A fire story, to warm you all up.

[RocksnRoses]

About three weeks ago, we had six days straight where the temperature reached somewhere between 100 F and 105 F every day. We then had a couple of cooler days and then the temperature soared again. It is harvest time here and all of the farmers are flat out harvesting. On the 19th of November the temperature hit 105 F at about 11:30 am and the wind was really starting to gust up from the north. A neighbour about 4 km south east of us was loading his truck in the paddock and when he went to start it, we believe a loose battery clamp arced on the terminal, dropping sparks in to the wheat stubble. For the next three hours all hell broke loose. At the height of the fire, the temperature climbed to 109 F and the wind was gusting up to 60 kilometers an hour. All up, it travelled 8 kilometers, burnt 3,000 acres, of which 300 acres were crop, a hayshed with 100 big square and round bales and 200 sheep, which I had to bury next day. Besides that, two of our local CFS trucks collided head on in zero visibility and five crew were injured. Fortunately the injuries were not too serious and they are all OK, although two were air lifted to Adelaide for observation. Then as we were working on securing the eastern flank, ready for a 50 kilometer an hour wind change from the west, lightning started two more fires, about 25km away and one of them burnt right into the back of a small town right on the coast. That one burnt about 300 acres of crop. There were two or three other small ones as well.

A couple of days after that, we had an inch of rain and have had more showers since, with quite cool weather, although they are forecasting 102 F for next Wednesday.

The fire even made the Internet: http://www.wildlandfire.com/hotlist/...ad.php?t=12799

This is what our local paper had to say: http://www.ypct.com.au/index.php?opt...k=view&id=6317

These are a couple of pics from the paper showing the fire burning through wheat crops and the two fire trucks that collided.

[RocksnRoses]

Once the fire was contained, they wanted a loader to push trees in on the eastern flank, because a 50 kilometer wind change from the west, was forecast for later on in the evening. Here are a few pics, the first one being the two fire trucks, then clearing trees from the road, pushing trees in and the last one, well there are some earthmoving jobs, I just do not enjoy at all.

Rn'R.

[bill onthehill]

Had to do that with over 100 pigs after a barn fire. Can't help but feel bad for them as there was no escape from the flames. Glad to hear you got a little rain but the moisture won't last long at those temps.

[AtlasRob]

Many of us envy you the warm weather but we tend to forget about the terrible consequences of a misplaced spark.

I think the statement " all hell broke loose" is probably putting it politely after the devestation that parts of your country suffered recently from fires.

Real glad those guys had no serious injuries. I dont envy you those muckshift jobs either, although I bet the trees were a bit of fun

[RocksnRoses]

Can't help but feel bad for them as there was no escape from the flames.

I dont envy you those muckshift jobs either,

These sheep were some young breeders, that a mate of mine had just bought in and they were running in a small paddock close to his house. When the fire came through, it came through that fast, they did not have time to shift them and the sheep had nowhere to go. Fortunately his house and sheds were saved.

although I bet the trees were a bit of fun

Certainly didn't have to worry about any greenies. The problem was that they are old ti-trees and most of them were burning in the centre. With the wind blowing so strong, I had to be careful that sparks were not blown out ino the unburnt area.

Rn'R.

[OCR]

well there are some earthmoving jobs, I just do not enjoy at all

I hear you Rn'R... a very unfortunate and unpleasant situation, to have to deal with...

So far, I've been lucky... and I'll continue to count my blessings.


OCR

[td25c]

You done what you had to do R&R.I hate those types of dirt jobs as well mate.

[roddyo]

We used to have trouble around here in the wheat when catalytic converters first come out. They would get cherry red hot and sit a wheat field off before you knew what happened.

Most people that farmed learned pretty fast.

Landlords were a different story.

[RocksnRoses]

Well, OCR and td25c, I certainly hope I don't have to do it again, for everyone's sake.

We have had a couple of fires started in the early days when catalytic converters first came out, roddyo, but most country people are aware of them. It is a bit of a worry at holiday time, when the city people head out into the bush.

A bigger problem here at the moment, are the new rotary headers, of both colours and particulary when reaping lentils. There have been no major fires, but one in particular, a brand new Case 9120, has had ten instances where it had, either smouldering material on the machine, or dropped it on to the ground. The owners are dragging three long chains to try and get rid of the static electricity. Lentils are particularly bad, because they seem to create a lot of static electricity while being harvested and they produce a very fine dust which ignites easily. A couple of people actually came out here, from the factory in the US, to try and work out what the problem was with this machine. The green ones are not immune from the problem, either and there have been instances, where they have lit fires while harvesting lentils. A mate of mine who has an STS, had a small fire and afterwards one of the CFS crew picked up the chain that he was dragging on his header, and the shock from the chain nearly threw him backwards. Both these farmers are fastidious operators and keep their machines very clean.

Rn'R.

[AtlasRob]

Well, ......I certainly hope I don't have to do it again, for everyone's sake.

Amen to that.

Lentils are particularly bad, because they seem to create a lot of static electricity while being harvested and they produce a very fine dust which ignites easily.

Christ, if it aint the weather its the crop !! You need to get some spare batteries hooked up on them chains and save that power. You could be first to the up and comming regeneration market for harvesters.

[RocksnRoses]

It would be interesting, Rob, if there actually was some way of measuring static electricity. Ever since rotary headers were introduced here and that includes all brands, there have been quite a few instances of fires starting with no obvious cause, or farmers finding a patch of chaff and dust, smouldering somewhere on the machine. As time went on, the question of static electricity was raised. Farmers noticed that the dust was sticking to the cabin windows, but as soon as they started dragging chains, attached to the machine, the dust disappeared. Everyone here, now drag chains and most farmers blow their machines down regularly, to prevent dust and chaff building up, but despite all this, some of the new machines, like the one I mentioned, have a real problem. The other side of it is, that there are thousands of these machines working here and around the world and they do not cause any problems at all.

Rn'R.

[RocksnRoses]

It sounds like you had a close call, Bryan. It has been fairly quiet here for fires, a couple of small ones, but fortunately the weather has been reasonably cool and with the late rains, there is still a bit of green around. I have to say, the CFS blokes here are reasonably organised and the farmers have some pretty good fire fighting equipment as well. Fortunately we don't have the hobby farmer element, but there have been a few header fires over the last couple of years.
It looks like you might have to get the MF50B cranked up and put in some wide fire breaks.

Glad to hear everything turned out ok.

RnR.

[stock]

Ye Rob it was that here last Night when I was walking home full of antifreeze and Christmas Cheer

[RocksnRoses]

The temperature is back to a very pleasant 24C (75F) and only rising to 34C (93F) between now and Christmas, with patchy rain forecast for Wednesday and Thursday. Perhaps we will hold off on the snow storm for a little while, although a white Christmas certainly would be different.

RnR.

[Squizzy246B]

The temperature is back to a very pleasant 24C (75F) and only rising to 34C (93F) between now and Christmas,

RnR.

G,day RnR...its forecast 36-37 most days this week and we aren't getting a southerly to cool off. I heard of a header going up in smoke over Esperance way last week.

Anyway, I'm off to chuck a bombie in the kids wading pool