*finally*
Soooo... i finalllyy got called to a fire
I got called out at 730am on sunday morning (after having a few beers the night before and getting to bed at godknowswhen :/) to go up to Julimar. Julimar is about 50km north of perth, near Bindoon. When we got there the fire was only 150 Hectares, with mild fire behaviour. There was a wind change due in the arvo so they sent us around the tail of the fire. That was all cool, we just hung behind our loader while he cut a fire break. I was on the back of the truck fighting the fire. It was awesome. Waterbombers and Helitacs all over the place. Really smokey at times, asin i cant breathe or see type smokey. Apparently your eyes get used to the smoke.
The fire intensified at about 2pm. She was cranking! There was a huge amount of smoke at this stage and the fire had blown out to 500 hectares
At about 3pm when I was refueling the pump, i opened the jerry can. And you know how when you open fuel cans, they make a hissing noise, realeasing the fumes. Well the petrol inside this jerry was boiling (asin boiling.. not just hot... it was bubbling), and when i opened it, it exploded into face. I was covered in petrol (lucky i wasnt near the fire!) I couldnt open my eyes for a bit and it was burning like fuck. I felt like such an idiot. For the next 16 hours i had a burning sensation on my face.... but i think that was sunburn.
At about 5 oclock, we were having a break in the bush and the wind just dropped. There were crews about 1km ahead of us. They called us over the radio telling us they were having strong gusty winds. At that stage it was calm as where we were. But as we were talking to them, we started to hear a roar. The wind had swung and picked up dramatically. For the next hour, it was ON LIKE DONKEY KONG, BIATCH. We had to rush back along our fire break puting out hop overs as the fire jumped our break. It all happened so quick, it was amazing! Its a fucked up feeling when you come round the corner, and the fire has jumped ur break and is out of control. As we were fighting the spot fires, the lightning came. It was everywhere! Very intense stuff!
Nothing much happened over night. We just had to mop up and fight off fatigue! About 2/3 am is bad enough when youve HAD enough sleep. We'd been on the fire ground for almost 20 hours at that stage. So as you can imagine, it was very slow going.
I got home at 1030am this morning. 27 hours after i got the call. I slept like a baby for some reason. :P
In the end the fire was 700 hectares. I dunno if im going there tommorow, but due to the lightning strikes, i have to start at 6am. \o/
best job ever!
:D
I got called out at 730am on sunday morning (after having a few beers the night before and getting to bed at godknowswhen :/) to go up to Julimar. Julimar is about 50km north of perth, near Bindoon. When we got there the fire was only 150 Hectares, with mild fire behaviour. There was a wind change due in the arvo so they sent us around the tail of the fire. That was all cool, we just hung behind our loader while he cut a fire break. I was on the back of the truck fighting the fire. It was awesome. Waterbombers and Helitacs all over the place. Really smokey at times, asin i cant breathe or see type smokey. Apparently your eyes get used to the smoke.
The fire intensified at about 2pm. She was cranking! There was a huge amount of smoke at this stage and the fire had blown out to 500 hectares
At about 3pm when I was refueling the pump, i opened the jerry can. And you know how when you open fuel cans, they make a hissing noise, realeasing the fumes. Well the petrol inside this jerry was boiling (asin boiling.. not just hot... it was bubbling), and when i opened it, it exploded into face. I was covered in petrol (lucky i wasnt near the fire!) I couldnt open my eyes for a bit and it was burning like fuck. I felt like such an idiot. For the next 16 hours i had a burning sensation on my face.... but i think that was sunburn.
At about 5 oclock, we were having a break in the bush and the wind just dropped. There were crews about 1km ahead of us. They called us over the radio telling us they were having strong gusty winds. At that stage it was calm as where we were. But as we were talking to them, we started to hear a roar. The wind had swung and picked up dramatically. For the next hour, it was ON LIKE DONKEY KONG, BIATCH. We had to rush back along our fire break puting out hop overs as the fire jumped our break. It all happened so quick, it was amazing! Its a fucked up feeling when you come round the corner, and the fire has jumped ur break and is out of control. As we were fighting the spot fires, the lightning came. It was everywhere! Very intense stuff!
Nothing much happened over night. We just had to mop up and fight off fatigue! About 2/3 am is bad enough when youve HAD enough sleep. We'd been on the fire ground for almost 20 hours at that stage. So as you can imagine, it was very slow going.
I got home at 1030am this morning. 27 hours after i got the call. I slept like a baby for some reason. :P
In the end the fire was 700 hectares. I dunno if im going there tommorow, but due to the lightning strikes, i have to start at 6am. \o/
best job ever!
:D