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events|January 2003 Fires| |
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January
2003 Fires (3) |
| As
the week progressed, the bush up around McIntyre's Hut became a mosaic of singed
areas from the backburns, luscious and heavily vegetated bush as yet unburned,
and some areas that had been seriously burnt with a hot fire. The operation
to co-ordinate local crews and out of area volunteers became more complex as
the weather bureau warned of an impending change in conditions. Some crews got
a little frustrated waiting at the station on callout, but that is just part
of what happens in such an unpredictable situation. |
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McIntyre's
Hut fire, 14 January 2003.
At
left, a heavily burnt area with vegetation reduced to ash and a Roman candle
still glowing through the smoke in the middle. Photograph by John Cooper.
Below,
the undergrowth burns in an area of dense bush . Photograph by Matt O'Brien.
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| Bulldozers
were brought in to clear trails and knock over dangerous trees, requiring another
level of co-ordination with the firefighters. Most firefighters would rather
work a rakehoe line than sit inside one of those things during a bushfire. The
bulldozer drivers have the scariest job in firefighting. |
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McIntyre's
Hut fire, 14 January 2003. Photograph by Matt O'Brien.
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The
work continued at all hours of day and night, with many of our volunteers fitting
in full time jobs as well as stints at the fire. |
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Filling
up the tanker at Wells Station Road, 14 January 2003. Photograph by Matt O'Brien.
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| On
16 January, while everybody was concerned about what was going on in the so-called
remote Brindabellas, a grass fire broke out along the road verge near the junction
of Sutton Road and Ginninderra Road (aka Gundaroo Road, depending on which sign
you believe). It seems some clown may have flicked the old cigarette butt out
of the car window. Most of our trucks and equipment were deployed somewhere
else at the time, and we had to rely on an old truck which the brigade maintains
at its own expense, and some fortunately well prepared landowners, to put it
out. We keep telling the RFS that we still need that truck! The fire was extinguished. |
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Meanwhile,
back in the Brindabellas, as well as backburning and rakehoeing, the work began
to involve mopping up, as our firefighters attempted to ensure that burning
stumps and layers of vegetation could not reignite. |
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McIntyre's
Hut fire, Juliette sector, 16 January 2003. Photograph by Eddy Tillotson.
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| Despite
everyone's best efforts, the main fire kept trying to escape its containment
lines and was still burning. |
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McIntyre's
Hut fire, Juliette sector, 16 January 2003. Photograph by Eddy Tilotson.
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