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So after a long hard day of chainsawing and moving logs in the bush we were all just about to head home for the day, some of us already had, when the chorus of pagers went off. Mt. Forbes 41 were on scene at a grass fire along the Cunningham Highway at Willowbank and requesting additional resources. All available crews and appliances turned out – Chucka, Bull & Myself brought up the rear with 52.

 

 

Upon arrival we discovered a couple of hectares well alight and a few appliances already on scene including urban pumper from Karana Downs, 644A, in action – property protection. We quickly joined the mix and within a short period of time the fire was knocked down.

 

 

The cause of the fire then became apparent. A wheel had come off a towed trailer, the chassis being dragged along the highway for some distance. The resulting sparks ignited a fire on the side of the roadway which quickly swept up the hillside.

 

 

After a thorough inspection of the blackened out edge, we filled up what little water we used and called it a day.

 

With it shaping up to be a busy fire season by 9am in the morning the Brigade was again called to a fire, this time at Swanbank, in bushland opposite the power station. Crewing first vehicle on the scene we knocked down as much of the fire as we could get access to as other appliances began arriving.

 

 

With extreme difficulty in getting vehicles to the fire it was mostly down to slugging it out on foot with blowers, rakehoes and knapsack sprayers.

 

Unfortunately the fire managed to get out of the black and jump the train tracks entering an area of lantana brush where hand tools were simply inadequate and it quickly took off.

 

 

 

Mt Forbes were also responded and by this stage we had managed to get a light attack down the train tracks to knock that part of the fire down.

 

 

With both brigades on scene we were able to contain the rest of the fire and get back to station for a well deserved lunch!

 

On Sunday afternoon a reasonably small fire, a couple of hectares, started up in difficult terrain along Redbank Plains Rd at Redbank Plains. Ripley Valley RFB was called to assist the urban crew from Bundamba, 643A.

 

After a brief size up with consideration to the conditions the initial plan was to contain the fire into a larger area using backburning however after winds settled a bit a more direct attack was chosen and after a couple of hours of cleaning up the edge and monitoring all units headed home.

 

Commencing on the evening of Friday 21 August 2009 Ripley Valley began quite a large hazard reduction burn in bushland at Springfield bordering on Orion, Polaris and the University.

 

With approx 600 hectares to burn the planning had been going for weeks and approximately 18km’s of fire breaks prepared using a dozer. A lot of work had been put in by senior members of the brigade in assessing the burn and getting everything ready.

 

I must say I think our guys did an extremely professional job.

 

 

And back for some more punishment

 

This afternoon Ripley Valley crews responded to Kerners Rd Yamanto signalling the start of the fire season. A full brigade response was required and although there was heavy fuel loads with the fire going well the recent rains made it surprisingly boggy in some areas. Unfortunately I managed to sprain my ankle not long after arriving and only have a few pics.

 

 

After the previous day’s efforts in The Gap we enjoyed a comfortable night’s rest at Taigum and first thing in the morning readied our vehicles and proceeded to the Arana Hills staging area.

 

Throughout the night I was picked up by a work colleague and went into Brisbane City to do some scheduled maintenance work for a couple of hours. At about midnight whilst I was listening to all the reports of major flooding yet again throughout South East Queensland and that the QFRS USAR swift water team had been activated. The homes without power count on the Energex website was at 12,800 when I last saw.

 

 

At the Arana Hills staging area we learned that Ipswich had been hit with major flooding with the people of Rosewood and Thagoona in need of assistance. There was in some areas reports of more than 200mm in about 2 & 1/2 hours. All Ripley Valley units were re-tasked from working in the The Gap to a staging area at Ipswich SES headquarters.

 

 

We spent the morning sandbagging at the SES then loading cars for residents to do their own damage control. At one point Helitack 671 was brought in to assess the critically damaged areas from the sky.

 

 

 

At about lunch we got the call to head over to Thagoona which getting to was a challenge in itself. Most of Ipswich seemed like it was still under water and a very long route had to be taken but we got there eventually.

 

Like The Gap the day before, again we went door to door checking on residents to see what assistance we could render spending the good part of the afternoon ripping up wet carpets and generally helping those residents who needed it the most with their severely water damaged homes.

 

 

Another severe weather system had been forming all day and in the very late afternoon weather conditions began to deteriorate. Rain and lightning began bearing down on us as the order was given to evacuate all QFRS personnel from the area.

 

 

 

 

After a short break at the SES headquarters in Ipswich and after what has been a tiring two days, we all headed back to the station to clean up the vehicles and go home for some much earned rest.

Recently South East Queensland was lashed by a severe storm front which left the normally leafy Brisbane suburb of The Gap a declared disaster area. On Monday our two medium attack appliances RV51 & RV52 were sent to assist with initial relief efforts. Due to the scale of the disaster the work was door-to-door, conducting initial emergency assessments in order to direct resources to the critically affected areas.

 

The crews were presented with a variety of challenges including major communications issues with no mobile phones or power and problems with VHF radio reception. The most serious issues had to be relayed back to the Incident Commander via the Brisbane Firecom.

 

Many structures were extensively damaged and people found in a what can only be described as a shell shocked state staring out of wide open roofs, seeking some assistance and comfort from someone, anyone. For many of these people the arrival of Ripley Valley crews was their first encounter with Emergency services. They did the best they could under the circumstances, which was exceptional.

 

 

On Tuesday a plan was put in action and a rapid two day strike force was assembled for Wednesday morning. At this point I was to join the relief efforts so began preparing myself for the days ahead.

 

 

On Wednesday we rolled out with the two medium attack RV51 & RV52 along with command & control vehicle RV91. John Squirt and Myself in RV52. We made our way to the SES arana hills staging area for the morning briefing. We were assigned to Bravo Sector with Brookfield & Gatton and after a quick coffee we began heading out to see what we would encounter.

 

Coming into the Gap the scenery changes dramatically. One minute you are in leafy suburbs of Brisbane and then the next what can only be described as near-cyclone devastation. All the trees on the nearby mountainside have been virtually stripped. Making our way around the streets was a challenge in itself.

 

 

With more storms predicted for later in the day we quickly set to work door to door identifying any houses that required tarping passing this information on to the SES and any houses which had trees on them basically clear a path for the SES to come through. Many people we encountered were still noticeably distressed. Some areas were getting power back on but most were still without power and now talk of a potentially contaminated water supply, they were extremely grateful for our presence.

 

 

It was great to see so many organisations on the ground all working together and helping each other out. SES, BCC, Army, QFRS, DNR, RoadTek, Energex. Crews had come from far and wide. There were RFS crews from Gin Gin, Stanthorpe, Warwick and I even saw an SES crew from Hornsby, in North Sydney!

 

Sometimes the streets were so busy alternate routes, and then alternate-alternate routes had to be found just to get from street to street. It seemed like every bobcat dumptruck and cherry picker in South East Queensland had descended on The Gap.

 

 

 

 

 

There was a moment when the Australia Post delivery motorbike came around, and I thought, you know for a brief few seconds, you could almost imagine you weren’t in a scene of absolute destruction. Like today was like any other regular day.

 

 

 

 

The reality was the damage was everywhere. Nothing was spared.

 

 

We did what we could and helped where we could. Later in the day we teamed up with a couple of guys from NRW (Dept of Natural Resources & Water) . Coming from Stradbroke Is doing forestry & fire management they brought out the big boys chainsaws After a long day we all headed back to the Arana Hills staging area for a debrief.

 

 

Ripley Valley relaxing at the end of the day.

 

Each year Rural Fire Brigades across Queensland conduct hazard reduction burns as part of a fuel management strategies. Fuel management can include grazing, slashing, ploughing of fire breaks, physical removal or burn offs. This is done in consultation with, or at the request of, the landholder.

 

For some of the newer members this was their first exposure to a real fireground and these types of activities deliver a range of training benefits to all firefighters. They provide a controlled environment for such things as equipment familiarisation with drip torches, radios, pumps, branches etc, all under “live fire” conditions. Live fire also allows for better understanding of fire behaviour and how different types of fuels and fuel loads will react under different circumstances, wind conditions, temperature, humidity etc, risk analysis etc.

 

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Each year three Helitack water bombing helicopters fly from Western Australia to join QFRS Air Operations for the period of about three months, covering the peak of the South East QLD bushfire season, from late August through to late November.

 

The helicopters are Aerospatiale AS350B3 Squirrel contracted from Helicopters Australia in Perth.  The aircraft has a cruise speed of 125 knots (~231 km/h) and can carry a max sling load of 1400kg with an endurance of 2.8 hours (30 mins res) . Helicopters Australia have them fitted out with Simplex 310 under belly fire attack system, which is capable of carrying 1100lt of water and 102lt of foam concentrate. The unit has a selectable drop pattern allowing the pilot for example to deliver the load over two attacks, without the need to pickup more water.

 

In the leadup to deployment QFRS Air operations conducts joint training exercises with with rural firefighters. These exercises provide an environment for Air crews & supervisors to get their hours up and for rural firefighters to enhance their skills at coordinating and utilising attack helicopters in various ways on a simulated fire ground.

 

The following photos were shot over two days at the SSAA shooting range in the Ripley Valley Rural Fire Brigade area.

 

Day 1
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Day 2

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