The end of the first week,of son 3s start in his Apprentcisehip,of course he is the biggest expert now of how a workshop on a minesite works and the larrakins who work there ,such his trade supervisor who spends over 40 mins in the toilet to where the workshop super barges off to and bawls him out,hilarious accounts,Parick you should write a book one day.
The bus was late last night,I was there at 5.55pm,the bus pulled in just after 7, I should have raced back home but its been a very long week so we went and bouyght tea,wont be doung that for a while,poor wallet is in shell shock and I didnt get any anyway as what I brought home for Angel no 1 was suffient for a big growing boy. Anyhow Son 3 is back on Tuesday so no running around for a few days.65ks into town at 4am and then pick at 6pm,its gets tiring.
Warm this week but exhaustingly so though Im still getting migraines on and off,Ive just about caught up with most things and if it hadnt have been for intereuption yesterday I would have a lot more done.I feel for the fire areas in Victoria and SA, on top of the Perth Hills last weekend. We wont see that type of fire here,the bush is not as thick though there has been some very bad ones out the other side of Coolgardie,here in Kambalda,Im comfortable in my safety.Hubbys told me some harrowing tals of his fire fighting days as ateenager and I dont think I wont to know more and I think in all truth it wouldnt be good for him to ponder over them either.My Dad did a bit of fire volley work,I rememebr him coming home black from head to toe and the stink of smoke and ash pervaded the house for days.The night he was called to help,we were travelling back from Bourke to Louth (we lived about 15 miles on the other side of the river from Louth itself on "Delta") I recall watching the mile after mile of red horizon,blazing bush that seemed to glow.He told us the next day,well he told Mum while we listened in,of the med dropping their bags and shovels to chase the bunnies which were coming out of the fire and running for their lives,they were on fire and sarted new fires as they run,the image he described as stayed with me,hilarious in a hystericalway scared way,full knowing the cosequences of it all. The ones Hubby attended were at the same time as Cyclone Tracey hit Darwin, but all media was focussed on that disaster not the bush, so not much is known about it.Only real referance I could find
1974/75: The severest season for perhaps 30 years in the far west with 3,755,000ha burnt, 50,000 stock lost and 10,170km of fencing destroyed. 1.5 million ha were burnt in the Cobar Shire in mid-December and 340,000ha in the Balranald fire. The Moolah-Corinya fire burnt 1,117,000ha and was the largest fire put out by bush firefighters. Its perimeter was over 1,000km.
Curtisy of http://www.rfs.nsw.gov.au/dsp_content.cfm?cat_id=1180 accessed 18/01/2014
Theres a few more references but its mostly Government issue,changes to regulations etc this Blogger has a few good shots of town itself,thought it was worth adding http://jagjourney.blogspot.com.au/2012_10_01_archive.html
Hubby and his team/mates/family had a very close call and were cut off by fire,its sheer luck they made through,turning hoses on themslevs from I could make out,remembering the eqipement wouldnt the high techie stuff of today mostly old truck with a water tank and pumps bolted on(Dads was an old army jeep,Willys,a box trailer with a sheep jet pump and water tank) from his recount I think he blames inexperience and miscommunication,the locals knew the land and the New Fire Captain didnt and was a stickler for rules and regulations,which the most part would be appropriate but in this instance he didnt know what he was doing,knowing some of the pople involved its a wonder he wasnt strung up. The history of the Bush Fire service here, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_South_Wales_Rural_Fire_Service ,it shows the changes that were being implemented around that time.Anyhow no doubt there ll be any stories like this out there for years to come as the seasons change,populatons grow and live in such fire prone areas.
No comments:
Post a Comment