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Protecting the Community - Strike Team to Esk - November 2009

The Brigade was asked to participate in a strike team to Buaraba, a country area between Gatton and Esk on November 30th along with units from all over the region. George, Matt and Gary headed off in RV51 for a one hour turn-out to the incident which was the first for many unusual things that happened. And then there was the story of the fire truck up a tree but we'll come to that. It was certainly a hectic day for the QFRS with numerous bushfires around south east Queensland and for Ripley Valley RFB with a second crew sent in RV52 to Calvert near Rosewood.

A bushfire had been burning for some days in remote bushland in the area between the Toowoomba ranges and Esk which picked up pace with strong westerly winds on the last day of November. The fire had grown so large that multiple divisons had been established as well as numerous sectors. The crew from RV51 were sent to Kavanah Road Control where property protection was underway.

Numerous smoke plumes filled the skyline and it was unclear which fire we were headed for.

Chucka and Matt, are we there yet?

Incident Control was surrounded by smoking logs and blackened paddocks.

A team was put together including crews from Lockyer Waters, Mt Hallen and Ripley Valley RFBs with the Lowood Auxillaries to secure the north east flank of the fire along a creek.

Luckily it was a case of blacking out largely because there was no vehicle access to the other side of the creek where the fire was creeping along.

 

This is where the story gets interesting. Our illustrious driver for the day, Chucka thought he could cross the creek at a narrow bend to gain access. But then over the radio came the sctratchy message "ahh guys I'm a bit stuck". When we got there, we realised that it is possible to park a fire truck on top of a tree.

What happened is that Chucka had started the creek crossing and a local elderly land owner popped out of the treeline right in his exit path. Chucka had to alter course but his momentum was lost and a sideways slide started ending up with RV51 sitting on a low bent tree.

Needless to say it took several minutes for us to stop grinning in disbelief and work out an extraction plan. Some tricky chainsaw work and a helping tow from the ladies in Lockyer Waters 52 got us out though.

After a quick bite to eat, we were sent to the southern sector which was closer to Gatton. Teams from QLD Parks had put in a large back burn adjacent to some properties including a mango farm with full hail nets. The task was to monitor the edge and black out.

Plenty of fuel meant that night became day in places with the glow visbile for many miles.

Bloody candles...

Well into the night with the edge secure and 2000L of water used and in need of a beer, we were stood down and headed home.

 

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