Last night I was on the fire front just 3 km from our community (and luckily this time not up wind!!!)… some arsonist set fire to the National State Park Forest…. We attacked it with 20 CFA fire tankers, 1 DSE ( like Forests Commission) tanker and 2 heliborne water bombers supported by a spotter chopper and an aerial coordinator working in conjunction with the ground controllers.

http://www.theage.com.au/national/fresh-burn-in-belgrave-underscores-ongoing-fire-risk-20090215-8865.html

http://www.abc.net.au/news/video/2009/02/16/2492230.htm

I am a volunteer member of the CFA Country Fire Authority… a well regimented Dads Army of an organisation . I did the 6 month training course in 2006 and this summer I have taken part in 2 Strike Team campaigns which were mobilised up into the Kinglake/ Great Dividing Range to put out fire and to provide asset protection to communities up there… On the one hand it is nice to know all the school theory works but on the other I would rather not have to apply it.. Each Strike Team consists of 6 fire tankers each manned by 5 firefighters. Strike Teams generally operate in pairs (60 men) and on any one day there must have been about 125 strike teams out .. news reports say there are 4000 volunteer firefighters out… however since there are 12 hours day and night shifts and since we go out only every 24-36 hours ( to recuperate fully in between) there must be some 12,000 to 15,000 volunteers… older men like myself, university students , men and women, blue collar workers, city slickers. farmers, plumbers … the works.. It is really an impressive effort

Some 500,000 hectares have burned in Victoria this summer… that’s an area of something like East Anglia in the UK…189 dead, 2000 homes burned and many many more temporarily evacuated.

Needless to say the whole State is in a state of anxiety and alertness