Author: Tony

The brigade supported neighbouring Fire and Rescue units Tuesday at a
Blythe Road fire.

The fire, in a Yallingup Siding wood workshop, was isolated and extinguished by Yallingup Coastal Fire and Rescue using breathing apparatus, supported by Dunsborough.

Carlo (welcome back!) Kevin, Mark and Tony were in the 1.4 while Kevin Mc did double duty (making up for lost time!) in the Light Tanker with Duncan and later driving the 4.4 with Andy. Fish was the incident controller, supported by David and Andy Wright from DFES FRS.

 

The quick response from Yallingup Rural and both Dunsborough brigades saved at least one house and stopped a fire spreading into the former Rosneath Estate.

The brigade was called out to a fire by the Sheaok dam at 5:30 Thursday afternoon, it’s second fire in as many days.

A moderate breeze was blowing the fire up the hill into dense bush and towards a house.  After good coordination between the IC and the FCOs, both the Dunsborough and Rural brigades stopped the fire on the perimeter of the house. And within half an hour they had held the fire at a fire break, not allowing it to enter a more populated area. Water bombers knocked down the fire and then the brigades spent the next four hours putting out spot fires and blacking out.

All the brigade’s trucks were out with Andy, Matty, Mick, Mike and Noel on the 4.4, Alan, Douglas, Mark P and Pete on the 1.4 and Annie, Duncan, Stando and Tony on the Light Tanker at various times. All the FCOs (David, Chris, Fish and Stando) were attending along with the Busselton FCO. Local residents helped in trying to put out the grass fires. The brigade’s auxilary unit was very busy filling trucks as the local standpipe wasn’t functioning with Bill, Di, Jenny and Pete  working the pump.

All the trucks were out again Friday morning with Alan, Douglas,  Matty,  Noel and Stando mopping up hot spots.

 

December has started with the first vineyard fire of the season and the brigade’s 11th since mid October. A full turnout of brigade trucks along with Dunsborough kept the fire in the vineyard, saving the house and neighbouring bush.

There was a DFES callout Tuesday at 9:20. The Dunsborough trucks arrived first, both Fire and Rescue and Bush Fire along with their Light Tankers. They were followed by Rural’s Light Tanker with Duncan and Matty, and the 4.4 with Alan, Andy, Noel and Steveo.  Pete, in the 1.4; picked up his crew of Adam, Douglas, Mark and Tony enroute.  FCOS’s David and Stando where in attendance.

The fire was thought to have started from a spark produced while slashing in the vineyard. Although there was not a strong wind, there were erratic gusts which spread the fire to various corners of the vineyard. Fortunately a recently created firebreak and the quick turnout of the brigades stopped the fire from burning up to the house on the property. The fire was out, although still smouldering, within an hour.

The brigade’s team at Jarradale did two shifts before returning to base Wednesday night.

Matty. Mike, Mitch and Steveo headed north at 6am Tuesday as part of a taskforce which also included  Wallcliffe 2:4, Cowaramup 3:4, Sussex LT and the 12:2.
They arrived at the Control Point at 10:30 and carried out a full shift of blacking out in very rough terrain. The 4.4 was pushed to extremes on some very steep hills and at one stage had to tow out the Incident Command vehicle..

After a short night the crew was back at work continuing blacking out. They wrapped up around 15:30 and were back home by 19:00 where they were met by a welcoming/cleaning party that went to work on the truck.

 

Unfortunately Flo is a no with the 12.2 tanker out of action due to tank problems. It was driven by volunteers from the Vasse brigade. It’s not clear if it was wearing a “I’d Rather be a Vasse Truck” sticker at the time of the trouble.

A grass and tree fire on Abbey Farm Road brought out the Yallingup Rural, Dunsborough and Wilyabrup brigades Tuesday morning.

A quick response by the Light Tanker and the 1.4 stopped the fire from spreading out of the paddock into the Wills Domain vineyard and surrounding bush. A gusty, variable wind made the initial work more difficult by spreading the fire throughout the paddock and into trees.

The LT, driven by Duncan and the 1.4 with Douglas, Noel and Tony met Adam, Annie and Mark P at the fire where David was already on the scene. He was later joined by FCO Chris. Annie and Mark had just returned from Esperance the night before where Annie was carrying out community liaison duties.They had spent all Monday driving back.

The Dunsborough 4.4 and Wilyabrup LT helped stop the fire from spreading and assisted in the blacking out.

It was a baptism by fire for the new auxiliary pump team with Bill, Di and Jenny efficiently setting up the pump adjacent to the Will’s Domain dam to supply water to the appliances.

The fire, which started around 11, was thought to have been ignited by a spark occurring during paddock slashing. It was largely blacked out by 13:00. Meanwhile the brigade’s 4.4 and the 12.2 were three hours north fighting fires in the Jarradale area.

 The 4.4 and 12.2 are heading up to the Jarradale/Boddington fire Tuesday morning. The 4.4 crew consists of Matty, Mike G., Mitch and Stevo, recently back from an Esperance excursion.Mike Terry and Adam Jasper are on the 12.2

According to DFES, the fire was first reported on 15 November 2015. There were originally two fires but they joined into one. The fire has burnt about 10,000ha.The cause of the fire is lightning and the Department of Parks and Wildlife is managing the fire.

As of Monday night in the Perth region there are also fires around Ellenbrook, Chittering and Mandurah.