Back to Wildwood

The brigade spent its Saturday sundowner at another Wildwood vineyard, three days after its previous visit to the area.

Thanks to the quick turnout of Coastal and our Light Tankers, the fire was contained to a small area of light bush. It is thought the fire was a reignited burn from a few days ago, possibly due to a log burning underground.

Fish was in control and Emma, Steveo and Mark P were driving the LTs. Andy, Dave T, Mike B, Todd and Tony turned up to help out. Chris put the thermal camera to good use, tracking underground heat sources.

Along with the Coastal trucks, the 12.2 tanker turned up to offer support. The incident was over in about 45 minutes, giving the brigade enough time to enjoy the sunset.

And just a reminder that everyone needs a permit to burn from now on and burns can stay hot for days underground.

Escaped burn lights up the bush

A bush fire kept both Yallingup brigades busy Wednesday afternoon.  The fire escaped from an earlier burn and got into adjacent heavy bush at a property off Wildwood Road,

The Rural Light Tanker, along with the two on loan to replace the trucks being serviced, joined two trucks from Coastal and worked from 3pm to 6:30pm putting out the fire and blacking out.

Emma and Tony in the brigade’s Light Tanker joined the Coastal 2.4 and 3.4 in attacking the fire with Fish in charge. They were quickly joined by Allan and Hunty and then Dave B in the loaner LTs. Todd, Chris and Bevan went straight to the fire and worked with the Coastal trucks while Mark P joined Dave in the LT.

The heat imaging camera got used for the first time, identifying hot spots that needed further attention. Specifically a large tree was found to be burning internally and needed additional water.

Due to the density of the bush a dozer was brought in to clear a fire break around the burnt area and the brigades spent the last few hours blacking out. The city did a good job providing food to keep the brigades going. and the 12.2 to keep the water going.

The previous day the brigade was called out to a fire off Commanage Road but the Dunsborough brigade  arrived first to do the heavy lifting.

Fire between the showers

Fish blacking out

The brigade was called out to extinguish an escaped private burn Wednesday .  Although there had been showers early in the day, the fire quickly spread into adjacent bush, thick with leaf litter.

Eli from Dunsborough VFRS was first on the scene, quickly joined by Titch from Yallingup Coastal.   Fortunately Eli had three fire extinguishers in his car and was able to knock down the fire while a local bobcat driver cut a fire break.

Tony turned up a few minutes later, followed by FCO Fish and a few minutes later, Matty in the Light Tanker and John in the 4.4.  Within an hour the fire was blacked out.

Twelve brigade members get awards


Twelve members of the brigade got awards Friday night at the City’s annual Emergency Services Sundowner.  For the first time the event was held at the brigade’s Caves Road shed.  It was also the official opening of the brigade’s new training room.

Libby Mettam, MLA

The event was hosted by the COB mayor Grant Henley and local MLA Libby Mettam and was attended by regional and Perth DFES commissioners and officers, City FCO Allan Guthrie and about 75 volunteers.  Henley expressed the city’s appreciation for the work done by the emergency services volunteers while Mettam highlighted the important role performed by Bush Fire Ready groups. Local Fire Control Officer Mark Fisher talked about the history of the brigade from when it got its first real fire truck in the 1990s and the work done by Geoff Jones in introducing formal training into the brigade.

Mark Fisher FCO

Award winners were Douglas Kirsop and Ian Mitchell for 15 years service; Chris and Shahan Ayres, Ray Forma, Bruce Lawrence, Tony Sharp and John Stevens for 10 years and Gerald Hutton,  Ian McKenzie,  Kevin Smorthwaite and Barb Stevens for 5 years.  Peter Campbell and Gerald Hutton were both recognized for the work they have done for Bush Fire Ready.

Brigade members were busy the previous week preparing the shed for the event and creating the new temporary parking space.

The awards night crowd
Captain Matty making parking space

Brigade stops a grass tree fire in its tracks

The brigade was called out Thursday to stop a fire in a grass tree from spreading.

Bruce, Fish, Mitch and Steveo crewed the 4.4. The fire was quickly brought under control before it could spread to neighboring trees.

Captain Matty Muir said it's always better to call triple zero than risk a fire taking off.

Garage fire brings out all the brigades

A fire in a garage at a house on Commonage road brought out all the local brigades Monday.  Our 4.4 and Light Tanker were called out for our first fire of spring, joining units from Dunsborough and Coastal Fire and Rescue and Dunsborugh Bush Fire Brigades.

Bruce was in the LT and was stood down enroute.  Fish, Mitch, Mark P and Tony were in the 4.4.  As Fish was the FCO for the location, he was nominally Incident Controller, but as it was a house fire, Fire and Rescue ran the show.  They had to break into the garage and, using breathing apparatus, put out the fire .  The fire originated in a refrigerator.  All damage was isolated to the garage.   The Rural brigade was there in case extra water was needed or the fire spread to the surrounding bush.