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Bluewater - Townsville Taskforce October 2009
A taskforce from south east Queensland was put together in October 2009 to assist crews near Townsville which had been dealing with numerous fires over previous weeks. John B and Steve W went from Ripley Valley RFB and these are a couple of their photos. Their duties included a lot of back burning and even some property protection over several long hot days.
The Taskforce arrived in Townsville in the afternoon of Thursday 8th October. They settled in and had a briefing about the current situation and readied themselves for an early start on the Friday. In the morning; they were split into two strike teams. Strike Team 2 were sent to Mill Road to black out around a back burn that had been put in the night before. They were then sent further up Mill Road and put in a back burn along a disused railway line towards Black River. They were joined by crews from QLD Parks and Wildlife.
Squirt doing his bit.
Bowlsie looking for something to do.
On Saturday the 10th october; the Taskforce Crews participated in the Townsville's Firefighters Remembrance Day Service and spent the rest of the morning at the Bluewater ICC.In the afternoon, they were deployed to the end of Bluewater Road to put in a new back burn along a 25km newly dozed track. This operation went well into in early hours of Sunday the 11th.
On the Sunday morning, crews reported back to the staging area at Woodlands Urban Fire Station. A quiet day was planned with maintenance and cleaning but the crews were deployed to assist with property protection at the end of Pages Road in the afternoon.
Monday the 12th October saw the Taskforce stood down and flown back home in the morning. The last twist of suspense came when their plane was late due to being struck by lightning on approach to Townsville. All arrived home safely with plenty of stories to tell.
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