About an hour ago, the fire trucks in North Warrandyte went screaming off up the hill. On the CFA website map, a scary red fire symbol bloomed just up the road from me.
I’m proud to say I managed to remember all the steps of my new, revised bushfire plan without panicking. Nonetheless, when the CFA map showed 15 fire trucks attending the blaze, I did get a little nervous.
My good neighbour, a man who is a veteran of more than one bushfire, showed up soon after to make sure I had everything under control. His calm demeanour, and typical aussie humour settled the butterflies like a charm, and we kept an eye on the smoke while drinking a companionable cup of coffee.
By the time the Watch and Act warning was broadcast, I was feeling pretty relaxed as the wind was now pushing the fire away [from us]. I do feel a great deal of sympathy though for those who may have been home, and possibly in the path of the fire.
As at 1.15pm the fire warnings were officially downgraded as the fire is now ‘contained’. Contained means it’s no longer spreading, however there is still a lot of mopping up to do. Smouldering logs etc have to be fully extinguished to make sure the fire doesn’t flare up again. When all that mopping up is done, we’ll finally get the message we all want to hear : Safe.
As I write this I can still hear helicopters flying overhead, and I know the boys and girls of the CFA are still hard at work keeping us all safe.
To all the CFA volunteers – THANK YOU!
-hugs-
Meeks
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NANO 2012
February 3rd, 2014 at 2:06 pm
Oh my, That is so scary. So many wildfires burning and so much destruction. I hope things cool down soon and some rain helps things.
February 3rd, 2014 at 2:34 pm
Thanks Yvonne. The sky has clouded over but whether we get rain is moot. Just hope we don’t get a dry storm with lightning.
Anyway, things seems better now, thank goodness.
February 3rd, 2014 at 3:56 pm
I saw the warning and thought it was probably not too far from your place. Glad to hear you weren’t directly affected. Hopefully we all only see fire from afar in the future too….
February 4th, 2014 at 1:24 am
Amen to that. The fire was in the next small valley over from us, so far too close for comfort, but the CFA guys really did jump on it – and of course we didn’t have a north wind. I just want February over with now.
February 3rd, 2014 at 3:58 pm
Very scary! So glad it went well for you and others. There have been no fires near us but this heat is drying everything very fast, so we must all be careful, and remember our bushfire plans too.
February 4th, 2014 at 1:21 am
What I’d give for a good soaking rain! We had about 10 minutes of rain today after the change but that’s about all. By tomorrow night all the leaves and grass will be crackling again.
I suspect that quite a few people were caught off guard today, especially the ones whose plan is to leave. We sometimes forget that fires can start close at hand too. Keep safe.
February 6th, 2014 at 8:05 am
thanks Meeka, you too … we had a bit of drizzle but nothing much in the rain gauge :(
February 6th, 2014 at 11:48 am
Same here. I don’t normally water my succulents but last night I noticed that they were looking decidedly droopy…succulents!
This second half of summer has been very dry. :(
February 3rd, 2014 at 4:47 pm
I think feeling nervous is very understandable, and logical reaction. I’m so pleased it ended up being a [very real] training exercise for you, and that you were able to make the prepatory steps without the commitment of the real thing. Congratulations :)
February 4th, 2014 at 1:18 am
I’m actually rather grateful for all these scares. Each one builds my confidence a little more. I still pray I’ll never have to face the real thing, even in a mild form, but I think I will be able to cope if necessary. :)
February 3rd, 2014 at 4:49 pm
It constantly amazes me how many people live in areas where they are affected by threats to their safety daily. We sit and moan about our weather in the UK or the overcrowding and close proximity of our neighbours, but we live in relative safety knowing there won’t be a bushfire coming down the road towards us. We don’t have to worry about dry storms and lightning or half the most poisonous creatures in the world waiting around to drop us. I take my hat off to you all (or I would if I was actually wearing it at the mo).You’re incredibly stoic.
xxx Huge Hugs xxx
February 4th, 2014 at 1:15 am
Honestly? Most of us live in big, sprawling cities and only hear about bushfires and floods on the news [well, except for Brisbane, big parts of it were inundated a few years back]. It’s just that Metan and I live in almost country, and there, these kinds of threats have always been a part of the price we pay for living somewhere clean and beautiful. Plus don’t forget, for at least half of the year we don’t have to worry. ;)
February 4th, 2014 at 2:24 am
Prepare for the worst, hope for the best, as my mother used to say. So glad things turned out!
February 4th, 2014 at 1:20 pm
So true, DV. I’ve always believed that if I took every precaution, the thing I feared would not happen. I know that’s just wishful thinking, but at least I /will/ be prepared when the $hit hits the fan. Hopefully not this year, or next or… :)
February 4th, 2014 at 5:18 am
With our winter rainy season over here in San Diego, it turned out to be the driest winter in San Diego’s recorded history, which doesn’t bode well for our fire season later this year.
February 4th, 2014 at 1:18 pm
Ouch. :( I feel for you, Russel. Sounds as if San Diego and southeastern Australia are very similar. Whether you accept man-made climate change or not, the predictions about more extreme events certainly seem to be coming true.
Down here, we keep breaking the historical records in bad ways. So far, my area has dodged the bullet time after time, so I hope your area does too. :(
February 4th, 2014 at 2:44 pm
I don’t see how we cannot accept manmade change. I mean, the last ice age was 12,000 years ago when the population on Earth was a million people. Since then we’ve added almost seven billion people, millions of cars, thousands of factories……………. Simple logic, to me.
February 4th, 2014 at 9:49 pm
Seems self evident to me too, Russel. As a race we’re long past the point where we were mere specks on the face of the earth. Just hope we don’t end up being like lemmings. :/
February 4th, 2014 at 3:04 pm
So glad everything is ok now. We are in the Dandenong Ranges so are always on alert for fires also.
February 4th, 2014 at 9:55 pm
When I was first married we bought a block of land in Olinda. Unfortunately we never got around to building and eventually sold it. However the other day I heard there was a fire in Perrins Creek Rd – that’s near where our block was/is.
I also have friends in Selby, so I know fire is even more of a threat to you than to me. :(
Let’s hope we all get through the last few weeks of summer without incident.