Posted Monday, February 7, 2011 @ 08:45 PM
Hi Collin,
The big fire (86 homes destroyed so far) is about ten miles away from our home, but I know four flying people who live in that suburb:
Mike Munninger, who built my new VW engine, Bob Hart, who does much of the filming you see of my blue Fournier, Mark Crawford, who built and flies a Staaken Flitzer he keeps in the hangar opoposite mine, and Maureen Sharp, widow of Ted, whose Savannah I test flew a couple of years ago.
I shall be phoning them all this morning to see how they are.
We had VERY little rain here last winter, so everything is extremely dry, and there is very little water in our rivers and dams (reservoirs), which makes it difficult for the fire-fighters.
Added to that, for the past two days we have been experiencing strong winds from the remains of cyclone Yasi, which eventually reached this side of the country.
Serpentine airfield is a very big fire risk right now, because the environmentalists in the local shire will not allow us to clear trees and undergrowth on the airfield. One spark and the whole lot will go.
However, the wind is forecast to drop this afternoon, so the current fires should be controllable after that, but we're expecting high temperatures (35+ /100+) for at least the next week, and summer is really just getting going, so you can expect to see more fie footage in international news in the coming weeks.
Thank you Collin and all for you concern.
Yours, Bob
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