Aussie YLFers - YouLookFab Forum

Category

Off Topic

Welcome! Read about what to wear and how to wear it on the YLF Blog. Join the YLF Forum to ask specific questions or just chat about fashion and personal style. Or check out the curated list of things we love in YLF Finds.

Outfits Ensembles Trends Advice

Aussie YLFers

Janet

(website)

Veteran

I keep looking at the news and photos from the fires around Sydney and all over Australia, especially along the eastern coast. How are you faring? I hope you are safe and have access to breathable air and plenty of water. Sending love and support from the US. I wish we could do more than watch helplessly from afar. Please let us know you are ok.

Off Topic

31 replies

Latest reply was from Bijou

Inge

(website)

Yes! I keep watching the news too, and really hope you are all OK. Such devastation :-((

taylor

Veteran

This is so frightening. I worry about the wildlife as well as people . We went through this where I live . Northern Calif, and Southern Oregon were literally burning up around us .. 6 weeks of choking smoke, unable to breathe.

I’m hoping the loss of life,beautiful land , and wildlife is absolute minimal, and they can get a handle on this soon.

Angie

(website)

Fashion Stylist

Devastating. Sooooo, sooo sad

Stay safe and take care. xo

Anonymous

So scary! Much love to Aussie fabbers!

lozz_oz

Veteran

As someone who spent my first 25 years in the Blue Mountains to the west of Sydney (I live in Sydney now) these fires are unlike anything ever experienced before and are beyond catastrophic and a state of emergency was declared over the Christmas period.
It’s the worst combination of drought, bush that consists of eucalypts containing volatile flammable oils, extreme temperatures and erratic changeable strong winds. New realities include dry lightening and fires that have their own weather systems (pyrocumulus clouds).
We are in a constant state of alert which is stressful,. Air quality is poor at the best of times.
The only way these fires can be contained and be totally extinguished is with significant rainfall - and there are no signs of that on the radar.

lozz_oz

Veteran

And just to add - currently the amount of land that has been devastated is equivalent to the size of Belgium.
The extent of loss of our native fauna is immense and much more difficult to quantify.
All beyond sad.

rachylou

Veteran

The scale is terrifying. I really pray for everyone and the animals.

Eliza

Veteran

Sorry to see this devastation and know that the impact is so far-reaching and scary. Thinking of all who are facing the fires and their huge scale. Appreciate hearing your updates.

Janet

(website)

Veteran

Lozz_oz, it’s beyond sad. I can only imagine. Belgium is approximately the size of my home state of Maryland in the US, and it’s hard to fathom that kind of loss. Please stay as safe as you can and I will pray for rain.

Sal

Veteran

It is incredibly sad and tragic. Definitely sending my best wishes for rain. I feel for our Australian cousins.

NZ is getting ash over here too.

That is the scale of the fires.

Janet

(website)

Veteran

My niece and her husband are in NZ for their honeymoon — they posted from Wanaka yesterday that the smoke has reached them across the Tasman sea...

This post has 1 photo. Photos uploaded by this member are only visible to other logged in members.

If you aren't a member, but would like to participate, please consider signing up. It only takes a minute and we'd love to have you.

Brooklyn

Veteran

Thanks Janet and all. I live in Sydney. Being a big city we are not directly affected by the fires but we are faced with an almost constant smoke haze because we are surrounded by them. Sometimes the sky looks apocalyptic. It’s making people very anxious. And of course it’s taking a much bigger toll on the people directly affected, our native wildlife, our farmers and their stock (because of the drought a lot of farms have run out of feed and now are running out of water) and our brave and exhausted fire fighters (most of whom are volunteers). We are all hoping for rain and a LOT of it.

Style Fan

Veteran

It is very sad and frightening. I hope you will see a lot of rain soon.

Aquamarine

Veteran

This is so unbelievable. Hoping rain comes soon.

nemosmom

Veteran

The stories I've seen about the brave people fighting, and the loss of wildlife and habitat is absolutely heartbreaking I'm wishing for rain and relief for all of you soon! I feel so helpless and wish there was more we could do from here... Please stay safe and know we are thinking of you!

jasmine

Thanks for your concern, Janet. I live in Japan these days, but am originally from Melbourne. The current situation in Australia is both terrifying and deeply distressing. The loss of human life and damage to property is bad enough, but the harm inflicted on wildlife/ecosystems from these fires is off the scale and we still don't know how much has been lost for good and what can be saved. I read a story back in November about how beekeepers in NSW are being traumatized by the sounds of injured animals screaming in pain when they go back into the bush after a fire to check on their beehives. It just breaks my heart.

The background cause for why the fires this year have been so widespread and intense and have lasted so long is climate change. Anything anyone can do around the world to get their governments to take serious action to swiftly decarbonize their economies is the best way to help Australia in the long term. Unfortunately Australians have our work cut out to get our own government to do the same.

Suz

(website)

Veteran

It is truly horrible. I'm so sorry for those who have lost home and worse in the holiday season, not to mention the wildlife. Canadian firefighters have gone over to help; it it the least we can offer after Australian firefighters were so generous in helping when we faced our own brutal forest fires in BC two years ago. I wasn't living in BC at the time, but the lower mainland had the haze of smoke over everything for months. We arrived the very day it lifted.

Lucy

Veteran

It’s been incredibly distressing - lives lost , homes lost, a billion (yep) animals lost . We may never fully recover .
I’m in Brisbane - in November we had a bushfire in my suburban street . This is unheard of, as Brisbane is sub tropical.
I’m originally from Sydney and we still have a house there . In that same week , Fire lapped at that street too . My SIL is living in the house and we told her to wet it down and evacuate - fortunately it was safe , due to the amazing fire fighters . And we are far from the worst !

I was visiting Sydney over Christmas and some days it was truly apocalyptic - the smoke haze is extraordinary . Canberra is now facing the same . Big chunks of states are on fire and I have friends sheltering from the onslaught with worse predicted for Saturday .
I think many of us feel entirely hopeless about it, with the government failing to act on either the immediate danger or climate change more broadly . It’s hard to celebrate the New Year , TBH. Thank you for thinking of us .

Cardiff girl

Veteran

This is very much in our thoughts here in the Uk too,thinking of you all inAustralia constantly at the moment and praying that you find relief soon.

kkards

Veteran

scary and sad. hoping that all Fabbers and Fabbers families are safe

Windchime

Veteran

I saw I saw a map yesterday indicating the locations of all the fires and I was shocked by the extent of them. It’s horrifying and terrifying.

Helena

Veteran

You're in our thoughts too Australian fabbers ... My husband's brother and sister and their families are both in Australia (one is Sydney, one in Byron Bay, with adult kids scattered about), so we get on-the-ground updates ... A resilient country with a true keep calm and carry on attitude, if reports are accurate. Xx

RobinF

Veteran

Crazy and scary! Hope you all stay safe.

Janet

(website)

Veteran

Lucy, I’ve read some news articles that do seem quite critical of the current administration and how the PM seems to be almost downplaying the seriousness of the situation — is that your impression? It seems they government could be reaching out to more countries to send aid (the way I understand it, aid needs to be requested in order to be sent). I know it’s complicated — especially for such an fiercely independent sovereign nation — but this is unprecedented and I’d think any and all steps to get help would be taken. God knows our own president in the US would be reluctant to do anything to help anyone but himself, but I would hope we would respond to a call for aid.

Anonymous

A billion animals . I can’t comprehend this . The video footage we have been seeing is humbling , heartbreaking and frightening all at the same time . I don’t know what else to say other than my heart breaks for this part of the word and those in it .

nemosmom

Veteran

A report I read yesterday said the marsupial population may never recover - particularly the koala - as much of its eucalyptus habitat in NSW has been destroyed. Gutwrenching.

anne

Veteran

It's a horrible situation. I am fine here on the other side of the country.
Janet, I have certainly heard the same criticism.

Bijou

Veteran

Like Anne, I live on the West coast, so it is not as dire here. We have one fire that is still not out that has been burning since 11 December that is on the edge of the city. There is a real fear for the future of koalas. A large and very healthy population was set up on Kangaroo Island in South Australia. Unfortunately the island is also overcome with uncontrollable bushfires - so there is a fear that koalas may not survive as a species in the longer term. At the moment the main focus is on saving lives. The most frustrating part is many of these fires have been deliberately lit.

I live close to a natural bush park and we have had 3 fires in the last 13 years, all deliberately lit. When you are packing up to potentially evacuate, it is a chilling thought that you may never see your house again.

Janet

(website)

Veteran

Bijou, how awful that some of these fires are deliberately lit! Does anyone know who is doing such a thing, and why? Sometimes I despair for humanity. This situation with the koalas is so very sad.

I sent a donation to a firefighters fund in Australia, and I shared this link on FB for people who want to help from afar: https://www.abc.net.au/classic.....OjDs71l9-4

12