Howdy Bellettians,

With lightening starting several uncontrollable fires fanned by unprecedented heat conditions over South Oz last week, i am saddened to inform most of the historic Wirrabara Forest was decimated and has been lost. This includes the "Old Nursery" arbouretum from which the trophies for the 2013 Nationals were sourced from.

Those who were fortunate to recieve the award may now have in their possession the only tangible rememberance of the earliest plantation forests in the southern hemisphere.

Forestry crews, CFS and local brigades including extended community support helped pull through a harrowing week. The positives are this: only a few houses were lost, nobody died defending or coping, there were minimal injuries. And though livestock, native animals, and some infrastructure were lost, the clean up and resurection will be the start of an insurmountable effort.

My thoughts go out to the people and families of the forest and surrounding communities i spent most of 2 decades being part of.

B.

Wow Bruno that is no good mate.

Our thoughts are with everyone affected.

Ah geez that's no good. It always astounds me how bushfires work; the forest has stood for 100 years no problems, then *whoof* it's up in flames!

At least nobody got hurt.


Cheers,


Dave

I'm so sorry to hear of the terrible losses,
if only we could propagate from our trophys we could start the forest again.

Bruno mate, thats severe. I'm really sorry to hear of this tragedy as I know how much passion you have for your occupation.

I'm pretty green, so feel the loss each time I see forests destroyed. Thankfully native forests mostly regenerate, some even needing the fire to do so properly. Plantation though will need plenty of management, but thankfully we are an affluent country and hopefully funding will be forthcoming.
So good that you chose to use the forest's timber for the trophies. I'm not a fan of the 'slash & burn' practices that go along at times with clearfelling, but its wonderful to harvest timber to craft items that will be cherished for many years.

Thanks to those who put thier lives on the line to protect others, thankfully the human toll is light.
Stay strong mate,
Matt.

Thanks for the support guys. I've been up there for the last week doing my bit for the cause, coordinating 4 "fireking" crews, patrolling a 10km edge of the burn and reconning into the burnt area I can only say it is like walking into the aftermath of a nuclear hollacost. Literally there is nothing salvagable.

Yep Dave, it must have been like dipping the dog in petrol "WOOF". The reports I hear are of 100metre high flames leaping off the tops of plantations and spotting up to 5 kms infront of itself. No wonder the bomber planes pulled out and our troops helped people evacuate last minute to seek refuge. Mother nature did the rest.......BITCH!!

I also went to see the old nursery and we were suprised to find a small group of very rare exotic trees relatively untouched
but the elms got cooked. So what does one do with a forest which looks like that??

Farmer, as you say, the native stuff should regenirate in sorts, but when you look at the intensity of what has happened, even that has a long road ahead.

Photos of the war zone include burnt ridges and plantations of what was the best timber. And the preservation plant I worked at for a few years before joining Forestrysa.

A few more pics, including one of our troops, the old nursery hedge (what's left of it) and a wheelie bin which belonged to a freind of ours......

Oh, and happy birthday to me.

B.

Happy Birthday Bruno


Christine and I both have one on Tuesday.


BIRTHDAY THAT IS

what sort of truck is the fire truck ? any info on it ?

Looks like a Bushmaster
KB

I thought people might be interested in the firefighting appliance. And you are on the money KB

it IS based on the military style "Bushmaster" which was designed with a lower centere of gravity, partly anphibious and a go anywhere style troopie for the Australian defence force. (and offcause not yellow).

It was designed for firefighter safety and will withstand "flashovers" providing crews refuge, when they would normally perish. The windows are of heat resistant material and inserted with the same stuff you get around your oven glass. the rest of the beast is 1/2 inch plate steel and heavily insulated. In a "flashover" you climb into the cab, hit the big red button which activates spray and foam also to protect the tyres and gives breathable oxygen to the cabin.
Meanwhile you can sit it out inside, at 3,000 degrees C outside, until the fire front passes and then still drive out of the zone with only the paint missing and a little hot around the collar.

This one was designed with cabin space for 6. It has a mid deck with water cannon mounting points. The rear holds 4,500 litres of water and has state of the art auto hose realing, pressure pumping and mixing capacity coming off a PTO system, all hydraulic and computerised. The tyres have their own self inflating system to keep them going. The "Fireking" as it is named, is powered by a monster Caterpillar 6 cylinder diesel, has go anywhere 4x4 ability but will also drive like a car down the highway at 100 kph.

ForestrySA invested in about 12 of these located around the state. They are about $680,000 each and have proven to be in valuably safe and effective for the 10 years or so they have been in service.

I've found a better pic of it with my boss standing in the foreground looking larger than life . And also one of the intensity of bush flames even this is of a controlled burn with one of our guys doing what they do

Cheers to you both Christine and PR95 for Tuesday.

B.

If the person who lights these fires deliberately, if so, maybe they should be tied to one of those beautiful trees and burned with them!!

I know that is a bit extreme, however some of those trees can be hundreds of years old. In WA in the forest of the giants some of those trees are even older, imagine the damage that would do over there!!

You Guys do an exceptional Bruno, you all need to be complemented and PAID for the job you do!
WELL DONE!!

Too right, mate. The large Eucs along the ridges of Wirrabara were there long before white man settled. They have been estimated between 400 and 600 years old. In this instantce it was mother nature again. Lightning starts most of the fires, then fanned on by 90 kph winds and 47 degrees C. Not much you can do with those conditions.

Arsonists are more common here in the Adelaide Hills. This year he doesn't seem active (thank Christ) but last year we attended 24 deliberately lit in our area during the summer. Best thing for them if they are caught....tied to a tree and burnt.

As for paid firefighters, this has always been a bone of contention. All the volunteers SHOULD be paid to put their bacon on the line, but are just that, volunteers who put their bacon on the line. Also I believe the government should invest in more Firekings to replace the standard trucks which are issued to the CFS.
However, as part of the job with ForestrySA, we ARE paid to be firefighters during the fire season. Albeit the on call allowance is petty. Bottom line is "Ya gotta do what ya gotta do".

B.

Seeing all this brings the memories of Black Saturday back.... So I know exactly what u've been thru Bruno.
Can't believe this coming Sunday is the 5th anniversary too.
The thing that was amazing after it was how quickly the bush regenerates itself tho. It's beautiful to see the new growth come out, and how u wouldn't know such devastation had happened now.
Stay strong brother!

Thanks for the fascinating info. That's some truck.

That truck is awesome!

As someone that goes to a lot of car/truck/whatever shows, it's great to see that there will be a bespoke fire machine for someone to get excited about and preserve in the future, rather than just another Hino/Mitsubishi/Isuzu (sorry) flatbed with an appliance on the back.

We just don't see as many especially-built vehicles anymore!

I remember a few years ago I saw an ex-ETSA (Electricity Trust of SA) Dodge truck with dual cabs. The owner told me that back in the day, ETSA rang Chrysler (who were local) and said, "We need dual cab trucks" to which the answer was "Hmm, we don't build them, so we'll build you some!" or something to that effect.

The result was 12-only dual cabs that were, I assume, utterly unique to ETSA. OK, so it's no fire-retardant Bushmaster, but you know what I mean!


Cheers,


Dave

Howdy Folks, good news and bad news!!

The good news is SA is recieving monsoon style rains. The nasty beast fire in the Southern Flinders is contained and dying in the arse. Much relief for the peolple and fire fighters up there who have gone through almost 4 weeks of hell.

The sorry news is the last bout of fire took out what was left of the beloved Wirrabara Forest. However homes and lively hoods were saved.

Hope our Bellett'n buddies were no impacted by similar fires in Vic. We are sending the rain over there

B.

yeah mate, it got close enuf to a couple of us in different areas, inc one of us nearly evac'd, but we're all safe and sound.
cheers.