17 Jan - 23 Jan
LOCALLY OWNED SINCE FOREVER
No 884
LAKES WEEKLY BULLETIN
JO
BS
22 IN 0 S ID
E
Recipe for potential disaster
“Poppa – what’s that noise?” “I don’t know George (my four-year-old grandson) - let’s have a look.” Round the corner of the house, we see smoke and flames about 50 metres away. The noise is the crackle of the burning, dry, long grass, shrubs and small trees, all along the edges of the local road. Shit!! Chaos ensues. What to do? Ring the firies. They already know and are on the way. Now what? Check the neighbours are OK. Wait for the firies to arrive and in the meantime – panic! Rush around doing nothing useful or helpful. Firies arrive. They know what to do. But, what’s that? Head firie asks if we have any water. They have run out - what?? Then another noise. The sound of chopper, bringing a monsoon bucket. Calm down, all will be well. Breathe deeply. Breathe again. Forty-five minutes and it’s all over. No one hurt, no buildings damaged, but the flames got within a few metres of a neighbour’s home. We think what might have been, as we enjoy a cold one. I have been around a few years and unfortunately have experienced a number of unplanned fires. A couch burned at Uni. A bush fire at Peel Forest which started in a road side grass fire. A power substation fire in Queenstown that spread to long road side grass. A farmer’s burn off that got out of control following a change of wind direction. A farmer’s stubble fire. A fire on an elevated isolated hill side in outer Queenstown. A friend of mine killed during his farm burn off when he got isolated after a wind direction change. On all those occasions, there was no collective review of the event, no feedback collected from those involved, no feedback from the firies. No plans developed with the communities to help them when they face a similar situation. We could do better. Here in Queenstown we get very dry conditions. Demand for water stretches our resources. In lots of places, there’s no mains water. We get changes in wind direction frequently. And we are a growing population. All this means the chances of an unplanned fire in the community grow every year. We’ve had three at least in the past few months. Unplanned, unexplained, dangerous. So, there needs to be a better process to plan for these unplanned events. This should involve the local and regional councils, FENZ, and lots of training for the community. It should involve the residential planning process. It should detail budgets, responsibilities and outline penalties and costs. And it should be regularly reviewed. Because it shouldn’t be all on the firies. They are swift, considered, professional, experienced, successful, and a huge benefit to the community. We should all ensure they are rewarded, appreciated, supported, and able to function at the best possible level. Thank you firies. Robin Martin
Hobby horsing around was a popular addition to Saturday’s 107th Lake Hayes A&P Show. Scores of children and representatives of Queenstown’s emergency services took to the field, negotiating a short course. It wasn’t a race, however, with points instead awarded for style and pizzazz. Read more on pXX. Photo: Jonny James
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