toxo Posted March 11, 2020 Report Posted March 11, 2020 It's madness. Just look at the cost in property. assets and lives lost. Cut a swathe between the forests and the residents and maintain it every year with a spray from an aircraft. I'm actually flabbergasted that it isn't mandatory. Quote
mikesc Posted March 11, 2020 Report Posted March 11, 2020 (edited) Where we lived before.. near St Tropez ( Var ).. fire breaks are mandatory..big wide ones in the forests and hills..govt or dept ( equivalent to state or shire or county ) takes care of them..IIRC 25 metres wide in the hills..some smaller at 10 metres..Brush is cleared regularly..Fires still break out ( you'll have seen them on TV ) and run for 10s of Kilometers because people throw away cig ends, light fires deliberately..and fire can jump a 25 metre break.. Private property ( we had 3 hectares ) fire break was mandatory 10 metres clear from boundary..if you don't do it..the local council takes care of it and sends you the bill..Mate of mine had the subcontracting gig for that..used to charge ( 20 years ago ) €1.00 per linear sq metre .Makes a nasty bill..so people take it seriously..Don't pay your bill? The council can send in the bailiffs..and they do .. I used to do our fire breaks..then we got a Shetland pony and some goats ..Major fires still break out every year, because "eejits" and "crims"..and the Canadairs fly all summer long..similar problems in California and OZ, similar trees..( eucalyptus and pines ) lots of wind, tinder dry summers .."eejits" and "crims"..the year that we left that area to move to here..fire broke out about 10 kms west of where we use to be, and ran for around 40 kms ( fire front about 10kms wide ) before it stopped jumping over the roads and the breaks, and they got it under control. Lot of my mates got burned out.. * It was able to run because a lot of the ( mainly Parisians with secondary homes ) secondary homeowners in the hills had not kept their fire breaks clean and clear. Keeping it clear with sprays from aircraft kills everything..I got contaminated with some of that stuff ( by a neighbour trying to "dispose" of his 200 litres or so, without paying the cost for safe disposal ) while we were living there..I have a lot of "interesting" health problems as a result..and will live at least 10 years less than I might have done otherwise..in considerable daily ( and nightly ) pain..You clear firebreaks and scrub with equipment, or animals , not chemicals. Edited March 11, 2020 by mikesc Quote "Don't you know that women are the only works of Art" .. ( Don Henley and "some French painter in a field" )
Members Bert51 Posted March 11, 2020 Members Report Posted March 11, 2020 You are right, whether 1.5 feet or 25 meters, the recent fire here in Australia, the spot fires where jumping kilometers ahead of the fires. They need to keep the fuel load per square meter or mile as low as possible, lesson the aboriginals learnt thousands of year ago and still practice today. Bert. Quote
mikesc Posted March 12, 2020 Report Posted March 12, 2020 (edited) A local example of eejits..Despite this being probably the wettest part of France. For years it has been illegal to burn garden rubbish..mainly because it is very windy here..and fires can spread fast.. So.. week before last ..I walk outside..smell smoke ( burning plant type smoke, I knew it was Mimosa from the smell, lot of Mimosas here )..I see dense cloud of smoke, and falling ash, burning leaves and cinders, some glowing..So..I go to explore..I find the fire about 100 meters from us in an enclosed garden..landscaping company from the next town over has cut down a Mimosa, and has arranged the cut off branches and leaves into 3 loose piles..in a straight line in the garden..The wind is blowing in a straight line down the line of the piles, each pile is about as big as a large panel truck..the piles are 3 meters or so from each other. The cut logs are laid to one side..as are the cut sections of trunk..There is a 10 litre clear plastic jerry can of two stroke mix next to the last pile of branches and leaves..The house , which has wooden cladding on the wall two stories high is empty, owners live in Paris, the clad wall is at 3 metres or so from the pile where the two stroke mix was left..The first pile is burning away..giving of a lot of smoke and flying burning "bits"..the second pile hasn't caught yet ( but it will as it is direct line ) and the 3rd pile is where the fuel is waiting.. And the tree cutters, fire lighters..have ***ked off to the bar for lunch, leaving their truck, their chainsaws, the gate unlocked..and a fire burning and distributing smoke and embers all over the houses and gardens downwind ( like ours ) .. So..I phone the local town hall ( which is about 800 metres away ) to tell them to send the local municipal policeman and to notify the fire service.. The young clown who answers the phone at the town hall tells me "don't worry, the company must know what they are doing, it doesn't' matter that they have no authorisation to be burning"..and " that no-one has ever heard of fires getting out of hand or houses catching fire in February". I told him that the fire service would be pleased to hear that, nay they'd be amazed, as two years ago a house around 150 metres away burned down within 30 minutes in the month of February..and that he was an eejit and that he was talking s**te..The young lad was quite offended.. When the local policeman did show up..an hour or so later, it was his lunch time, although he was there when I phoned ( after the "workers " had returned from whichever bar they were having their lunch in ) , he made them scrape up the fire with their "bobcat" ( a kind of small JCBish type machine ) and they loaded it ( the piles of leaves and branches on fire ) into a small skip..and then drove away, spreading burning embers in their wake..presumably all the way back to their depot..which is about 5 kms away down country roads with high banks and plenty of combustible hedges etc. The next day they returned , this time with a machine to shred the branches and leaves into chips .. Obviously they should have had that machine on site the first day..But they didn't..so they lit a fire..despite the risks, despite the winds, despite knowing it was illegal..and then they left it alone , burning unsupervised, for over an hour..Why? Because it they had taken the branches etc to the local council depot ( as they are supposed to ) they would have to pay €6.00 per cubic metre..so rather than pay €150.00 ..for unsquashed vegetation, or squash it and pay maybe €30.00 total..or shred it ( might have cost them €5.00 for the petrol for the shredder ) and be able to resell it as "mulch". So..to save a pittance..( cutting the tree down and clearing the patch would net them around €1500.00..I know this because I have mates who own the largest tree surgery business in the area ) ..they did it the cheap, easy, risky way..and anyone in the area who had washing out gets to wash it again..and all the cars etc were covered in ash..nothing caught fire elsewhere..luckily.. Or maybe it is because "fires don't start in February". Inconsequential is waaaaaay too small a word for it compared to what has happened in OZ..but it shows..all it takes is a few ****wits..and there are very very many of them. :(( it would be nice to think that the various levels of govt ( national and local ) in Oz will sort this out and see that people get compensation..but I think they'll use Covid 19 as a kind of "look squirrel" and leave everyone to fend for themselves, or bury them in paperwork until they give up. Edited March 12, 2020 by mikesc Quote "Don't you know that women are the only works of Art" .. ( Don Henley and "some French painter in a field" )
Members Handstitched Posted March 12, 2020 Author Members Report Posted March 12, 2020 23 hours ago, Handstitched said: but will I get any help from ' Mr Bulls**t' bag himself? Not in a pigs ear !!! I'm not in his electorate Just seen the " stimulus package" on the news. I was right, people like me, 1000's of self employed & sole traders don't get a brass razoo . I don't have employees , I don't have any assets to right off , nor do I earn up to $50 mil per year . I know a few chords on my guitar, perhaps I can go busking , and with a face and a gut like mine, modeling is out of the question HS Quote ' I have a very gweat friend in Wome called Biggus Dickus, He has a wife you know, do you know whats she's called? Incontinentia.......Incontinentia Buttocks '
Contributing Member fredk Posted March 12, 2020 Contributing Member Report Posted March 12, 2020 32 minutes ago, Handstitched said: I know a few chords on my guitar, perhaps I can go busking , and with a face and a gut like mine, modeling is out of the question Don't write yourself off too soon. Read this - and be inspired https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-51573285 Quote Al speling misteaks aer all mi own werk..
Members Handstitched Posted March 12, 2020 Author Members Report Posted March 12, 2020 @fredk Theres hope for me yet . I've heard of hand models, so I wonder if theres ' beer gut models ' ? ' What does he wear under his kilt?' Nothing, its all in perfect working order. ' This is going off topic now . HS Quote ' I have a very gweat friend in Wome called Biggus Dickus, He has a wife you know, do you know whats she's called? Incontinentia.......Incontinentia Buttocks '
Members Bert51 Posted March 12, 2020 Members Report Posted March 12, 2020 All I can say is he has done it again, but this time he stayed home and stuffed it up again, just like I thought he would. But he looking after his mates by giving big business free apprentices......................... Bert. Quote
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