SuttaCentral
Thanks for the picture. I didn’t manage to find such a good one myself!
My mother said that some of the Australian fires in the late 40s or early 50s actually left ash on the glaciers over here (she was a keen climber at at time). For us today it was just grey, but you could smell the smoke…
May the people over there be well… 
Here’s some photos of ash on New Zealand glaciers.
My Mums comment was that she remembered the ash she saw 70 years ago being redder than this…
That’s actually really, really bad isn’t it? Because now the glaciers are dark coloured and so will start to melt, at least as long as the ash is there, right? The dominoes start to fall.
Certainly it doesn’t help, though, as I said, dust from Australia is a historical fact…
It is sad, though, how much the glaciers have shrunk in my lifetime.
The wildfire has reached Santi Forest Monastery. It touches the southern edge - yet doesn’t come on the property. NOW is the time to send your blessings
Fire map
Fire reached Santi property yet hasn’t crossed it somehow - plz send blessings now
Perhaps we can include the 2 other Buddhist centres, that are near by and in the same circumstances as Santi, in our thoughts and chants.
Please include the other neighboring communities in your thoughts as well
Good point. I’ve been keeping Suññataram in mind as well (but don’t know the location of the other centre).
Glad to hear the Suññataram peacocks are safe.
Thanks for the link to the other thread, I somehow had overlooked it.
The Morton Fire (a branch from the larger Currowan Fire) which hit the eastern part of Bundanoon and was bearing down on Santi & Suññataram, “has eased” for now, according to the latest update.
The Digital Earth hotspots map, if it can be taken as very precise, suggests that Santi is narrowly spared. But Suññataram may have been surrounded by fire. On this screenshot I’ve marked Santi with a blue smudge and Suññataram with a lavender one.
Santi is safe for the moment. Please see this post:
Not sure about the other centres yet. Wingello, where Vejjasala is has been devastated by the fires, losing around 10 homes and businesses on the main street.
Fingers crossed.
I’m going to merge the threads for Fires and affected Monasteries, as it is just getting too confusing, to keep track of the changes and to have all comments in one place instead of having to ‘multiple post’ I know it’s not a perfect solution, but I hope it is a bit better than 3 con-current threads
Re-pasting a quote from the Santi website above
Please be aware that the NSW RFS maps shade in grey all the areas that have been burned during this entire fire season, which has been going on for weeks. To work out where the fires are active it is necessary to to go to their website, https://www.rfs.nsw.gov.au, and check the details. Red, yellow and blue are the colours to be concerned about.
The details are only the best they can give, not always precise. The service is overstretched and the volunteers must be exhausted.
Wonderful to hear Santi is safe for now. If you read the reports of what happened that night, a firestorm that wiped out a large part of Wingallo and Penrose and left people running for their lives, it is a miracle that the two monasteries were spared. In fact, the fire left a large gap just where the monasteries are and then attacked north Bundanoon and Exeter on the other side. The fire came right up to the SE boundary of Santi FM in Coal Creek but stopped there.
Our good friends at Sakyaditha Australia Association of Buddhist Women have launched a fundraising campaign to benefit a variety of organisations in the aftermath of the Australian bushfires.
There’s a lot of other campaigns going around at the moment, so if you’ve been thinking about donating but are unsure of who to support or which fundraisers are legitimate, then this could be an opportunity for you! 
It was at this same time of the year, five years ago, when I took this picture at Santi and made some postcards of it. Back then we had thunderstorms and rain almost every day.
Whether these trees will survive or not—may the path to peace taught by the Buddha never be forgotten in all these disasters which are in fact heartbreaking! 
Dear Ayya, is it possible to change the link to the video in your post such that it does not automatically start whenever I enter this thread and scroll down to the end? It is very quiet in my rooms but my loudspeakers are active because I often like to listen to classical music via my laptop and don’t like it when I myself (or my neighbours) get surprised and attacked by that voice ot the officer… 
Update from Vejjasala Retreat Centre with a bit about Sunnataram Monastery
Dear Friends,
The situation at Vejjasala is as follows…
Zach went onto our property and found that the main building is undamaged as far as he could tell.
The large Water Tank is Undamaged
Our powerline is undamaged but of course there is no power in Wingello at present
The Kutis appear to be ok with the exception of the Bush Kuti nelow the main house and in the bush which he thinks is burnt out.
The building we call the cottage (sleeps 6 - 8) beside the Machine shed has burned (I think completely…but it was very hard to hear what Zach was saying as reception there is very poor)
The Machine Shed is fine
Water Tanks behind the Machine shed appear to be fine
Kutis in top field are ok I think
The area where the pine forest was has been burnt completely (which is good for us really and lucky that we removed it or much more may have burned)
All trees around us and on the property have been burned and are very dangerous at present.
You cannot access our driveway at all because of fallen trees.
Forest Road is very dangerous, again because of fallen trees and the danger of more trees falling down at any time.
The RFS and others are trying to clear the Forest road with heavy earth moving equipment making access very difficult.
Unless you are a resident you are not permitted yet into Forest road
There is serious damage along Railway Parade (around the area where the shop is) and cleaning up is in progress
The fire seems to have roared up through Forest road to the main road near the Railway station
His advice is to stay away for a few more days until they get the road cleared and even then when walking around our property to exercise extreme caution because tree can fall down at any time.
Also some trees on the road are still smoking
So that is about all I can tell you for now.
Please do not go near the place just yet.
David our architect will go down to inspect damage later in the week and he has contacted the Wingecarribee Shire Council on our behalf, Thank you to David and to Zach for his great help.
So we have been lucky if Zach’s report is accurate.
PS> Phra Mana and Sunnataram seem to be ok lots of burnt trees though……but more on this later
When I hear more I will let you know
with much metta and gratitude
Bhante Tejjadhammo
