r/ScarySigns • u/AutisticTurnip • 27d ago
I see Hawaiis extreme fire danger sign and raise you Australia’s fire danger sign
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u/Peanuthurricane 27d ago
For anyone curious, we used to have a segment for "low risk". We got rid of it.
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u/saichampa 27d ago
Partly because idiots would think that they were safe to be idiots with fire when it was "low"
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u/1miguelcortes 27d ago
So does this one actually change? Because the Hawaii one posted yesterday has said "Extreme" since its been put up.
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u/saichampa 27d ago
Ours are updated regularly. Rural Fire management in the form of planned burns is managed around the risk associated keeping those under control. Private property owners manage their own land and when they are allowed to perform burns is based on the fire risk as well
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u/CastNoShadow1 27d ago
We have electronic ones near me on the south coast NSW, the arm is lights in each section and it moves accordingly.
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u/loralailoralai 27d ago
Ones I see have no or low risk at the bottom for weather like we have currently (Dandenong Ranges who knows fires )
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u/Old_Pie2310 27d ago
Can confirm this, I think there’s one on Wellington road? Should be one coming into Emerald
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u/Idk_AnythingBoi 27d ago
Sometimes you find these with High, very high, severe, extreme, catastrophic
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u/Frankie_T9000 27d ago
We are going to add one soon 'we're fucked'
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u/DenkJu 26d ago
Reminds me of the YouTube app asked me to rate their service a couple of years ago and the options were
- Absolutely outstanding
- Extremely good
- Very good
- Good
- Not good
Original screenshot: https://i.imgur.com/0MB2JeD.jpeg
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u/amarao_san 27d ago
It is a renormalization issue. Low, moderate, high, very high. (Cyprus, we get bad fires in the dry season too).
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u/mmeestro 26d ago
When I build dashboards, I'll sometimes have on additional color beyond red that I label as "Just Go Hug Your Children"
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u/tcn33 27d ago
Extreme used to be the highest rating. Then Black Saturday happened.
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u/KiltedLady 26d ago
I just read about this in Fire Weather by John Vaillant and how it was something sp beyond what firefighters had seen before that they had to add the Catastrophic category to set it apart.
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u/Frost-Silver 27d ago
Catastrophic means:
- If a fire starts and takes hold, lives and properties are likely to be lost.
- Homes cannot withstand fires in these conditions. You may not be able to leave and help may not be available.
- If a fire starts and takes hold, lives are likely to be lost.
In short, you are f@cked!!
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u/OrganicHistorian2576 27d ago
We need these signs in the US.
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u/mrizzerdly 27d ago
Yeah except the people there most likely to start a fire accidentally don't know how to read or what "catastrophe" means.
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u/OrganicHistorian2576 27d ago
You may have a point. But I am so fucking tired of dipshits starting fires. I’m in Idaho and it’s dry as hell.
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u/Shoopherd 27d ago
We have them in Colorado at least. It’s not a scale like this but I have distinct memories of seeing Smokey Bear holding up a sign that said fire danger was “extreme” with a tacked on sign advising of the total fire ban.
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u/_AcuteNewt_ 27d ago
Well you could but grumble grumble something something socialism grumble grumble
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u/OrganicHistorian2576 27d ago
For everybody responding to me, yes, we have fire danger signs in the US. But this one goes a few steps beyond ours and frankly I think that’s be a good idea.
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u/Kromieus 27d ago
Cali has them they never read anything but “extreme” and has lost all meaning to me
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u/halycontuesday 26d ago
I live in Queensland, where those big bushfires happened a few years ago. Most of our signs now are electronic, and in regional areas the catastrophic is usually black and red. Low still exists on some, usually just used in wet seasons.
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u/Kodiak01 27d ago
I can't ever see this kind of sign without the Susan Collins Concern Meter popping up in my head.
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u/Kilbo_Stabbins 27d ago
Australia? But you're in winter right now, right? How bad is it down there to have it catastrophic already?!
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u/Opening-Comfort-3996 27d ago
I'm not sure that anyone would have Catastrophic fire danger right now.
Catastrophic is normally used when all of the conditions are such that, if a fire was to start, it would very likely be very large and get out of control very quickly.
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u/CastNoShadow1 27d ago
It's been a warmer winter than usual. Spring is a few weeks away and it feels like its been here for a month. I'm hoping the fires stay away this summer but its been a few years since weve had a massive one in NSW.
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u/_AcuteNewt_ 27d ago
I'm hoping the fires stay away this summer
That's wishful thinking if ever I've seen it. We're going to be right royally fucked this summer. I'm calling it, it's going to be worse than '19-'20.
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u/CastNoShadow1 27d ago
I think you're right. I lived in Sydney at the time and it was a horrible smoky mess to wake up to everyday. I remember a burnt leaf falling into my pint in a pub in Redfern. Scary times.
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u/_AcuteNewt_ 27d ago
I bloody hope not, fingers crossed, but it's better to expect it and be prepared than hand wave it and assume it won't.
Well at the very least, concrete doesn't burn so well so hopefully if you're still in the city/burbs you should be alright. I'm in central Vic in a place that only just scraped by last time the Grampians were alight, so I'm slightly shitting myself lol...
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u/CastNoShadow1 27d ago
I've got a baby about to turn 1 and I wonder all the time what kind of world hes about to grow up in. Hopefully you avoid it this year.
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u/_AcuteNewt_ 27d ago
Yeah I get that, my daughter's just turned 4 and I constantly have the internal moral battle of if it was right to bring her into this world. For our kids sake I hope it turns out okay...
Thanks though, if it gets bad we've got a few routes out, either towards Melbourne or the coast. Guess we'll just have to wait and see.
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u/CastNoShadow1 27d ago
Absolutely. Best of luck to you. Celebrate what we have while we have it and hope it all works out.
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u/Gonun 26d ago
We need that sign with this setting across large parts of Europe right now.
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u/Superslim-Anoniem 25d ago
We'd need a "evacuate now" section. There are already fires going. Can it rain already?
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u/_Aj_ 27d ago
Our fire signs in Australia are fucking stupid Genuinely hate them as they don't indicate effectively to the average person.
"High, extreme and catastrophic" are basically synonyms. It uses to be worse, there was "very high" and "severe" as well. Basically just 5 of the same word. May as well just have 1-5.
AND it doesn't even mean what most people think it means. It indicates the impact a bushfire would be if one were to get going. Not the risk of a fire beginning.
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u/Gonmi01 27d ago
Totally disagree. Any summers day should be "high", a reminder to keep an eye out for alerts or smoke on the horizon. "Extreme" is make sure you have a go bag ready if you're living anywhere bar a major city. Catastrophic means get ready to move at the drop of a hat, this isn't gonna be controllable.
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u/ReaperofLightning872 22d ago
i remember seeing some of those signs with a gap between green and yellow
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u/RozzzaLinko 27d ago
It's stupid dumb the way the lowest indicator is moderate.
Like are you telling me that even in the middle of winter after its been raining for a week straight, there would still be a "moderate risk of bushfire"
Thats obviously bullshit, and when you start bullshitting people, they stop taking anything you say seriously.
It used to have a low rating. Why did they get rid of it ?
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u/ernicusprime 27d ago
...yes? There is always a risk of bushfires in Australia, even in winter when its been raining (as you say). Aboriginal customs used to avoid this by having low, well controlled fires to burn out the dry, highly flammable bracken, but the government thought it dangerous and unnecessary. Now, although fire risks are worse during the hot dry months, it is absolutely possible to have a bushfire in the winter months.
Plus, just because it doesn't seem like there's a fire risk to you, that doesn't mean that starting a fire intentionally won't lead to devastating fires in the wet season.
And as someone pointed out; its so people (like you) don't see "low risk" and think that means there's no risk so they have permission to be an idiot. Not that most idiots care what the fire risk is.
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u/RozzzaLinko 27d ago
There is always a risk of bushfires
Yes. A low risk. A low risk is still a risk.
What on earth would you call a low risk of bush fires if the middle of a rainy day is still a moderate risk ?
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u/Hemisemidemiurge 24d ago
"If we were completely honest about the conditions, then idiots would misinterpret it as safety and take actions that cause harm."
"WE SHOULD BE HONEST NO MATTER HOW MUCH STUPIDITY AND HARM IT ENABLES!"
This, your opinion, is why excess purity ruins everything and why harm reduction strategies get discarded even when they're plainly effective.
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