monotonous

I know you're probably as sick of hearing about fires as we are, and The Husband dropping everything to go and help put a block on them, but yes its happened again.

The same fire, albeit across the road, that I took photos of last week, has teased and bothered one of our neighbours once removed, all week. Burning in the National Park, there is little one can do but watch and wait and make sure gear is ready to go and tracks well graded.

Friday afternoon the call came, it was time to do some back burning. So in an orderly fashion the crews arrived and spent the night carefully putting breaks in place, working til the wee hours and catching some sleep on the road (literally). Its cooler and less windy at night (mostly) and makes back burning much easier and safer.

Saturday morning, after backburning The Husband went and sorted out some water issues, and then came home. He walked in the door at 2pm. He had a rest and then we started packing the toyota and the truck, meaning to leave that afternoon, taking the kids on a "mustering adventure" they had been invited on, with a bunch of other kids.

At 4:30pm, another phone call came in. Things had gone "pear shaped" and inexplicably (whirly wind?) the fire had escaped the very strong containment lines and was going every which way. So two hours after he'd gotten home, Trevor headed off again, with another of the crew. The photo below provided by my friend Rachel who lives close by.

They fought all Saturday night against a strong and gusty easterly, bringing the fire towards them and making conditions difficult. At least two large paddocks were sacrificed in the attempt to bring under control, and it took until daylight. The best part of Sunday was spent patrolling the line, crews taking sections to go back and forth. Hose down logs, chop down trees.

Below is another photo from Rachel, taken on Sunday.

We all know the devastating affects of fire, brought to us on the news across the nation this summer. Homes and lives have been lost. Here, we don't' have the population but the land burnt is used for grazing, and left unchecked could burn out hundred of thousands of acres (in fact, to our north, its estimated that one million square kilometres of grazing land has been burnt and a large, historical station complex burnt to the ground. )

Fingers crossed for rain, and that illusive wet season. The men need some sleep. And I want something different to blog about.