"Our Lucky Break"
My son and I planned a working bee in the early hours of Sunday morning in a bid to avoid the heat of the day. We were clearing out an under-utilised shed, in a bid to store a hot rod and a vintage car. Over the years the shed had accumulated a few wasp nests, and a lot of panic weed which blows in from Moodie’s Swamp Wildlife Reserve.
We had removed a few bucketloads full, placing it in a hole where it could be burnt over the following winter. Coming back to give the shed a final rake, my son noticed smoke coming from the edge of the swamp. It was a bad day with a strong Northerly wind and 36 degrees, so it sparked a bit of panic. Gavin rang 000 to report the fire and I rang young Tom to bring the tanker, which had been converted from a milk tanker to a firefighting unit. The CFA was instructed to enter on the swamp side, as the fire was heading across to the Tocumwal Road. With our tanker, we had our side under control. Not one CFA tanker took our advice, and every tanker arrived on the upwind side and had to be diverted.
Parks Victoria was notified and arrived fairly quickly, instructing their Parks crew as well as the CFA group where to position themselves. A spotter plane and two helicopters arrived, filling their tanks in tandem from our waterholes, where thankfully there were no trees to cause safety concerns. By this time, there were numerous privately owned fire fighting units arriving to help defend on our house side. We could not see how far the fire had progressed in the swamp because of the amount of smoke.
As private landholders, we were not allowed to go onto Parks Land, but remained tending to some trees that had caught fire on our side. My son Darren had arrived with the loader and pushed over a dry tree that was alight. He asked Parks could he remove a dead tree on the boundary that was alight very high up from the ground, but was told he could not go onto Parks Land. Parks Victoria had by now arrived with the low loader and a bulldozer to scrape a firebreak, and attempted to remove the tree in question. The dozer driver gave the tree a few nudges, but the tree stubbornly remained. He dug around the roots, and still could not loosen it enough. By this times it was alight near the very top, and if it had fallen it would have started another fire, in an unburnt area.
Darren asked again if he could push it over and he was given permission. By lifting the front-end forks as high as it would go, and tilting the top of the frame, he got high enough on the trunk to give the tree a good shake, and then gradually got enough purchase to topple the tree so that it could be extinguished.
The fire did not burn very many acres in the swamp, due to the dampness from the previous year. But it was certainly a warning to surrounding landholders just what could happen. It is a safety hazard that we are used to living with, but luck was with us, with the direction of the wind protecting our assets. How the fire started is a mystery. But we believe that it was combustion caused by a bale of hay catching alight when the extra dry material was placed on top.
Kathy Beattie
February 2025
My son and I planned a working bee in the early hours of Sunday morning in a bid to avoid the heat of the day. We were clearing out an under-utilised shed, in a bid to store a hot rod and a vintage car. Over the years the shed had accumulated a few wasp nests, and a lot of panic weed which blows in from Moodie’s Swamp Wildlife Reserve.
We had removed a few bucketloads full, placing it in a hole where it could be burnt over the following winter. Coming back to give the shed a final rake, my son noticed smoke coming from the edge of the swamp. It was a bad day with a strong Northerly wind and 36 degrees, so it sparked a bit of panic. Gavin rang 000 to report the fire and I rang young Tom to bring the tanker, which had been converted from a milk tanker to a firefighting unit. The CFA was instructed to enter on the swamp side, as the fire was heading across to the Tocumwal Road. With our tanker, we had our side under control. Not one CFA tanker took our advice, and every tanker arrived on the upwind side and had to be diverted.
Parks Victoria was notified and arrived fairly quickly, instructing their Parks crew as well as the CFA group where to position themselves. A spotter plane and two helicopters arrived, filling their tanks in tandem from our waterholes, where thankfully there were no trees to cause safety concerns. By this time, there were numerous privately owned fire fighting units arriving to help defend on our house side. We could not see how far the fire had progressed in the swamp because of the amount of smoke.
As private landholders, we were not allowed to go onto Parks Land, but remained tending to some trees that had caught fire on our side. My son Darren had arrived with the loader and pushed over a dry tree that was alight. He asked Parks could he remove a dead tree on the boundary that was alight very high up from the ground, but was told he could not go onto Parks Land. Parks Victoria had by now arrived with the low loader and a bulldozer to scrape a firebreak, and attempted to remove the tree in question. The dozer driver gave the tree a few nudges, but the tree stubbornly remained. He dug around the roots, and still could not loosen it enough. By this times it was alight near the very top, and if it had fallen it would have started another fire, in an unburnt area.
Darren asked again if he could push it over and he was given permission. By lifting the front-end forks as high as it would go, and tilting the top of the frame, he got high enough on the trunk to give the tree a good shake, and then gradually got enough purchase to topple the tree so that it could be extinguished.
The fire did not burn very many acres in the swamp, due to the dampness from the previous year. But it was certainly a warning to surrounding landholders just what could happen. It is a safety hazard that we are used to living with, but luck was with us, with the direction of the wind protecting our assets. How the fire started is a mystery. But we believe that it was combustion caused by a bale of hay catching alight when the extra dry material was placed on top.
Kathy Beattie
February 2025
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