I don't really think that this was intended as a political statement, it was never going to be more than a 'disaster movie' for TV. In that respect it succeeds. Ch 9 did a good job on the action scenes (mostly if not all Canberra Feb 2003 - certainly the burning embers blowing across the road and past the windscreen of the truck were Cbr) and the dramatisation and depiction of fire-ground action was true to life - and life's a bitch under those conditions. Can't comment about the Emergency Response Room scenes but looked pretty representative of an AIIMS set-up. It was a good drama, well written and well acted. Without spoiling the story the political aspects portrayed certainly echo a lot of 'nasties' which surface in most states - and ably portray the 'say one thing and mean another' pollie-speak which seems to be so common. As a rural firefighter I can't say I 'enjoyed' the movie - too close to my everyday realities - but I did think it was a worthwhile watch.

this could possibly be the worst TV movie ever. Way to many plot holes and terribly written i cant believe this ran for 2 hours! they cut so much out of it. Im ashamed to even be in NSW its a lame attempt in trying to make a movie based on 2012 (so called Apocalypse) and on the bushfires over the past several years. "Set 5 years in the future. "After years without rain fire engulfs the entire city." this really confused me the fire didn't even reach sydney! just smoke. And what is it with the soap stars? they brung 2 home and away stars who barely had a role. there was no emotion in this. The only good thing in the movie was "Cameron daddo" he done a great job

I'm not quite sure if I watched the same Australian film as the majority of the other reviewers (or if they in fact are employees of channel nine!) This was a really disappointing film...The casting was spot on... the acting was great... the script was useless.It was badly paced... some story lines were wrapped up too quickly, others not even explained...I feel like there was never any connection felt between any of the characters or story lines... if I felt anything it was because of the wonderful acting on the show.

"Scorched" is an Australian drama that premiered on free-to-air TV on Sunday, August 31, 2008.Directed by Tony Tilse (Underbelly) it tells the story of Australia's largest city, Sydney, not coping at all well without rain for more than 250 consecutive days.It is Christmas time, our summer, and the start of a long period where the potential of major bushfires is very real. I know. I've experienced a few myself, most recently the recent fires that devastated Canberra (the nations capital) 250klm to Sydney's south in 2003. With the temperature soaring to over 38o Celcius (100.4o F) and very low humidity lightning strikes from storms create "armageddon".Many popular and well-known actors feature in this telemovie - many of whom have worked together in other productions (Vince Colosimo/Les Hill - Underbelly... Georgie Parker/Libby Tanner - All Saints) and true to form they do a great job.Personally I thought it was a bit too short with rumour of a DVD to be released in November featuring over 2 hours of footage deemed not suitable for free-to-air TV. The TV version has a couple of gruesome seems but...Overall scary, 'cos I've been in this situation for real, but a little too light on content.