(no subject)

I've been holding off on giving an update about the fires because it has been a lot of "wait and see". Things would be quiet for a while and then flare up again. However, it has been a little while since I've been able to see the fire line from my house (whether day or night). The Emergency Services Agency have left their station nearby, where they had closed off the road leading to the fire-affected area. School went back this week and I noticed that the local school had painted thank-you signs for the ESA all along the route. Smoke still blows into the area from time to time (quite thick, on occasions), but, on the whole, we can breathe easier. It's even raining today.

That's the good news. The bad news is the fire is still burning out of control. The mountainous terrain makes it extremely difficult to combat. At one point, just 1% of the fire front was accessible from the ground. As of writing, the fire has burned through over 85, 000 hectares of the 236, 000 hectares making up the territory. Most of that is national park. The fire is currently heading for my beloved Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve--which was burned in our last severe fires in 2003, killing most of the emus and all but one of the koalas (Lucky remained the sole resident until he passed away of old age in 2007. A new koala population was introduced in 2013). Firefighters are working hard to protect Tidbinbilla. Hopefully, the rain will help.

The uncertainty has been wearing, playing havoc with my concentration. Even my reading has been scattered and unfocused! Fortunately, things are starting to return to routine. It will take me a little while to catch up on the backlog (does one ever catch up?), but I always find restoring order to be immensely satisfying.

ETA: I just saw Tidbinbilla have moved their breeding koala population (only 5 koalas) to the university for the time being to ensure their safety.