Had an unusual day today ...

Just after lunch today I was outside pottering around fixing up chook cages when I looked over the hill and saw smoke billowing upwards in great brown plumes. It looked like where my neighbour's Son lived so I put my boots on, jumped in the car and rushed up there to check it out. It wasn't where I thought it was... it was about three properties further along the road. The bloke had been on his tractor slashing a paddock of tall dry dead grass and hit something making sparks. The field went up almost straight away and the fire began rushing towards the house. I haven't met this guy before but I parked the car up the road and ran down to the house and as I did the fire brigade pulled in. Two other neighbours turned up and we jumped in with the fire brigade and started to fight this fire that had got into a Macrocarpa hedge and was really pumping. The guy packs lillies for transport to florists etc and he had three massive LPG bottles sitting on the edge of a concrete slab with the fire coming right up to them but the fire fighters managed to get it under control while we kept hosing the cylinders down. We spent about 2 hours there pulling hoses around and shovelling dirt onto fires... and I have a new found respect for the fire fighters.. those bloody hoses are real heavy and I was knackered and could hardly see by the end. We managed to save the house and all his packing sheds but he lost about 5 acres of grass hay, all his fences and most his macrocarpa hedges... By the time I left there was four fire trucks ther running around mopping up the spot fires and two hours afterwards smoke was no longer visible over the hill... not exactly how I had planned to spend the day

I'm glad things turned out better than they could have Simon. There are only a couple of things that scare me & fire is one of them (the other is sharks LOL). Good on you for helping!

Well done Simon, good neighbors are few and fare apart, only in the bush they turn up to help with any way they can, like you did and not even know them, I bet you well.

Yes, good job.
We're learning the hard way here; on high fire-risk days you can get hefty fines for using mowers, angle-grinders, welding equipment, whippersnippers during most of the daylight hours. Then there was the city chap who went for a walk in a bush reserve surrounded by houses in the Hills last March, and got caught up in blackberries. He says he lit the fire to draw attention to his plight.

Yes, fire is the Great Summer Enemy No 1. We are continually conscious of the risk too. We have our fire plan. The orchard sprayer is full of water and hitched to the tractor, the hoses and pumps are all at the ready and the dam is full if we have to jump into it.

Boy and I thought that I had an exciting day!!!!!

Actually I didn't. Walking down the edge of a hot bitumen road with a GPS over my shoulder and occasionaly sliding down a steep bank into lantana is not that much fun.

No chance of fire around here. We had 220mm of rain between midday saturaday and midday Sunday. Filled up our dam and hopefully recharged the water table.

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We call him Grisu. Any similarity is purely coincidental

Well done Simon!

Bernhard, can't say I have seen him. There is some similarities to our local fireman.

That was a close call for your neighbour, Simon. I bet he was greatful you and all the others were there to help.
My brother started a fire once when he was about 15, tried to burn a snake out of a log. It burnt a holding paddock and his paddock basher. It is certainly one way to meet the neighbours. Everyone comes into help.

Hi Simon,
I'm glad it turned out as well as it did. Good neighbours are so valuable in rural areas.
Barbara B