So... have you ever wondered what sort of determination it takes to fight a bushfire? I do.
In fact... I did my best to help during this fire which was quite close to the house. We helped to catch and move the horses that were in the greatest danger. The fire started Sunday morning near the house, but we didn't even know it was there until you could see the billowing smoke overhead and the helicopters that started buzzing the house. The woman who came to the house looked a bit frantic, and said her horses were in danger and they were spooked by the helicopters. Now if I were a horse running around my happy paddock and all of a sudden there is fire in the field next door and 6 or so helicopters flying low overhead dropping water on the houses and brushfire I think I might be spooked too.
Daniel and I walked quite a way across the field and through the pony club paddocks to get to the property where the horses were. there were 5 other people there trying to catch the last 2 horses and I looked over to see how close the fire was... less than 100 feet away the field was ablaze and the firefighters were working to get it out. Above us there was a big helicopter dumping water on the fields and houses nearby. Each time they dropped a load of water close, we felt the spray.
Although we didn't do a lot of work in the volunteer spectrum, we did make ourselves available to help out as much as possible. And from a volunteer prospective, it was quite an interesting process. Watching people suddenly all involved in making sure the residents and animals were safely moved out of the danger zone was like being backstage at a concert.
Long story short... the horses are safe, the people are safe, and the blaze is down to a dull roar - they were still watching and containing it at 10 pm. As for property damage, that is still questionable and probably unknown until sometime tomorrow. Night night... sleep tight.
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