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Welcome
Every month just like the news letter I will be publishing a story from an RFS member about there experience with the RFS it could be a story about your first fire, a moment that has etched it's self on your mind or just a fictitious yarn, it doesn't matter if you have a story you want to submit just email it to theyeti@firebusters.info
This months story is from our own Steve Ashley the usual disclaimers about his views may not necessarily be that of the NSW RFS.
A Spooky Ghost and a Sign in Flames
After taking a half day off work waiting for a delivery of Maltezers, for our massive fundraiser, that never arrived within the 2 hours of the promised deadline, my half day off work turned into a whole day off, no surprises there.
The day was not a total right off though as I had been given the duty of visiting Fire Comm in Penrith to pick up some much needed clothing and equipment for the Brigade, jackets, boots, helmets, flash hoods etc which I did prior to the arrival of the chocolates.
A deal was struck with my wife to wait in so as not to miss the man with the Maltezers from Mars. Mars being the brand, he wasn’t an alien, I think.
So there I was, at home on a Monday, a working day, its 1:30pm and still no sign of the chocolates, but, with a car full of personal protective equipment (PPE) for the brigade.
After a few months of relative quiet, a few fire calls per week for house fires, car accidents, burning cars in the bush, spontaneous internal combustion engine combustion or something along those lines and the odd oil spill did not make for an overly exciting time. But, with the coming of Spring, a few warm days and the anticipation of our members is tangible.
Talk is of the seven year weather cycle or is it a five year weather cycle, I still don’t know whether there are two weather cycles or a group of people who are confused and at odds with one another, anyway apparently there is a weather cycle, but, back to the story, talk went on about the cycle and also the extreme weather being experienced around the world, namely America and Europe with them experiencing temperatures that are shattering all the records, causing raging bushfires and killing those less able to cope with extreme heat. This talk, this news leaves our fire fighters with the feeling that again, this summers fires will surprise all.
Not that we are dreading the coming fire season, it was more the anticipation.
If a member of our community makes mention of the fact that they hope we will not have any substantial fires this year, what should the fire fighter reply, to be a caring member of the community, they must reply, yes, I hope not. But what is a fire fighter without fire, the slightest whiff of burning bush, a pillar of thick black smoke in the distance, the sound of a siren echoing through the night is enough to make the adrenalin surge a little, tempting. They, the firefighters, begin to twitch uncontrollable, scanners are glued to the ‘on’ postion.
If someone opens the front or back door, reflex action causes a fire-fighters nostrils to flare, head titled back slightly, inhale deeply, eyes just slits as all their brain cells focus on smell, don’t want to miss anything.
Last night we had an adrenalin hit, around 8:00pm when the house was settling down for the night, the baby boy in bed, the baby girl getting her last feed of the day, and a phone call from my Mother, and the pager sounds, Firecall.
Now a firecall does not just signify a trip into the unknown, what could it be responding to, it is also a chance, at any time during the day and night to catch up with your friends.
Being a member of a brigade is like being a member of a club, after a fire season you have an understanding with your fellow firefighters, you realise very early on, that the friendships and camaraderie within brigades is special, different, on a whole new level than normal friendships. The need to rely on others for your safety and well being, without the usual benefit of time to build a relationship, to willingly put your life in someone else’s hands, regularly.
Last nights firecall was well attended with a crew of seven in the Cat 1, the large fire engine, and one person following in a private vehicle. All firecalls are met with a number of emotions, there is the slight adrenalin rush when the pager sounds, often this is an anti-climax as the message may be a weather update or some other info regarding training or events around the area. If the pager is a firecall the mind kicks into overdrive, where is my gear, have the kids been playing with the helmet, are the gloves still in the jacket pocket etc. The rush to the car, gates open, lock off, still thinking, jacket, still thinking, backing the car out of the drive, pager sounds a second time to heighten the urgency, car moves forward onto the road, now the two and a half minute drive to the station.
About a half kilometer from the station your eyes strain to see if you can pick out the flashing lights of one of the appliances, do we have a driver, have they left yet.
All brigades have a number of drivers and basically without a driver with the relevant license being on call then no-one will be going anywhere, in the past 18 months this has happened once and the firecall will be passed onto one of the other local brigades, this works in reverse also.
We attend the call which is as follows: Potential structural fire.
Accident or arson? Da Da Daaaaaa (spooky music).
On arriving at the scene the cab erupts into cries of laughter mixed with a few derogatory remarks at the arsonists.
Its arson.
A few days earlier a local real estate agent had erected a massive 1 x 2 meter, ‘i’m gonna sell this house if it’s the last thing I do’, type sign within the boundary of a home, in front of tall bushes but still in full view of the street. Now when you frequent an area, a sign of this magnitude was unmissable, bright yellow background with bold reds, colour photos of the house and rooms, it must have cost a fortune. The el Presidente of signs. Prince Charles would have described it as a ‘carbuncle’.
Anyway.
Kids had set fire to the expensive sign, the sign itself had been turned to ash, not a single jigsaw size piece of colour photo was left to bear witness to its prior grand existence, all that remained as evidence was two flaming stumps. Each stump protruding about six inches out of the ground and being around 2 metres apart from each other, in the middle of these two sad pieces of once proud stake lay a very neat pyramid type pile of ash, the remnants, like a funeral pyre to a great King the day after all the mourners had gone home, in miniature. ‘Let me know if I tend to waffle on.’ (You do Steve but we still love ya 'The Yeti')
Now, the last thing you do after attending a fire and being stood down is to find a hydrant and refill the truck. When the truck is stowed away it must be ready to roll at the next firecall, immediately. Watered and fueled.
To save a little time this night we decided that these two small blazes may not even necessitate the starting of the engines pump.
As the fire was being extinguished with three fire fighters on each blazing stump, a spooky ghoulish figure appeared through the bushes, white in flowing gown, seemingly floating across the ground, making no sound, lo and behold, it was the lady of the house coming to discuss the problem with the fire-fighters, she was not spotted until she was upon us.
O Oo.
All six fire-fighters turned to face the other side of the road as the ladies presence was made known.
Zip, zip, zip, whistle dixie, zip, zip, zip.
An owl hooted, or tooted, in the moonlit distance as a light cool breeze brushed gently through the trees, the leaves singing softly to compliment this scene.
‘That should sort it out Madam’, someone said. Silence would have been better, but at this comment, and steadfast professionalism of the speaker, well, at this faces started to contort as if in agony, you cannot laugh, you cannot let that gust of air that is fighting from your gut upwards to your mouth escape, no spitting ‘phwerps’ as you try to hold back the laughter that nature dictates is going to get its way, the sides split, someone falls to the floor, another walks around the back of the truck, a group just stands still, back to the fence, facing across the road, hoping everything will just go away if they stay motionless, someone has the fingers of a glove protruding from their mouth, another is biting the sleeve of his jacket. But she had already realised what technique was being used to extinguish this fire and was halfway back towards the house.
A few minutes later the sound of laughter came echoing across the lawn from the house to where the fire-fighters chatted.
Its all about getting water on the flames you see, we where not fussy about the source.
The seriousness of this incident is not lost though, we all realise that if the conditions where correct then this little prank may have had more serious consequences, last fire season saw lawns burn. It may have been lit in fun, this area seems to have been the victim of many ‘House for Sale’ fires over the last year, but that fun could easily lead to a major loss.
Our area, Londonderry, is thick with bush, and most has not burnt for many years and the fuel loading is high, that is the leaves, sticks and bark on the ground is thick and ready to burn. It is very easy to light and given perfect conditions, which is usually 6 out of 7 days during summer, warmth, low humidity, lack of rain and a breeze and the fire could be up and running in minutes leading to a very dire situation if property lies in the path of the flames.
Previous fire seasons have seen tracts of fire pass through the Londonderry, but still it left most of the bush untouched, and again after another year of very low rainfall, drought conditions still exist through most of New South Wales, the winds have dried out the fuel and we are ready again for what most believe will be a heavy season of fire.
That night on returning to the station the inevitable chats begin as the crew takes time to have a drink and catch up. It is here that a volunteer is needed for a pick up of equipment at Fire Comm and somehow I am volunteered for this duty. You beauty, ties in well with my Mars delivery.
2:22PM and the chocolates arrive, 20 boxes. If we can sell them all we can purchase a GPS Satellite Tracking System for the Brigade. My initial thought is how to get rid of my box as quickly as possible, so the plan is to take it over to our Tuesday night Brigade meeting, take my single box in, sell as many as I can to the guys, when I have taken their cash I will introduce them to the rest of the stock to be sold, for them to sell. That’s the plan anyway.
I would imagine we are one of the more financial Brigades, we operate with a minimum balance of $DELETED so everything we need to purchase has to be raised above and beyond that figure, that is our Emergency Fighting Balance. It is well known that some Brigades, especially out in the bush, have to raise money from the local community for fuel to run their usually outdated appliances, so with this in mind even a small township like Londonderry is in a better position than most.
For legal reasons the above story is not true, or is it.
Has Steve's story inspiered you to write down a story from some point in your fire fighting carrier if so send it to The Yeti Click here and I may post it in the future.