Ashes to ashes.

[Gulfalan67]

Mornin' all

Hope all is well north of the equator these days.

We had a fire go through our place about two weeks ago. Extraordinarily early in the season. Climate change?

Most of our firebreaks held despite the 25 knot winds behind the fire. However fire broke through on the less well prepared boundaries on the steep escarpment. As The Boy and I were initially alone and had nobody to cover for us when we needed to refill the fire unit, it burned across. Luckily neighbours gathered in the evening and some bushfires units also made it up to us. While all this was happening my poor wife was stuck in quarrantine in Perth with a bout of COVID..

I spent 48 hours working non stop to try and contain the fire on our property and protect key assets. Most of the property burned although were were able to protect a couple of hundred acres around the airstrip and hangar.

We haven't had time to do a full assessment of what has happened yet, but I think because it was an early fire the burn was quite patchy. There was still a lot of water in the landscape on the floodplains which might have broken the up the fire and protected some areas. Even in the high country woodlands the impact of the fire will be much less than a more intense burn happening later in the season.

This was the first fire that got into us for five years and my wife was quite upset, but to see the positive side, things could have been much much worse.

Oddly enough, well into dry season conditions now, we just had more than an inch of rain yesterday. Bizarre. What's happening to the climate?

Best to all

Alan

 

[Gulfalan67]

This was the view looking down from my house veranda that first afternoon after the wind dropped

Not a fierce fire but it trickled through the woods for a couple of days

Alan

 

[1 shot willie]

Hi Al

All the best to your wife for a full and speedy recovery from the dreaded

Good to hear you managed to save the key assets......and was not too badly effected by the fires.
Must make you twitch a bit even so.

 

[Big Red]

Good to hear you are OK Alan, I saw the devastation a bush fire can do at Marysville a year or so after the even, total devastation.

Stay safe cobber.

Mike

 

[Madriverrob]

Never a dull day in the outback eh Al

Keep safe

 

[Ark79]

Speedy recovery for your wife Alan, stay safe

 

[Ystranc]

You and the boy are alive and hopefully it means that you may be spared worse later in the season. Best wishes and a speedy recovery to your wife. Look after yourself Alan

 

[divebuddy]

I join the others with best wishes and speedy recovery.

 

[Gulfalan67]

Thanks for the good wishes fellas. Much appreciated.
This is not the disaster it could have been and as Mike points out might even take the pressure off us later in the season when things get scary...

But two fires in a season are not impossible.

Thanks for your concern for my wife. Her COVID was a bit unfortunate in that she was stuck in isolation away from The Boy and I. She has since recovered and returned home.

Hopefully later in the week we'll have opportunity to do a reconnaissance down into the gorge. Hopefully the fire didn't get all the way down to water level..

Will report what we find