Hellfire

Australia once again faces massive destruction through fire. 

I know if I was back in SA, there would be nothing I could do since I'm no longer involved with firefighting. But sitting up here in Queensland I feel useless.

And scared.

Fire is a completely understandable phenomenon from an intellectual perspective. Heat, oxygen, fuel and chemical reaction equals fire. 

But experiencing fire is something else. A bushfire, a raging fire - hellfire - it's different. It is visceral. It roars and cracks and groans. From a distance it looks slow and cumbersome - up close it twists and jumps and rages.

So I sit here in my office, with a fan blowing warm air away from me, and I worry about everyone back home. Yes, this here is home - but back there, that was my first home. And really, anywhere that holds people I love is home. 

I can only hope (which feels like a prayer to no one in particular) that this beast of a fire dies down. That the firefighters stay strong and dogged and defensive. That no one is lost.