Yesterday afternoon an enormous bushfire started in NW Sydney, which burnt out of control for almost 12 hours, fanned by hot NW winds that did nothing but spread embers and increase the risk of new firefronts. It was as close as we wanted it. Our horse's paddock on our friend's 9-acre property totally burnt - fotunately he was evacuated in time. The bushland, which is empty government property burnt to a crisp. My better half was still putting out spotfires until 1:30am as I was coming home from work. I photographed this scene from my car in between two burned-out sections, while parked on the road that was reopened. The giant eucalypt's top five+ meters of trunk toppled right in front of me in an instant once the weakened trunk gave way. As devastating as it was, it was an incredible scene before me.
You can see an 8-image stitched panorama at 3,000 pixels here. Sadly, we believe a young Brushtailed Possum we had released five days prior has also perished as all that's left from his box that I put up a tree were the two nails in the trunk.
Tomorrow afternoon we will be organizing a search with our wildlife rescue group for injured animals. Luckily it rained all day today.
30D, 300mm f/4L, ISO1600, HH from car (wedged between window and frame), about 1/20th, f/4, FF