The brigade has had a very busy week in the runup to the introduction of permit season. It helped out at DFES and CoB burns and put out an overly enthusiastic private burn.
Crews were on standby Tuesday and Wednesday for a long awaited DBCA burn in the National Park from Yallingup Hall to Biddle Road. Both days the fire was called off at the last minute. Not to be put off, the 4.4 went to Collie Wednesday for a burn with Andy, Bevan, Rob and Pete on board. After over two hours driving through scenic country they worked wth an experienced DFES team on a 4 hectare burn. Under light winds the crew assisted in the ignition and then monitored the burn before finally blacking out.
On the weekend the brigade was on two shifts working most of Saturday until Sunday morning at a major City of Busselton burn in Carbunup, This well run burn involved the Light Tanker with Emma and Noel and the 3.4 with Andy, Alan, Kevin, Rob and Steve during the day. They worked from midday to 16:00 raking and shovelling around “significant” trees, to protect them from the overnight burn.
The area is of environmental interest, and the map they were provided with showed the location of rare orchids and habitat trees. The objective was to rake around the habitat trees identified with a yellow tape, other large trees, and large fallen logs in order to prevent/reduce the risk of the trees from burning. A member of the Dunsborough brigade had a GPS and camera, and checked each of the marked spots. Lunch was available from the Carbanup store.
The weary crew was then replaced by the 4.4 with Craig, Dick, Douglas, Fish and Steveo. After a 4pm briefing they spent the night monitoring hotspots and blacking out. Dinner was served at seven with a late night meal around midnight. There were no complaints about the Italian food and it kept the crew going until 6:30 the next morning. A very long shift.
Sunday, the last day before permit season, saw a significant private burn being called in. Duncan and Emma in the Light Tanker and Andy, Bevan, Pete and Tony in the 3.4 spent two hours making sure the fire didn’t escape and blacking out. Fish was in control with the help of David.
Yallingup Rural Volunteer Bush Fire Brigade 