowers, photos, messages, candles, etc. placed at the site of a fatal crash for a loved one. I am sure they mean a great bit to the family and friends of a lost one, although I have never known someone who has a roadside tribute.
In Australia, a 21 y.o. female driver died yesterday and 4 others perished there on June 28th. The posted speed limit was decreased by 10 km/h today following the most recent of 5 deaths in two weeks.
The most recent death is attributed to the fact that the give way sign was covered up by the roadside tribute from the June 28th accident.
Flowers, photos and tributes were unceremoniously dumped into the back of a ute as police cleared the accident scene where a 21-year-old Wantirna woman died earlier today when her car and a truck collided.
Local resident Erica Maliki said: “I’m speechless. They have taken these flowers away. They should have moved them, not taken them away.”
Police told media at the scene not to film the removal of the memorial.
But within an hour and a half defiant friends returned to place flowers at the scene in memory of their friends.
Until yesterday, the give way sign at the intersection was covered with photos and tributes.
![Rescuers rush to the site after the three-story building, which was to be dismantled to make way for a park, collapsed at about 8:40 AM Monday, July 20, 2009 in Liuzhou City, Guangxi, killing two people instantly. [Photo: CRIENGLISH.com]](http://firecritic.com/files/2009/07/001109b42f730bceae431b.jpg "001109b42f730bceae431b")
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