Vintage Minor Register

Further to my news piece on the website, here's the text of an e-mail just recieved from Chris Rumble this morning, giving us the latest:

Hi Ian,

Since I sent you the last message we have had Melbourne’s hottest day ever – 46.4 in the City and 47.9 at Avalon airport (where they hold the airshow – I am sure you know the location). This is the hottest ever “reliably recorded” temperature in Victoria.

There have been bushfires all over the state and one fire front is about 100km wide. Several towns have been totally (and I mean totally – imagine Hiroshima after the bomb) destroyed and currently 108 people are confirmed dead – although will go much higher as search teams go into the burnt homes to locate bodies. My youngest brother is resigned to having lost his house – he was evacuated along with his family and their menagerie of about 10 animals. Essentially the state is on a war footing.

Just as well I went to see his house last week. If the fire has gone through I don’t give his hotted up Ford Falcon (he spent $20k Australian on the engine!) much of a chance.

When the fires are this bad it is too dangerous to send in fire fighters and all the fighting is done from the air – you may see TV footage of “Elvis” at work. I don’t know what we would do without the choppers.

As I type this there are still 25 fires burning with some still threatening towns. As a yardstick – 75 people died in the Ash Wednesday fires in 1983 (our previous worst fire day) back in 1983. And of course most fires were deliberately lit.

My brother’s ex- wife and his two sons were also evacuated last night but they have been allowed to return. Given they live over 70km away from Jason and were threatened by the same fire you will have some indication of the situation. The fire was on Melbourne outskirts, only about 60-70km from the CBD.

Anyway, it will be in the low 20’s all week and if the wind stays down the fire crews might have the fires all back under control in a week or so.

All the best,

Chris

PS We also have fires in Sydney – but over 60% of Queensland is under water... What a crazy place!!!

Latest update from Chris just in - I'll post further news as I recieve it:

The latest death toll as I write is 176 but the Police are only just now going into some of the areas that have been made safe to check on missing people so it is expected to go beyond 200. It is being described as Australia’s worst ever natural disaster. The area I mentioned regarding my ex-brother’s wife is another iconic tourist town of Healesville and it is said to be under threat again. It is big town of about 5,000 people and is essentially on the outskirts of Melbourne.

We are expecting some showers this morning but no real rain. There is a race to get these fires under control before the weather warms up and the wind swings around again next week.

I have tried to contact Keith Montell, who as you know is a fellow VMR member. He lives in Steel’s Creek which was in the fire’s path. I have left a voice mail message but haven’t received a reply so I can only hope that he and his family are safe.

Latest from Chris:

I have heard back from Max Dawkins that Keith and family are safe and well. They have saved their house but have lost fences and outbuildings. If you look at http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/ and click on the “Amazing Footage” link you will see some film of what the flames looked like at Steel’s Creek (where Keith lives). If he went through anything like that they did a great job to save the house.

Here's an update from Max Dawkins in the form of a report in the MR of Victoria's newsletter. Note the references to Keith and Lindy Montell and Ted and Shirley Pavitt - all VMR members. Thank God they are all safe.

The Morris that Keith refers to in his message is a Morris Oxford of about 1932 and is close to concours condition having taken out the top car award at several shows so everyone is quite relieved that it survived. At least two car museums with some beautiful cars in them did not and are are now piles of ash.