TheBanyanTree: The edge of the inferno

[Sally Larwood]

Glad you've let us know. There's been much worry about your situation 

Sal 

Sent from my iPad 

On 12/01/2013, at 20:23, Woofess <Woofess at iinet.net.au> wrote:

> This is an excellent account Robin :)
> I just wish we could reverse the damage we have caused to the planet before it is too late!! :(
> 
> W:)
> 
> On 12/01/2013 10:50 AM, Robin Tennant-Wood wrote:
>> It was the eerie quiet that was unsettling. In 2003 when bushfires ripped
>> through Canberra, destroying 500 homes and taking four human lives, the
>> noise is what I remember most clearly: sirens, helicopters, traffic, wind
>> and the distant roar of the firestorm as it consumed several suburbs on one
>> side of the city while we anxiously watched for any signs of a wind change
>> that would send it towards us. But this time an unnatural silence pervaded.
>> 
>> Our country road is not exactly busy, but during a normal day there’s
>> always a few timber jinkers from the pine plantations and state forest
>> logging coups to the south; stock trucks taking cattle or sheep to the sale
>> yards; local utes and farm vehicles. During the school holidays, as it is
>> now, there is generally a steady stream of campers to and from the
>> campground in the national park on the other side of the road. Tuesday,
>> though, there was nothing. National park campgrounds throughout the state
>> were closed, a total fire ban in place and all logging and forestry
>> operations suspended. The tiniest spark from machinery, a carelessly tossed
>> cigarette butt or an unattended camp stove could have sparked an inferno.
>> There were no trucks, no campers and everyone who lives locally was staying
>> home. Waiting and watching.
>> 
>> We’d made our preparations, as best we could, the day before. Because we’re
>> still in the process of building, there are piles of timber and other
>> materials close to the yurt. We shifted what we could as far away from the
>> house as possible and restacked it. Our brushcutter had died
>> unceremoniously a few days earlier so Roger borrowed one from the
>> neighbour, and I cut down the grass around the immediate vicinity of the
>> house. Of course, these preparations should have been made well before the
>> fire season but two cool, damp summers in a row have lulled most of us out
>> of our usual summer fire alertness. Finally, in the dying light on Monday
>> evening, we filled two 1000 litre tanks from the dam and brought the little
>> firefighting pump up to the tank nearest the house. It was dark before we
>> came inside. A quick discussion over dinner finalised our step-by-step plan
>> of action – and survival – should there be an emergency situation.
>> 
>> Tuesday’s forecast was for temperatures around 43C (that’s about 110F) and
>> winds from the west and north-west. The fire danger warning for our region
>> was set to the highest classification: Catastrophic. By mid-morning our
>> outside thermometer was already reading 37 and the wind was starting to
>> gust strongly. The Rural Fire Service (RFS) website crashed by lunchtime
>> and a Google mirror site was quickly put up to take some of the pressure.
>> 
>> The Yarrabin fire, some 80kms to the south of us had been burning out of
>> control for about two days and the hot wind, now constant and gusting to
>> 100kms per hour, was fanning it. Evacuations were ordered for that area.
>> Then came the chilling message from the RFS on Twitter: “Residents in the
>> Kybean Valley it is too late to leave. Take cover immediately. Protect
>> yourself from radiant heat. Fire impacting NOW.” This was the first of many
>> such tweets during the day as more fires took hold across the state. A
>> smudge of brown on the southern horizon clearly indicated the location of
>> the Yarrabin fire. By mid-afternoon there was a corresponding smudge to the
>> north where the Sand Hills fire was well on its way to burning through 1400
>> hectares of bush and farmland. On the other side of Canberra a major
>> emergency was unfolding with a fire out of control on both sides of the
>> highway between Sydney and Melbourne. Already there were reports of major
>> stock losses and with each RFS update new fires were being reported.
>> 
>> We watched and waited.  The temperature peaked at our place at 38. Hot,
>> certainly, but not the 43 we had feared. The wind, though, was fierce.
>> Straight from the core of the heatwave that is still monstering the centre
>> of the continent, it was like sticking your head in a fan-forced oven. I
>> stood at the kitchen window and watched my parched vegetable garden being
>> blown flat. A cool south-easterly change was forecast for late afternoon.
>> It was just a matter of waiting and hoping that no fires would start in our
>> district. It’s about 20 years since the last bad fires in this valley and
>> old-time locals shake their heads in resignation and say things like,
>> “we’re overdue a big one”, and “just a matter of time”. As I watched the
>> bush around us bowing with the gusts of hot wind and scanned the skies for
>> signs of smoke I was put in mind of the line from Dante’s *Inferno*: “Do
>> not be afraid; our fate Cannot be taken from us; it is a gift.” This I know
>> to be true, but just the same I’d prefer it if my gift doesn’t come with
>> roaring flames, choking smoke and flying embers thanks very much.
>> 
>> The wind started to drop around 6.00pm and by 7.00 had swung, as predicted,
>> to the south-east. The temperature dropped and we opened the house up to
>> get the cooler air inside. By this time there were over 140 fires burning
>> across the state, 40 of them out of control. The Kings Highway between
>> Braidwood and Canberra was closed due to the Sand Hills fire, the Princes
>> Highway down the coast was closed with an out-of-control fire that was
>> forcing evacuations from a coastal town packed with holidaymakers. The
>> Yarrabin fire had burnt over 4,500 hectares. In the four days since then it
>> has more than doubled that size and is now heading towards a national park.
>> 
>> At about 10.00pm I went outside to savour the cool evening air. There was
>> no moon and still no traffic. The Milky Way stretched from horizon to
>> horizon. The bush was strangely silent. No frogsong from the dam, no *boo-book,
>> boo-book *from the southern boobook owls calling across the ridges, no
>> familiar wombat snuffling down by the creek. From Dante’s *Inferno* again
>> came a line: “From there we came outside and saw the stars”. We had avoided
>> the inferno this time. Through the silence the stars were almost deafening.
>> 
>> As I write we are again under a heightened fire alert. The fire danger
>> warning has been taken down a notch from Catastrophic to Extreme, the
>> temperature at Innisfree is hovering steadily around 35-37 and again we
>> have a gusty nor-westerly wind. The majority of fires in the state have
>> been brought under control after a few days of cooler weather and thanks to
>> the massive efforts of the army of volunteer firefighters of the RFS.
>> Remarkably, and to the credit of the RFS and the awareness of people in
>> fire-prone areas, no lives have been lost to bushfire so far this summer.
>> 
>> But it’s much like standing on the edge of the abyss and staring into the *
>> Inferno*. Those of us who have vivid memories of Canberra in 2003, or the
>> Victorian fires in 2009 that reduced two entire towns to ash and claimed
>> almost 200 human lives shiver in horror that it should happen again. But it
>> will. We know now that climate change is here and we are seeing a new
>> reality. We also know that we can do something to slow, if not stop, the
>> onset of this reality. It will take collective will and courage, but, if
>> we're to avoid the inferno we have no choice. To give the final word to
>> Dante: “The hottest places in hell are reserved for those who, in times of
>> great moral crisis, maintain their neutrality.
> 
> 
> -- 
> 
> Best regards,
> 
> Woofie
> 
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> 
> "The one constant in life is absurdity" - Woofie - 30/4/02
> 
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