EXTREME WEATHER: Wildfire Rages In Southern Australia - At Least 2 People Killed, Others Injured; Many Homes And Vehicles Damaged; EXTRAORDINARY LOSSES Of Livestock And Wildlife!

Two people are confirmed dead as a major bushfire continues to burn in remote rural areas of South Australia.

December 4, 2015 - AUSTRALIA - A clock frozen in time in the local bowls club destroyed by fire in the mid-north town of Wasleys in South Australia.

Firefighters spent yesterday searching burnt-out cars and homes after the blaze raged across a 40km front.

The Premier of South Australia, Jay Weatherill, took to Twitter to offer condolences to the families affected and thanked the hundreds of firefighters deployed in the area.

"We also know that there have been extraordinary losses of livestock and wildlife", the ABC quoted Weatherill as saying.

The South Australian deaths come after a blaze in the Esperence area of WA last week claimed the lives of three tourists and a local farmer.

"We can't be entirely sure we have identified every single person within the fire ground", Mr Weatherill said.

Country Fire Service chief office Greg Nettleton said crews had contained about 60 per cent of the fire perimeter which measured about 210 kilometres.

George Hooker has captured the moment he drove into a raging South Australian bushfire.

He said it was important that people in and around the fire zone didn't become complacent to avoid further deaths or injuries.

Meanwhile in NSW, a total fire ban is in place due to very hot conditions and a watch and act alert is now in place for a fire burning at Turlinjah in the state's south.

An expert on fire management at Melbourne University, Professor Kevin Tolhurst, said Australia was "one of the best prepared nations in the world for fires - but that is still pretty poor".

"There's been complete destruction of some of these vehicles".

"Until we get really substantial rainfall across the state, we're in a risky fire situation for the summer", he said.

"I cannot believe it, I still cannot fathom that she is gone", she said.

It was heading our way but it didn't get there.

Janet Hughes, 56, from Hamley Bridge also died as the fire swept across the lower northern region of the state, north of Adelaide, while 19 people have been injured.

That blaze, sparked by lightning around Esperance, 750km southeast of Perth, was finally brought under control late on Wednesday after tearing through nearly 130,000ha of bush land and farmland.

Another 42 homes have been damaged while crop and stock losses are expected to be significant. - The Oceanside Post.

 

EXTREME WEATHER: Major Uncontrolled Wildfire Fueled By Hot Weather And Dry Winds Rages In Southern Australia - Two People Killed, Many Farm Animals Burned Alive!

Two people have been confirmed dead in a bushfire burning out of control north of Adelaide. © AAP

November 26, 2015 - AUSTRALIA - A "fast-moving and dangerous" bush fire leaves two people dead, with thousands of animals thought to have been burned alive.

Firefighters are battling to control a major wildfire in southern Australia which has killed two people and thousands of livestock.

Around 200 firefighters and several aircraft have reportedly been deployed to try and control the blaze, which is burning across a 27-mile front near Adelaide.

One person died in a paddock while a second died in a car, Australian media reported.



WATCH: Two dead after wildfire rips through South Australia in Clare Valley, near Mallala .

At least three people who were helping fight the fire have been taken to hospital with severe burns, the ABC said.

An employee at one of the state's largest pig farms told the broadcaster staff were forced to leave thousands of animals for dead as the blaze approached.

"It was pretty scary seeing it coming over the hill coming towards work," he said.

"We were there with firefighters ready to fight it and we just turned and ran. It was big. I think my work's gone or at least the majority of it."

As many as 9,000 pigs are thought to have burned alive, ABC reported.

The fire, which has been fanned by high winds, is feared to be heading towards Australia's Barossa Valley wine-growing region.

"It's a particularly fast-moving and very dangerous fire," South Australian Country Fire Service chief Greg Nettleton told reporters.

"The crews are working as hard as they can to protect communities and property.

"The wind change that has gone through is expected to abate a little bit around about 9 o'clock tonight and hopefully we'll be able to get the upper hand on that fire into the evening. But certainly it's far, far from being controlled."

Home and cars in the area have been destroyed and power has been cut off to thousands of buildings.

The blaze comes after four people were killed in one of a series of wildfires sparked by lightning in Western Australia last week.

Bushfires are extremely common in Australia in the summer months, however, some scientists have warned the length and intensity of the fire season many increase as climate change causes temperatures to rise. - Sky News.

 

PLANETARY TREMORS: Mysterious Gippsland Earthquake Hotspot - Southern Australia Rattled By Hundreds Of Tremors; 700 In JUST 4 YEARS; Scientists Are Mystified?!

September 10, 2013 - AUSTRALIA - Scientists in Victoria are attempting to learn more about the increase in the number of earthquakes in the Gippsland region.

Seismologists are describing the region as an earthquake hotspot.

There were only 50 earthquakes recorded up until 2009, but since then there have been 700.

The activity has been particularly high in the Strzelecki Ranges which lie between the Latrobe Valley and the Gippsland coastline.

Locals have been intrigued by the tremors for years.

Gary Gibson from the University of Melbourne says the motion in Gippsland is high.

"There are other spots that are active for a period of time but they're active for a geologically short period, maybe 100,000 years or something and they go quiet. And they've got no long term evidence of continued motion," he said.

"Whereas the motion in Gippsland here, the rate of earthquake activity we have at the moment is high.

"The geology suggests that the average over the last few million years is probably even higher."

There are eight seismographs planted in the ground along fault lines metres below the surface around Gippsland to monitor the tremors.

Photo: This tremor in July 2011, was a magnitude 4.4 earthquake centred north of the town of Korumburra.
(Geoscience Australia)

They are so sensitive that they can record the vibrations of approaching footsteps.

One of them is on Neville Cliff's beef farm.

"We've had some good earthquakes come through here. You can hear them coming. It's like an express train coming and the house shakes," he said.

"How many farmers got a seismograph? People tell me how many cattle they've got and how many acres they've got and I say well have you got a seismograph?"

Honours student Dan Sandiford recently finished a study on the seismic activity of areas with fractures in the rock bed, called faults.

He looked at whether the activity was related to faults in the Gippsland area.

"The question really was are those faults still active? Are the earthquakes that are happening and have been recorded here in the modern era related to those faults?

"The study suggested that those earthquakes did happen on faults and those faults are some of the largest ones which are known in the area," he said.

Gary Gibson says it is hoped the research will have some impact on building regulations in the area.

"One of the problems with living in an inactive area is firstly that your building standards don't take serious consideration of the type of earthquake that is going to effect us," he said.

"The way you try and avoid problems with earthquakes is you don't want buildings to collapse under any circumstances so they have to be designed to withstand it." - ABC News Australia.