Thank you to Our Wildfire Fighters

[Tasgandy]

I consider that I am lucky to live in the foothills of The Grampians National Park http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grampians_National_Park and some 7 days ago we had around 45 fires that our Local CFA (Country Fire Authority) Volunteers commenced fighting alongside the fire fighters from The Dept of Environment & Primary Industries (they have their own paid staff that work in with our CFA). Police and SES also work in with us.

 

Last Friday @ 10.25am my local Village of Pomonal and neighboring town of Halls Gap were issued with a "evacuation advice" which I along with 90% of residents left our homes and headed for safety.

 

Thankfully with with the BIG efforts of the Firefighters, 2 BIG sky-cranes Delilah & Malcolm (Elvis did not come out to Australia this year) and a good Southerly wind shift both Halls Gap and my home Village of Pomonal were SAFE. We missed the silver bullet. Most of us were able to return to our homes on Sunday afternoon safe-n-sound.

 

I on behalf of all the residents of Halls Gap and Pomonal I say "Thank you to the Guys and Gals of the CFA & DEPI" for your magnificent risky volunteer job that you performed.

Indeed they are all still involved in "back burning" and "blacking out" and will be there for the next 6 days and nights, getting ready for our next bout of  40° C plus days.

 

The fire front was some 35Klms in length, there were over 600 firefighters and 7 aircraft involved with this fire. Some 58,000 hectares, several building and 3,500 stock were burnt. Unfortunately there was 1 loss of life, a lady details of which are not yet released. Indeed there were 3 other fire locations withing 50Klms of this one. In CFA terminology we are all still on a "watch and act" alert.............but safe at this stage.

 

I have attached  some images for those interested and once again THANK YOU FIREFIGHTERS EVERYWHERE.          

[login123]

Glad you came out OK, Tas.  +1 for the firefighters. 

[hazelnut]

Glad to hear you (and all the others) are safe Tasgandy.

 

Firefighters the world over do a great job.

[DennisD]

Same from me Tas. Pleased all was OK for you and your home.

 

Probably never have a need for that kind of effort here in the UK, Our weather would probably take care of it.  

[papaleguas49]

I am glad you are ok. Firefigthers are heros that not always get the fully deserved recognition, but still are alway there for us, and our homes. +1 for them.

Cheers.

[Derek891]

Tas: Glad to here that you and your family, as well as the rest of the town, came through that incident unscathed. We've had some very bad forest fires in the western U.S. recently where people were not so fortunate. 

 

My older brother is a volunteer fireman and many of the members of his fire department are also members of the FDNY. Their level of knowledge and experience is a huge asset to the department and it's other members. Whenever our department responds to a fire, a car accident, or a medical emergency people are always impressed by their level of professionalism. Our town owes them a huge debt of gratitude for the time and effort they devote to the training necessary to become volunteers.

 

I came across this video a quite a while ago. The pilot of this Canadair water tanker shows incredible skill while taking on water to fight a fire near Parry Sound in Ontario, Canada. Pay close attention near the one minute mark: the shadow of the aircraft passing over the trees shows just how low the plane is during it's approach to the lake. It demonstrates the guys in the aircraft take just as many risks doing their job as the guys on the ground.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDIwOggoWqo

[LuLu]

Glad you are OK, as well as the other residents, Tas. And two thumbs up to the fire rescue!!

[eL_PuSHeR]

I am glad to hear everything went ok. Great job and stay safe.