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Fire in the Hole. Bushfire my way. Time to kit up.

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posted on Aug, 22 2018 @ 04:49 AM
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a reply to: JBurns

Something about prayers and good vibes/wishes.

Planes, god bless em. Going time after time. A chopper about but I think it may be an observation chopper or news chopper as it had no bucket.

Fire trucks on my road (Glens Creek Road), gravel road going out to the fire ground. Wind change, smoke covered the property. Went down to the pump on the dam. Forgot my kerchief. Started coughing and sneezing. Got the pump going and opened the primer hose. (Lets air out). Damnit! Stepped on the hose and broke the connecter (plastic/nylon) to that hose. Water pissed out everywhere.

Managed to plug it. Turned up the throttle.

Went back up to the house. Had son plug up the over flows from the gutters to the tanks. Hosed the house down, filled the gutters. Hosed the whole house until the gutters overflowed. Son shut down the house. Windows and doors.

Left pump going, checked animals, all good.

Then, wind changed again. For the better in my situ.

The fire changed course heading south west. (Nor east wind). Smoke steadily lifted. Got an eye full of the overall picture.

Now look, I'm thankful for the change but saddened for the neighbours up on the ridge and south of that position to the NYmboida river. I know of a few locals out that way. There's only a ridge road in and out. It's basically a track.

The aeroplanes seemed to change tack and went an hit out at this change in direction.

Don't blame them. This is a bugger of a fire. Funny though. No media coverage. Guess the political challenge for Turnbull is more important.

Back on topic. I see red around my place. In seeing this I feel that perhaps all the prayers and good wishes are working.

Cheers to all you guys.

bally





posted on Aug, 22 2018 @ 04:56 AM
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a reply to: pronto

G'day mongrel guts!! Where have you been? If I was a dog I'd be waggin me tail.

Thought you'd departed. Missed yer ya bugger.

We're fine. True love came home from work with some beverages. I cooked up me Aldi pies and covered them with mashed brocolli and spuds. Just watching the glow. Fingers crossed for rain on saturdee.

Hows tricks happy?

bally


edit on 22-8-2018 by bally001 because: Put 2 ells in tail, changed the mongrel.



posted on Aug, 22 2018 @ 05:12 AM
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a reply to: bally001



regards,

bally



posted on Aug, 22 2018 @ 05:26 AM
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a reply to: bally001

G,day cobs
got pretty crook should be toes up

the old agent orange gets me every year at the same time but every 5 years or so
it tries to kill me this time it took me more than 3 months to come good in fact a a long bloody time to get well and then just lost interest in almost everything
including beer perish the bloody thought
but i never stopped thinking about you yer missus yer nippers and that bloody python
miss yer voice cobber
i have only stayed in touch with one person during this time a yank sheila A REAL GOOD EGG
GOD BLESS HER
my older brother an ex army provo has gone toes up and several other chaps i served with have also gone
but i am still moving and helping to raise my youngest grand daughter



posted on Aug, 22 2018 @ 05:30 AM
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Some pics,

1. Yesterday morning.



2. Fire bomber going for it.



3. 1pm, wind change. Pic is the tiles on the floor. All are white. The red is reflected through the kitchen window. Interesting for me as my son took it.



4. Evening. Cat checking out todays result.



5. Time for a coldie. True love home again. Looking west.



My regards,

bally
edit on 22-8-2018 by bally001 because: (no reason given)



posted on Aug, 22 2018 @ 05:40 AM
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originally posted by: bally001
a reply to: pronto

G'day mongrel guts!! Where have you been? If I was a dog I'd be waggin me tail.

Thought you'd departed. Missed yer ya bugger.

We're fine. True love came home from work with some beverages. I cooked up me Aldi pies and covered them with mashed brocolli and spuds. Just watching the glow. Fingers crossed for rain on saturdee.

Hows tricks happy?

fairbloodydinkum mate yer a truckin dag what are u
good to see yer still got some of that old senior service
politically correct use of the english language lol



bally




posted on Aug, 22 2018 @ 05:45 AM
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a reply to: bally001

Man, thanks for the update. Hope everything quietens down for you. Sounds like your "burn off" area is a wide perimeter.
Stay safe.

I dread this coming summer in West Oz. We live a few kms from John Forrest Nat Park. There will always be idiot arsonists in this country.

Take care



posted on Aug, 22 2018 @ 05:46 AM
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a reply to: bally001

oi cobs you got the choppers with buckets as well or just the planes
and also do you have the reconfigured crop dusters
acting in the water bomber roll
now remember you can always do what the army used to do
if a night firing exercise went wrong in the dry season
ok you blokes everyone move forward and piss on the fire



posted on Aug, 22 2018 @ 05:57 AM
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a reply to: pronto

Well bugger me aye. Agent Orange strikes. I thought I go through hard times with me Barmah Forrest mosquito virus crap thing which knocks me now an then.

Don't wanna hear about yer toes up. Give me a bell and I'll voice me independent opinion and perhaps put a smile on yer dial. What's this about a seppo babe? I'm jealous now. You know you could give me a tingle any time.

Look after the grand daughter. Missed you and that other poster Expat888. Fun times. Always got a laugh. True Love is the bread winner here now. I'm kicken back with me chooks. Fires a bugger though but some excitement gets the ticker pumping.

Family here is good and I'll let true love know you dropped a line.

My fondest regards as always,

bally

edit on 22-8-2018 by bally001 because: (no reason given)



posted on Aug, 22 2018 @ 06:06 AM
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a reply to: TheConstruKctionofLight

No worries TCKL. As you know things can change as they did today. I don't trust Willy Weathers' wind predictions anymore for my locale.

When all's done I'll have to hit the pump shop for some connecters and a repair to my 2 inch Ag pipe which split midway through hosing down the house. One of those candid moments when the water pressure drops in an instant and I stand there looking at the nozzle going 'WTF?'

Managed to patch up it though. That and the connecter I broke when I stood on it in the smoke.

My fault. Most of the equipment is near 5 years old. But I service the pumps on an irregular basis.

My regards for your thoughts,

bally.






posted on Aug, 22 2018 @ 06:16 AM
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a reply to: pronto

Yeah there's been some choppers with buckets but not today. Could be something to do with the accident down south where I believe a bucket got caught up and the chopper bought the farm. Right by my Brother in law's Brigade. (He's the capitano).

Zaphod and others chimed in I I reckon they were spot on with the aeroplanes being a 'Fire Chief". I think it was "Flyingclaydisc" who posted a photo earlier in this Op. Looked the same. They were non stop and how wrong could I be as I said to true love at sunset. "That'll be the last drop for em." But they came back 3 more times.

I posted a pic above of one flying through the smoke this evening. Kudos to the pilot.

I have flown backseat in A4's but wouldn't wanna go through a bush fire like they did.

Kind regards,

bally



posted on Aug, 22 2018 @ 07:02 PM
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a reply to: pronto

Morning mate. PM'd you.

Don't trust the lighted up envelope. Top right. Hasn't worked for ages.

Blanketed in smoke. Eyes are running and snotty nose. Leastways the fire has been turned by the powers that be, firefighters and aeroplanes.

Woke up this morning thinking it was overcast and expecting rain. No, just smoke, sun has just filtered through warming the place up.

The smoke is now 360 degrees around home. 10 o'clock here and a light breeze has picked up. Least bit it's moving the smoke.

Good news is the chooks are still laying. Roosters are crowing. Get in touch. You still got that block at Germain?




posted on Aug, 22 2018 @ 09:04 PM
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Smokey day.



Kind regards,

bally



posted on Aug, 23 2018 @ 07:21 AM
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You know, I was thinking about your situation earlier and I have a question.

Isn't it a bit out of the ordinary to have fires this time of year in your area? You're in late winter / early spring right? Is that fire season in your area?

Fire season here in North America generally starts about mid summer (so we're toward the end of it now). I wouldn't think your fire season would begin until about December.



posted on Aug, 23 2018 @ 09:29 AM
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a reply to: bally001




One of those candid moments when the water pressure drops in an instant and I stand there looking at the nozzle going 'WTF?'


Man, you like living on the edge. Cinders, wind change, critical failure of equipment when you least expect it.

Not judging you but when do you make the decision to evacuate; thats what Insurance is for. ( I understand about abandoning the livestock )



posted on Aug, 23 2018 @ 01:56 PM
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a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

Good question. I can't remember it being the norm this time of year. There's a drought across most of eastern australia at the moment. Farmers are going out of pocket. My whole state is 'drought declared' and a large percentage is pretty well a tinder box.

Warmer than usual days here with chilly nights and the occasional frost. Tends to parch the growth. Haven't touched my vegetable garden in months other than turning it over and adding compost. I have one pineapple growing. Haha, says a lot hey.

Yes, it's the last days of winter. Soon it will become hotter. Then it may start all over again. Just saying to the missus yesterday that perhaps, in our case, this fire was for the better as it's burnt out large tracts to our South West, west, Nor west across to the north east. So there's a big break across that arc which will give some protection in the summer.

Bit of time to reflect and prepare.

Cheers for your thoughts.

Bally.



posted on Aug, 23 2018 @ 02:04 PM
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a reply to: TheConstruKctionofLight

It got edgy there for a while. I must admit. But I tend to think there is not much more I could have done. Equipment failure
. Sh## happens.

It's pretty well all over from our end. Thanks to the good work by the firies and pilots the fire tracked west to south west.

As for evacuation, well I'll never know. I didn't just stay for the animals, I stayed for the house and utilities all for which I prepared for years back.

Yes I have insurance.

Thanks for your concern.

bally




posted on Aug, 23 2018 @ 04:57 PM
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a reply to: bally001



Just saying to the missus yesterday that perhaps, in our case, this fire was for the better as it's burnt out large tracts to our South West, west, Nor west across to the north east. So there's a big break across that arc which will give some protection in the summer.


That sounds like a very reasonable idea and an optimistic outlook.


I know I could google it and I'd rather ask you. Do they ever do controlled burns to create these breaks for the future? I've read about them in the US and haven't heard of them in Australia. Least not by modern Australians...I know Aborigines did it years back.



posted on Aug, 23 2018 @ 05:54 PM
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a reply to: Kandinsky

Yes, there are controlled burns during the winter months. This year some have got away. The wife and I do controlled burns on our lot during winter as its generally dry.

This year and last year they cut short the season by a month. To burn I had to have a Brigade Captain come out to inspect the area where I intended to reduce hazards this month.

He was obliging seeing as I had already cleared a lot away, had adequate water, pumps and hoses. In saying that we didn't use it this month as the danger from our North West progressed.

Touching on the aboriginal methodology of burning. I spent a fair bit of time on communities is vast areas. Learnt a lot. Not an expert on the coastal communities but in living in the center of Australia I understood even less than a century ago the various tribes moved seasonally between water holes. And there are some out it places you couldn't imagine. Upon arriving a a location the immediate camp site was burnt and settled upon. Inhabited for that season. Upon leaving it was burnt again. Everything being biodegradable back then. Animals returned, plant growth flourished and so the cycle continued.

I follow that experience on this selection. Try to burn off twice in the season.

Now this all may sound a bit airy fairy to some but the result is. I have a safe habitat for the family. Native animals and birds abound on my block and in the event of a bushfire have a safe area to ride the out the fire and smoke. The burning off has killed off the introduced plant life and the natives trees and shrubs abound. In saying that most of the land is naturally timbered.

In the event of a fire I also have a safe entry and egress for the emergency services and a reasonable fire survival plan hence I'm not too stressed over events like this.

The area around the house gets visited each day by roos, potaroos, wallabies, all manner of native birds and as you imagine, reptiles. The goannas are a fair size and during the hotter days raid the coops. Pythons live in the roof and around the block and also get active taking the small chicks and goslings but thats nature. It's the poisoness snakes that can be a worry and I've had blacks and browns around infrequently. A black took my dogs life a little while back and not long before I got here a python from in the roof got hold of one of their cats.

It's been interesting for me watching this cycle of life. Pythons clean the roof out of any mice, rats or possums. My geese and chooks clean out the underneath of the house. Dogs try to keep the goannas at bay by chasing them up trees. Roos keep the grass down, eels and yabbies keep the dams reasonably clean. The birds rip into my fruit trees and vege patch but I have to wear that. In seeing all this I guess that's why aboriginals burnt off. Easier to see and walk. Safer, and the strongs trees survive. Little known fact, some species of Australian trees and shrubs thrive on a good burn.

Rambled on a bit didn't I. Just my thoughts now were safe.

Thanks for asking.

Kind regards, bally

edit on 23-8-2018 by bally001 because: (no reason given)



posted on Aug, 24 2018 @ 01:04 PM
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a reply to: bally001

That was a great post. It's the best one Ive read in a long while and I'm glad I asked you instead of googling.


Over here in the UK most of us have to travel to get into nature so this summer I've seen buck deer, dolphins, roosting bats and foxes. Possibly a Peregrine as well. Normally all we get are the garden birds and the vermin down at the retail parks and that's our 'Circle of Life.' Don't get me wrong, there are some stunning places across the UK and Ireland and I love them. Still, the way you've described your backyard makes me envious for that lifestyle and the access to raw nature.

You know what you sound like in your post? A man at peace with himself and the world. Good on you.



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