norseman
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Post by norseman on Nov 14, 2019 7:24:50 GMT 10
👆 good luck mate, take this time to regroup and rearm. we have a decent buffer (20-25km) from fires but they are 360 all around us. we are having issues with arsonists. that POS that was mimicking RFS had a red decked out landcruiser ute, fire unit, uniforms and was bluffing his way behind closed roads etc. No one can prepare for someone like that, well not in this country anyway. I have to go metro, we just moved in to our new property but are not set up to fight fires.....we literally moved in last week. Mate Thanks! That is unbelievable! One very sick unit that bloke! If you have not at this time built the resources to defend your property along with a viable plan to escape or shelter in place it is safer to go! My problem with many of the weekend farmers up here is that they are part of the "community" when it's good for them but when the SHTF then it's "only our country retreat and it's fully insured!"
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Post by spinifex on Nov 14, 2019 7:54:11 GMT 10
Both of two summers before this last summer area where MIL lives down province from us had bad fires. They are a bit less rugged terrain, with more grazing, but there timber is just as thick. They live on the end of the lake and said both summers starting first light to last light the Canadian built, load on the fly water bombers would go over the house to the lake and rattle the dishes on the table. If it wasn't in her hand, the tea pot and her favorite cup were in the sink where they could not fall. Depending on wind and location the planes would come over our place "skud running" (tree top high) to and from the local airport to refuel and maintain. I presume you have aircraft similar, but is there lakes big enough to operate from?? Man power is also an issue at times. Many times tree planting crews are diverted to secondary support work behind the main line fire crews. Here they land and load from a high volume outlet that comes off a trunk pipeline (ie 90cm / 3 ft diamater). Our most recent fire was only 20km from the main base so turn around times were short. For fire more distant they use regional airstrips as bases to keep the turn around short as possible.
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Beno
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Post by Beno on Nov 14, 2019 8:04:46 GMT 10
👆 good luck mate, take this time to regroup and rearm. we have a decent buffer (20-25km) from fires but they are 360 all around us. we are having issues with arsonists. that POS that was mimicking RFS had a red decked out landcruiser ute, fire unit, uniforms and was bluffing his way behind closed roads etc. No one can prepare for someone like that, well not in this country anyway. I have to go metro, we just moved in to our new property but are not set up to fight fires.....we literally moved in last week. Mate Thanks! That is unbelievable! One very sick unit that bloke! If you have not at this time built the resources to defend your property along with a viable plan to escape or shelter in place it is safer to go! My problem with many of the weekend farmers up here is that they are part of the "community" when it's good for them but when the SHTF then it's "only our country retreat and it's fully insured!" Yep i hear you. They are lifestyle blocks until the going gets tough or real work needs to be done. I’m lucky in that respect as all around me is productive land with real landholders. If i can hold out for this next crappy weekend i’ll be sorting out my fire preps. I’m also lucky my place is very defendable but the missus and kids are not hanging around if things start to look dodgy.
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Post by spinifex on Nov 14, 2019 8:12:42 GMT 10
1. At the end of the day you really are on your own the Emergency Services quite literally become overwhelmed, it is not their fault it is just how it rolls. 2. Interestingly the old timers all stayed to fight / defend and the tree changer city types have all bailed or deliberately chosen to stay away from their weekend retreats leaving us with exposed boundaries (no manpower) what is worse is the metros are calling RFS to come check their properties for them potentially pulling personnel away from more crucial tasking! 1. Yep! Can't be everywhere at once. 2. It probably better they keep out of the way right from the start than get in over their heads and create further problems later. In 05 a family down the road from us perished because they stayed too long, had a panic fueled change of heart at the last moment and then tried to flee in their car as everything was going up in flames. Best of luck with your current situation.
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gasman
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Post by gasman on Nov 14, 2019 8:20:46 GMT 10
Good luck to those fire affected Very stressful time and the damage takes years to repair One of the main things we prep for My food and first aid stores and generator/fuels convinced a lot of people(inc wife😜) the value of preparedness
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norseman
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Post by norseman on Nov 14, 2019 9:10:53 GMT 10
1. At the end of the day you really are on your own the Emergency Services quite literally become overwhelmed, it is not their fault it is just how it rolls. 2. Interestingly the old timers all stayed to fight / defend and the tree changer city types have all bailed or deliberately chosen to stay away from their weekend retreats leaving us with exposed boundaries (no manpower) what is worse is the metros are calling RFS to come check their properties for them potentially pulling personnel away from more crucial tasking! 1. Yep! Can't be everywhere at once. 2. It probably better they keep out of the way right from the start than get in over their heads and create further problems later. In 05 a family down the road from us perished because they stayed too long, had a panic fueled change of heart at the last moment and then tried to flee in their car as everything was going up in flames. Best of luck with your current situation. spinifex All valid points for sure!
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Post by Joey on Nov 14, 2019 9:35:02 GMT 10
👆 good luck mate, take this time to regroup and rearm. we have a decent buffer (20-25km) from fires but they are 360 all around us. we are having issues with arsonists. that POS that was mimicking RFS had a red decked out landcruiser ute, fire unit, uniforms and was bluffing his way behind closed roads etc. No one can prepare for someone like that, well not in this country anyway. I have to go metro, we just moved in to our new property but are not set up to fight fires.....we literally moved in last week. Sadly, it's not the first time and won't be the last time. A few years ago when I was in the rurals (made some inquiries the other day about rejoining up here where I am) there was a guy who got caught setting fires. He would set a delayed start fire and call it in then he would put on a rural turnout uniform and wait at the front gates of wherever he set the fire and the local crews would pick him up and he would lead them right to the fire playing the hero complex. He became known enough that he was banned from ever joining the rurals here in Qld. I was told that he moved to WA and tried to join up there and they too refused him. Though they are not all mentally unstable, some do it for greed. We had this one property near our station that was up on a hill and the owner wanted to subdivide it and build million dollar houses with a view up there. Council refused to let him clear the trees to do this so he light a fire. while we were fighting it he asked us if we wanted him to cut some fire breaks to help. He had all the machinery on site ready to go. So while he was cutting breaks with his grader, he also had his dozer clearing large patches of trees for the house sites "making breaks". We nearly had a burnover of one of the trucks in that fire This guy was already loaded with cash having being the owner of one of the largest baby goods chain shops in the country. Think he ended up getting fined a couple tens of thousands after we took him to court.
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blueshoes
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Post by blueshoes on Nov 14, 2019 19:59:26 GMT 10
Sunday was the first day in recorded history that no rain fell anywhere on this continent. Some turd factory in Beijing pollutes the atmosphere as much as they feel like it whilst our farms and homes burn. I was sitting watching rain on Sunday not far from you gasman - it rained here.
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norseman
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Post by norseman on Nov 15, 2019 6:54:52 GMT 10
So a few lessons if you are in bushfire shitfight:-
1) Have a scanner or scanner app to monitor your RFS and their activity. You will hear real shit in real time!
2) Ignore all mainstream media as an information source it's quite simply useless repetitive bullshit!
3) Noise to signal ratio from all media is unbelievable, always identify the source and use commonsense to establish validity or relevance. Ten local people have told us a local school has burnt down. We went and looked for ourselves it is still standing unscathed!
4) As always the Emergency Services will talk up the danger, this is an emergency management strategy, be aware but don't let this panic you into doing something stupid! Unfortunately a "CATASTROPHIC" Fire Rating is now a bad joke for many living in the Sydney Basin, next time many will simply ignore it!
5) In the heat of battle the threat you need to worry about "in the now" is the one on the very tip of your sword! Don't allow yourself to become mentally overwhelmed by external crap.
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Post by spinifex on Nov 15, 2019 8:35:10 GMT 10
Yep. Scuttlebutt goes into overdrive during a vigorous fire.
I'd add to the list: Understanding your local weather is pretty handy. Helps one work out when a fire that seems distant is likely to arrive at the home location if it remains uncontained.
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norseman
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Post by norseman on Nov 15, 2019 9:31:30 GMT 10
Yep. Scuttlebutt goes into overdrive during a vigorous fire. I'd add to the list: Understanding your local weather is pretty handy. Helps one work out when a fire that seems distant is likely to arrive at the home location if it remains uncontained. spinifex Absolutely spot on mate! My kids laughed when they heard from the missus that I had rigged an improvised windsock outside the house! Wind direction and behaviour has allowed us to identify and track a consistent daily pattern of wind speed / direction and effect on the fire and risk level.
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Post by Joey on Nov 15, 2019 10:30:29 GMT 10
I've been wanting to grab a home weather station to put up on the roof for a while now so I can monitor what's happening weather wise, sadly that $100 always seems to go towards other stuff at the time lol
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norseman
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Post by norseman on Nov 15, 2019 10:39:47 GMT 10
I've been wanting to grab a home weather station to put up on the roof for a while now so I can monitor what's happening weather wise, sadly that $100 always seems to go towards other stuff at the time lol Joey I'm going to do some research on them for sure and buy one when I have the spare dime!
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bug
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Post by bug on Nov 15, 2019 16:35:26 GMT 10
Sunday was the first day in recorded history that no rain fell anywhere on this continent. Some turd factory in Beijing pollutes the atmosphere as much as they feel like it whilst our farms and homes burn. I was sitting watching rain on Sunday not far from you gasman - it rained here. Correction, Monday not Sunday.
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Beno
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Post by Beno on Nov 18, 2019 19:36:34 GMT 10
www.abc.net.au/news/2019-11-18/volunteer-firefighters-call-for-reduction-in-red-tape/11713700here we go, the first reports of bureaucrats adding to the grief through the concept of hand wringing, blame and liability. We need to go back to running a fire from the fire ground not from HQ where fat turds can be regularly seen waddling around in white shirts and epaulettes or driving civvy looking vehicles with a multitude of flashing lights hanging off them. Unfortunately this sounds all too familiar.
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Tim Horton
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Post by Tim Horton on Nov 29, 2019 10:34:29 GMT 10
here we go, the first reports of bureaucrats adding to the grief through the concept of hand wringing, blame and liability. Read more: ausprep.com/thread/5860/wild-fire-season?page=2#ixzz66ca3Rti3>>>>>>>>> The first of two summers before this last the fires down by where MIL (mother-in-law) lives the local, provincial politicians got involved in crap like, "no you can't use the fire fighter planes, bulldozers, etc from my district, we might need them" as one for instance that was a major issue in critical times. Even to the point where conflicting orders to the RCMP for road closures, evacuations, to the point, again for instance groceries couldn't get in to fire fighter camps, let alone local stores. People would go to the store in the next town in the forenoon, to come home to a closed road. Local people, ranchers and all would open roads, fences to go around the road blocks. Locals taking care of one another. After that summer a series of local meeting was so furious the next summer when fires started there was a much better response and cooperation, coordination by fire authorities. The powers to be really got told where and when they pissed in there own cereal they actually listened for once. With no fires in that area last summer we will see if they remember the lessons next go around. Not much said for the last two weeks, so hope things are going better.
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Beno
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Post by Beno on Nov 29, 2019 18:42:52 GMT 10
Not much said for the last two weeks, so hope things are going better. Most firies are too tired to comment. most of the firefighters are beyond fatigued. Conditions are still terrible but not as bad as last weeks. many new fires started this week as a front moved through with dry lightning causing many new fires in remote areas. South Aus and Vicco firies are heading home to deal with bad situations there so resources are stretched very thin. Many fires are out of control due to lack of said resources and firies. I got onto the line this week and assisted with some blacking out. No IAP, no drinking water...lucky the weather was good cause we went in blind. Several running fires were abandoned to help with myall creek fire which has been on and off emergency warnings for 2 weeks now. No rain forecast until next year. dead and dying vegetation from the drought, $200+ round bales being trucked in from 900km away, dams dried out, creeks stopped flowing, fuken pyros lighting fires....nearly apocalyptic. This is 1500-2000mm rainfall country☹️
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wanderer
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Post by wanderer on Nov 29, 2019 23:08:05 GMT 10
Going by the BOM, the ENSO is neutral "Typically, a positive IOD brings below average rainfall to southern and central Australia with warmer days for the southern two-thirds of the country. Positive IOD events are often associated with a more severe fire season for southeast Australia." www.bom.gov.au/climate/enso/
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