Victorian code red alert

Stay safe all you northern victorians! Might not be the best day for prospecting ?

Agree stay safe :Y: but it isn't just the code red areas there's fires going north of Ballarat in the south west and Rochester plus a few others. Left home at 2am to do a run down the surf coast the wind is blowing in smoke from NSW and dust from all over the joint. In Seymour now just dropped Charlie at school. I'm heading home and thought I'd grab a few hours kip but the wind and potential for dry lightning strikes has me concerned so I'll kit up the ute with a fire unit and wait for the change to arrive.

Stay safe RM.... Best to be prepared... Im watching down there as I have a cousin just north of Numurka... :argh:

LW...

The cool change has come through Melbourne, and Victoria has largely escaped unscathed.
Have been watching the Vic Emergency site all day focussed around my area (we got to 41C) - mostly scores of trees down and some building damage, but very few fires.
This was the typical image for the day:

Had one tree down earlier in a back grassed paddock, then as wind was easing right up (4:30pm), and I was thinking we're through unscathed, down came this branch with a great crack and a thud in a goat/chook yard around 30m from me.
Missed the fence and landed exactly within an open gateway with no damage to fences, gate or chook cage:

It came from up there - 10m off the ground:

I've got a weekend of chainsawing in front of me, but the Husky will handle that easily. How lucky hey?
Makes me wonder though, why it came down after the massive winds (100km/h gusts) had died right off?

Mainly unscathed but our luck surely won't last summer
Its going to be one to remember I'm feeling :fire: :fire:

Couldn't have planned that any better BW... Perfect shot through the Gate... Funny how Gums will shed after a big wind or with no wind at all... At least you have some good firewood for next year... Stay Safe ...

LW..

Was just home from work and heard a big crack whilst driving up the driveway. Stopped before proceeding any further to watch this big branch come down. Poor old vc copped it again. No drama only the running gears worth anything anyway and the bodys been toasted for years.
Looks like I live on a cliff.?

You are back on top of the cliff now Bjay

Lots of branches down near my place.....this was just around the corner..



:argh:

See what happens when your Power mob 'Trims' a tree... split right where they trimmed it...

LW....

Decided to give the clean-up of small branches a shot with my little Ryobi Chainsaw.
It was still going strong after removing all smaller branches then cutting up everything under around 5" on one battery (when it got to 1 bar (25%), I would swap batteries - just in case?).

So I kept going with it on a second battery just to see how it would go. Cleaned up everything to around 8"

After ~3 hours and 2 full charges each of 2 * 4Ah batteries (& 1/2 bar-oil fill), the job's done.
Some logs were wider than the 10" saw blade, but gave no problems and no kick-back.
Yes, it would have been faster with the Husky, but I wanted to see what this little ripper would do.

Most of that 3 hours was jacking up the trunk and arranging supporting logs for sawing, and carrying branches and stacking logs.
Blade does not appear blunted at all, and no chain tightening was required.
I only bought this saw, as I already had 3 batteries for blower, vacuum, rattle-gun, drill, hedge trimmers (2) etc. but now am very glad I did.
It was mainly to be used for camping and off-roads travel, but it's OK around the home as well.
I was quite amazed at it's performance, however on bigger jobs, you'd need 3 or 4 batteries and 2 chargers, as a lot of beer is drunk whilst waiting for the charger

I was told most eucalyptus drop there branches after the strong winds because the sap hardens and becomes brittle and the weight of their own branches as well as natural weak points eg. Rot or insect attack can causes them to break. Worked with an arbourist crew and thats what i was told when i asked the same question

I believe you're right bumdags.
The top of the joint was malformed with resin, and looked like it had been insect attacked.

BigWave said:

Decided to give the clean-up of small branches a shot with my little Ryobi Chainsaw.

I was quite amazed at it's performance, however on bigger jobs, you'd need 3 or 4 batteries and 2 chargers, as a lot of beer is drunk whilst waiting for the charger

Click to expand...

Great bit of kit to have while travelling.

Another big one comes down tomorrow - unfortunately.
I've a massive stringy leaf overhanging my driveway which has reached life's end.
No permit required under my Bushfire Management Overlay (BMO). I've checked with council, and arborist agrees.
I feel very sad for this tree, which has been a beaut (home to possums & sugar gliders), but it's trunk is leaning badly, cracking open now.
I fear for cars and kids in the drive-way every day.
There'll be 4 arborist monkeys swinging in its branches tomorrow morning.
Damn but I'll hate to see this old lady go!
Then 2 days of chainsawing and bonfires I reckon.
Many elderly couples in our street rely on my firewood for their winter heating - should keep them going for a few more years.

Damn but these guys were good and great to watch.

Wish I could still climb like that
Saved a possum box (10m) after mum vacated with baby on her back (box seen bottom centre). Will put it back in a nearby tree. Have lots of them mounted at my place for possums and sugar gliders.
4 * Heavy Duty trailer loads of good eucalypt have gone to good families, with another 3 to go.
Sorry she's gone, but it had to happen.

Good job BigWave on the arborists part and yours :trophy: their interesting to see in action :Y: our daughter Bec's partner is starting out in the trade and practices climbing trees and trimming them at our place.

I reckon it's a damn good and fun career RM.
These guys seem to be ultra fit, happy and at home on the ropes.
They talk to each other about equipment and technique - like they're a club - much like us with PA.

PA family

Goody

Where ever you are on Monday keep yourself informed it's not going to be a very nice day :|



Earlier this afternoon everything red was orange and the 2 orange were yellow so I wouldn't be surprised if it changed to a code red :argh: the wind's will be the decider of any change. Anyway stay informed and make safety your number one priority. This forecast has me heading out the door at midnight to be home by 7am I'll kit up the ute tomorrow and fill the truck on my way home Monday morning incase I need bulk mobile water. Thankfully I've got the young giant Charlie at home with me so I can get some shut eye when I get home. The BOM forecast for Seymour is for afternoon thunder storms with little chance of rain and I'm pretty sure it will be the same elsewhere.