Non-motoring > All is not going well in Valparaiso... Miscellaneous
Thread Author: No FM2R Replies: 11
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New Sun 13 Apr 14 18:56 
 All is not going well in Valparaiso... - No FM2R

This is about 100km from where I am.

www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-27007884
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New Sun 13 Apr 14 18:57 
 All is not going well in Valparaiso... - No FM2R
www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-27009943

Its not the posh or expensive end of town, but even so.....
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New Sun 13 Apr 14 19:09 
 All is not going well in Valparaiso... - No FM2R
>>its not the posh or expensive end of town, but even so.....

By which peculiar comment, I meant that the emergency services have still got their fingers out and are doing everything they can.
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New Sun 13 Apr 14 19:17 
 All is not going well in Valparaiso... - Armel Coussine
Yeah, but looked like a blazing shantytown on a cliff, not ideal for emergency services access... Only 11 dead claimed when I saw the clip.
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New Sun 13 Apr 14 19:19 
 All is not going well in Valparaiso... - No FM2R
Its the crap end of town, consequently loads of fire fuel (rubbish) no building controls and not much in the way of utilities.

Still peoples' homes though.
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New Tue 15 Apr 14 13:27 
 All is not going well in Valparaiso... - No FM2R
Well, not ideal for emergency services indeed;

1) The fire engines are actually wider than the streets so can't get into the area.
2) There is no water supply in the street, so the only water supplies available are domestic house taps. You can just imagine trying to use a jubilee clip to connect a firehose to the kitchen tap.

and best of all..............

3) The airplanes that were being used to drop water on the fire to try to control it would only fly from 8:30am to 6pm. Why? Because those are their agreed working hours.
Last edited by: No FM2R on Tue 15 Apr 14 at 13:28
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New Wed 16 Apr 14 08:38 
 All is not going well in Valparaiso... - Zero

>> 3) The airplanes that were being used to drop water on the fire to try
>> to control it would only fly from 8:30am to 6pm. Why? Because those are their
>> agreed working hours.

To be fair, flying low at night over a city into smoke could be a bit hairy and maybe cause more deaths?
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New Wed 16 Apr 14 10:42 
 All is not going well in Valparaiso... - No FM2R
The hours of daylight are a little longer than 8:30 - 6:00!! (9.5 hours), more like 6:30 - 8:30 (14 hours).

In any case, the reason was not safety, it was their working hours agreement. And it wasn't the pilots, it was the controllers.
Last edited by: No FM2R on Wed 16 Apr 14 at 10:42
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New Wed 16 Apr 14 13:21 
 All is not going well in Valparaiso... - No FM2R

I encourage you to have a look at the pictures here if you have any interest int he Fire in Valparaiso.

www.emol.com/especiales/2014/fotosHD/incendio_valpo_voluntarios/index.htm

You;ll see the type of people and type of housing and environment which was affected, and also the scale of the aid both required and going in.

Sadly it appears that quite a lot of poor people are taking advantage of some of the aid, even if they were not actually affected by the fire. To be expected I'm afraid - there's a reason why even shanty houses have bars on the windows.
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New Wed 16 Apr 14 13:37 
 All is not going well in Valparaiso... - Armel Coussine
Some of the aerial shots show a very large burnt area, not the few dozen shacks shown blazing in the clips the other night.

People running off with more food, drink and other aid than they really need is absolutely normal in such places.

Can't help wondering what the casualty figures are, if any have been compiled. In the aftermath, cuts and wounds from nasty old bits of corrugated iron and so on will be threatening people's health.

I once stayed briefly - just a week or two - in such a place, and a big fire would have been no joke at all.
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New Wed 16 Apr 14 13:43 
 All is not going well in Valparaiso... - No FM2R
>>an't help wondering what the casualty figures are, if any have been compiled

I can't see how they will know or be able to find out, other than simply relying on someone reporting someone else missing, or actually finding the body. They've no clue who actually lives there.

All low figures being shown at the moment anywhere in the 10 - 25 range.
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New Thu 17 Apr 14 15:33 
 All is not going well in Valparaiso... - Ambo
>>I encourage you to have a look at the pictures here

About the only picture I have of Valparaiso is from a day trip from Vina del Mar. It was in a shanty town fringe, high up, with a view of warships in the bay below.
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