I spoke to my sister in Canberra (for our overseas friends Canberra is our Capital and the fires there destroyed about 400 homes on Saturday and killed 4 people) yesterday she and her family were lucky they weren't in the areas where the big fires hit. She had to drive in her Pajero (mitsu content) through the fires to get to her horses to see if they were okay. Apparently the property where she keeps them suffered quite badly but the horses were moved to a safe place and only suffered some smoke inhalation and soot in their eyes. My sister reckons that everything is covered in ash and soot and 5 minutes after taking a shower you are covered in it again and smell like smoke.
She was also very pissed off because while people were trying to save their homes lowlifes were looting anything they could steal. I hope the police catch these slime and smack em around. The other show of complete stupidity was onlookers videoing residents trying to save their houses instead of helping..what sort of people would do that while their neighbours house is buring down?

The fires continue to burn and it looks like they will for a while.