The Danger of Bushfires

As southern Australia roasts in a blistering heatwave, the danger of bushfires for many communities is very high. Already there have been several in both South Australia and Victoria, (both natural and deliberately lit). These fires have destroyed not only property, but peoples lives.

If you were to spot a fire on the side of the road, would you know what to do? We found ourselves in just that situation back in October 2008 on a drive up from Sydney to Brisbane.

We were driving in the dark about 20 or 30km north west of Coffs Harbour on the mid New South Wales coast. The road we were on was in a very rural area. Any houses where on acreage, and there was quite a bit of distance between neighbours. As we turned a corner we spotted a fire on the side of the road about 500 metres ahead. As we drove closer, it became obvious that it was a bush fire in it's early stages.

At this point, it was easy to continue driving and think that someone else had already seen and reported it. Luckily we had a mobile phone with us, and my wife, Tash, (having been bought up in country NSW) new straight away that if it was left, it would most likely get out of control and cause damage to people & property. She got on the phone straight away to '000' (Which is the emergency number in Australia - equivilent to '999' in the UK and '911' in the US).

The main problem we ran into when reporting the fire, was not knowing exactly where we were. Fortuneatly, our car has a satellite navigation system, so we identified the road we were on from that, and told the authorities where the fire was. If we hadn't had the sat nav, it would have been a lot harder to work out our position, as there were no road signs. We would have had to turn back or keep driving until we found some identifying signs, or approached one of the properties we had passed earlier. There were no signs of people, so no one to ask!

Once Tash had phoned in the location of the fire, they said they would send someone to check it out. They didn't take any details, other than the location of the fire. About an hour later the phone rang, and it was the fire authority with a lot more questions about what we may or may not have known about the origin of the blaze. (Caller details are logged by the emergency services centre).

Luckily, they had been able to get there quickly enough to control it and stop it from causing any damage, but they were keen to get any leads that may help them find out who lit it! It seems they had enough evidence to suggest that someone had started the fire deliberately.

It's really incredible that people could be reckless enough to start one of these blazes on purpose. I guess it's an easy thing to set a fire and not have to hang around and see the devestation that their actions have caused. Rather cowardly really...

If you are thinking of moving to a part of Australia that may be affected by seaonal bushfires, you may want to check out this page with a list of links to the Fire Brigade in each state. Most states also have a volunteer rural fire brigade, and I'm sure any additional supporters would be welcome!