Fire Update 4.45am 22.10.13 - Hopeful News
Hi all,
Yes, still here, as is the house and all are safe.
We were lucky yesterday in that the Nor'wester petered out before hitting our area. The fires were still growing, but, once again, it gave the firefighters the chance to do the much needed perimeter work that will help protect communities under threat. It was stinking hot and smokey, the fire on the ridge was a worry because it wasn't behaving the way fires on our ridges usually do. instead of topping the ridge and burining down the slope then burning back on itself by trying to climb, it came around the side of it about half way down and burnt downwards towards the backs of the houses near it.
They/ve been working on it and it's still burning, but much more slowly.
The reason it acted the way it did is that we'd had a fire on that ridge about four months ago and it had done its normal burn down, then try to climb and burn back on itself, so the top and down about a third was a lot clearer of undergrowth and scrub. The bottom 2/3rds though still had a lot of dry tinder and so that's the path it took.
The RFS really should have burnt that ridge back when they did our eastern one, but either by oversight or just plain lack of time and resources it wasn't done. They did a great job getting it under control once they realised what was happening, but, once again, the fates were on our side with the lack of wind, or it would have been kaput for our little hamlet.
Now, the hopeful part:
At about 6pm last evening, a slight wind blew up, which had us all on alert, waiting for the big winds to hit, when I started smelling and feeling rain. When I say 'feeling rain' I actually do - it's a whole body thing and hard to explain. I'm sure many people have it, it's just hard to describe. I think it's just a combination of the change in air pressure and the added humidity in the air.
I kept asking my son and the neighbours if they could smell it too and they said no. The sky has been so smokey, you really can't tell if there are clouds up there or not, and everyone I asked was so adamant they couldn't smell it that I finally thought it was just wishful thinking on my part.
No rain was predicted and meteorological news said the same thing - no rain for at least another two days. But I kept smelling and feeling it on the air.
Well, about half an hour ago, the wind finally did start picking up and I was thinking 'Here we go... now the fun begins', when I started hearing pattering on my roof. We've been having this happen quite a bit, but it hasn't been rain, it's been embers from the fires, but I could smell rain again.
I went out ready to douse any hot ones - and yes, It really was rain!
It's patchy and not that heavy, but it bodes well for the area if it keeps up. The fire is so big it would take torrential rain for weeks to kill it, but this will definitely help to stop the spread of the fires around us from embers if nothing else.
Turns out my schnoz was right after all!
It's stopped for the moment, but now I know I wasn't kidding myself, I'm not worried because I can smell and feel it still, so it will start again soon.
Yep - just started again - this time a drizzle. I know it's not much in the scheme of things, but you have no idea how this has lifted my spirits.
The other thing that's given me hope is that because we didn't get the winds today the RFS had the chance ot contain both the fires that had flared up further down the Blue Mountains which minimises the risk of all three joining up as feared.
We're not out of this yet and the firefront is still advancing in our direction and along the north side of Lithgow, but I'm hoping we'll be out of imminent threat at least for a while if the rain keeps up and the winds stay down.
Yes, still here, as is the house and all are safe.
We were lucky yesterday in that the Nor'wester petered out before hitting our area. The fires were still growing, but, once again, it gave the firefighters the chance to do the much needed perimeter work that will help protect communities under threat. It was stinking hot and smokey, the fire on the ridge was a worry because it wasn't behaving the way fires on our ridges usually do. instead of topping the ridge and burining down the slope then burning back on itself by trying to climb, it came around the side of it about half way down and burnt downwards towards the backs of the houses near it.
They/ve been working on it and it's still burning, but much more slowly.
The reason it acted the way it did is that we'd had a fire on that ridge about four months ago and it had done its normal burn down, then try to climb and burn back on itself, so the top and down about a third was a lot clearer of undergrowth and scrub. The bottom 2/3rds though still had a lot of dry tinder and so that's the path it took.
The RFS really should have burnt that ridge back when they did our eastern one, but either by oversight or just plain lack of time and resources it wasn't done. They did a great job getting it under control once they realised what was happening, but, once again, the fates were on our side with the lack of wind, or it would have been kaput for our little hamlet.
Now, the hopeful part:
At about 6pm last evening, a slight wind blew up, which had us all on alert, waiting for the big winds to hit, when I started smelling and feeling rain. When I say 'feeling rain' I actually do - it's a whole body thing and hard to explain. I'm sure many people have it, it's just hard to describe. I think it's just a combination of the change in air pressure and the added humidity in the air.
I kept asking my son and the neighbours if they could smell it too and they said no. The sky has been so smokey, you really can't tell if there are clouds up there or not, and everyone I asked was so adamant they couldn't smell it that I finally thought it was just wishful thinking on my part.
No rain was predicted and meteorological news said the same thing - no rain for at least another two days. But I kept smelling and feeling it on the air.
Well, about half an hour ago, the wind finally did start picking up and I was thinking 'Here we go... now the fun begins', when I started hearing pattering on my roof. We've been having this happen quite a bit, but it hasn't been rain, it's been embers from the fires, but I could smell rain again.
I went out ready to douse any hot ones - and yes, It really was rain!
It's patchy and not that heavy, but it bodes well for the area if it keeps up. The fire is so big it would take torrential rain for weeks to kill it, but this will definitely help to stop the spread of the fires around us from embers if nothing else.
Turns out my schnoz was right after all!
It's stopped for the moment, but now I know I wasn't kidding myself, I'm not worried because I can smell and feel it still, so it will start again soon.
Yep - just started again - this time a drizzle. I know it's not much in the scheme of things, but you have no idea how this has lifted my spirits.
The other thing that's given me hope is that because we didn't get the winds today the RFS had the chance ot contain both the fires that had flared up further down the Blue Mountains which minimises the risk of all three joining up as feared.
We're not out of this yet and the firefront is still advancing in our direction and along the north side of Lithgow, but I'm hoping we'll be out of imminent threat at least for a while if the rain keeps up and the winds stay down.