GRANDMA’S FIRE TRUCK

GRANDMA’S FIRE TRUCK

On Sunday,
After Grandma goes to Church
She feeds all the farm animals
And puts on her yellow overalls
Because,
Sunday is the day that Grandma has
Fire Practice
In her shiny, red fire truck.

Grandma’s fire truck is a dual cab

CAT 7 – Striker.
It can go up mountains with water to
Put out fires where the big tankers cannot go.

Grandma loves her fire truck.

She has a special license to drive it
And a bright red hat to match
Because,
Grandma is the Fire Captain
Of her Brigade.

Her crew like her, even when she falls out
Of the cab in a hurry
To roll out a number 7 hose.
Grandma says her crew are “top rate” too.

Last summer

It was very dry.
No rain fell for a long, long time.
Where Grandma lives
The red dust was the same colour
As her Striker.
In the mountains
Near Isabella’s home
Fires started during dry thunder storms
(that is when lightning happens, and thunder, but no rain)

High

In the valleys
Little fires became bigger fires.
In the little, narrow gullies the fires
Raced up like flames in a chimney reach the top
Of the high hills.
Then,
Away the fires raced.

There are many wombats

Living in deep borrows
In the mountains
And red necked wallabies,
Lyre birds, possums
Eagles and koalas.
All of them were in danger.

The Fire Controller

In Bourke
Phoned Grandma and asked her to be
“On Stand By” with her crew.
Grandma packed her bag
And put on her yellow overalls.
The Controller phoned again
“You are to fly to Cooma
in a special plane”, he said.

The little aeroplane

Stopped at Narromine
To pick up
Another Fire Captain
And crew.
Then,
Off they flew.
The smoke was too thick
For the plane to land
At Cooma,
So Grandma (and the other fire crews)
Landed in Canberra.
The State Emergency Services then
Drove them all to Cooma.
It was very late
When they all arrived
But their Incident Controller
Was waiting to meet them.
His name was Ken
And he looked very tired.
“The bus leaves at 6am,
breakfast is at five thirty.
We’ll try to get lunch up to you
But take a case of bottled water.
You will change over at the
Staging Station at seven o’clock”.
What a lot of things to remember.
Grandma found her room with the bunk beds
And had a shower.
The night crew were out patrolling
The fire line.
The other ladies on day crew
Were having a beer.
Grandma was fast asleep
When they came back.

Bring! Bring!
Someone’s alarm had gone off.
It was a quarter to five
In the morning.
Grandma’s bed
Was near the light
So she switched it on.
Goodness!
What a lot of people
Were sleeping in the bunk room.
There was Angie From Forbes
In the bed next to Grandma.
Angie was the “Groupies” driver.
The Groupie looked after the crew
While they worked on the fire line.
There was Liz and Emma
Naomi, Lottie and Ann
And some other people as well
From Grenfell.

Grandma went to the toilet

And had a wash.
Everyone else had a shower.
Grandma put on her
Long cotton pants,
Her cotton singlet
And her woolly sox
And then put on her yellow
Overalls.
She put her ventalin and her
Pink stuff
In her top left hand pocket.
She put a hanky and her compass
In her top left hand pocket.
And then she put on a patch
(to keep her heart working properly).
Last of all
She put on her boots.
With her hat and her goggles
Under her arm
Grandma was ready
To fight fires
(after breakfast, that is).

There were lots of things

For breakfast
That Grandma
Usually didn’t eat
But today
She had eggs and toast
And baked beans and bacon
And a sausage.
What a lot for Grandma!

The bus was waiting

For everyone to finish
Their breakfast.
It would take the day crews to the
Staging Station at Shannons Flat
On the edge of the fire ground
And bring the night crews back.

Grandma’s Groupie

(Group Captain)
was called Peter Muffin.
Grandma thought the “Muffin” part
Was Angie’s joke
Because sometimes she thought
He was a bit doughy.
Grandma’s task was to
Direct and protect
A small D6 dozer.
The dozer was to cut a new fire break
Along the southern edge of the
Namagee State Forest.

It was very

Uphill.
Grandma was glad she brought
her compass
and a GPS.
She wished she had brought
Her binoculars as well.
The D6 was a nifty
Little machine
But the ground
Was very rocky.

Grandma walked in front

With her compass
And the map.
“This way –
then turn to the north –
that way”, she waved her arm.
“See the gap
in the timber line
on top of the mountain?
That is where we have to go”.

Peter Muffin and Angie

Couldn’t find
Grandma’s CAT 7
Up the mountain
So they didn’t have
Any lunch that day.
(Wasn’t it a good thing
Grandma had so much breakfast).

But they cut the new fire break

Exactly on course
And protected the D6
All the way.

The bus was waiting for everyone at the
Staging Station at 7pm.
Everyone had worked hard
For twelve hours.
Change-over
Was fairly quick.
The wind hadn’t been very strong
In Grandma’s sector
So the night crew shouldn’t have
Much bother.
But the wind was blowing strongly
In the west.

Grandma’s CAT 7

Was from Alectown.
Angie called it “Allycat”.
Grandma’s crew cleaned it while she made
Her report
So the night crew
Would be comfortable.

Grandma was tired

After twelve hours on the fire ground.
But,
She was very happy
With her crew and their support.
She though about the wombat burrows
That they had made the fire break
In front of
And the historic survey maker
That they had found and built a break around.

After dinner Grandma

And Angie
And the crew from Narromine
Walked down to the pub in Cooma
For a Guinness.
It was very late
And Grandma knew they must be up
Just as early the next day.
So they had one Guinness each
And walked back to their quarters.

Bring! Bring!

Another day.
Grandma’s crew was detailed
To evacuate anyone still in the valley.
The fire was moving.
All the people had gone from their homes.
They visited each house and made notes
On access and protection.
Grandma’s CAT 7 was then called
To regroup at the end of the valley.
It was “Hurry up and Wait” time.

Grandma sat on the water tank

On the back of “Alleycat”
Watching the flames spot over
The mountain.
New helicopter landing pads
Were being graded, but the crews
Were detailed to wait.

“Forbes One”

(a very big tanker)
had a soft ball.
“Alleycat” had a spare axe handle.
Everyone, even Grandma
Played cricket on the dirt road.
A lady from a nearby farm
Brought biscuits and a cake
For the crews to share.
She was very kind and grateful
That all the crews were there to protect
Her house and cows.

Seven o’clock changeover

Brought bad news.
Fires were racing from the west.
Tomorrow would be a long last day.

In the early morning

Grandma had breakfast
And waited with the other crews
For the bus.
It was very dark
And the sun couldn’t shine through
The thick, black smoke.
The bus took them past their old
Staging Station to where the graders
Had been making the helipad.
All the fire trucks were in a long line
Waiting for the change over briefing to end.
Peter, the Groupie,
Asked Grandma to mind a grader
That was smoothing the new track
Cut by “Binlarden’s” dozer.
(the fire truck was really Bindagullery
but Angie said that was Too Hard)
Grandma was pleased to be working
With the Narromine crew who were in
The “Binlarden” CAT 7.

 All around

The fire was making the tall trees fall.
Tall, beautiful trees
That had lived on the mountain
A very long time.
Grandma saw a red-neck wallaby
Frightened by the smoke
And all the people and machines
In its forest.
Two lyre birds were also startled
From their nesting place.
One dragged its wing
To attract attention,
But the dozer kept making the new track.

On and on through the forest

Went the dozer
Making the new fire break
To protect the lives of the people
Who lived on the flat
And the houses and farms
And the forest too.

It took a long time

For the two Strikers
With the dozer and grader
To reach a secret, hidden valley
In the National Park.
They were a long way from
“Forbes One” who carried their extra water supply.

Peter and Angie came to inspect the new

Fire break.
“Better start a back burn”
Peter said.
Out came the drip torches and
Grandma and the Narromine crew started to back burn.

Still the main fires came closer.

Burning trees could fall
Across the new break so they had to be
Cut down a burning tree.
Grandma held the fire hose on “fog”
To protect her crew while they cut the tree.
Then it was safe to go on.

Suddenly

On the radio they heard an urgent call
From Forbes One
The big CAT 1 water supply
“There is a spot over, spot over”
called Liz.
“It is in the tea tree, we can’t hold it”
Grandma radioed back that they would
Come up as fast as possible.
She called back,
“We have almost a full tank of water”.
Off Alleycat went as fast as it was safe to go.

Ahead of them was the “Binlarden” CAT 7

Still protecting the dozer.
Rusty, the Captain said “Don’t panic!
We have the dozer, we can stop the spot over”.
Quickly the dozer found the spot over and
Started to cut a break.
The flames were carrying quickly through the
Tea tree which burnt fiercely.
Just in time the dozer
Cut across the flames and the
CAT 7 crews moved in to control.

Grandma was in such a hurry
To roll out her number seven hose that
She fell out of the cab.
“Ooops!” said Grandma.
She wasn’t hurt and was glad no one
Was watching.

What a very busy time for everyone.

One of the hoses fell across
Some burning coals
And sprung a leak.
It had to be replaced
And rolled up.

In the fire it was hard to see

So Grandma worked with her crew
From the fire break
Making sure there was “blackout”
Along the edge.
Slowly the fire went out
And “mopping up” was done.
Time for everyone to drink some water
And roll up their hoses
And check the equipment.
Goodness,
How tired they were.

Then back onto the main fire break

Patrolling and blacking out
Along the edge
So another spot over
Couldn’t happen.
Their Groupie didn’t want to leave
The fire line unattended so he waited
For the night crews to arrive
Before changeover.

At eight o’clock

All was done
And Angie raced the CAT 7 crews
Back to the bus.
Everyone was very dirty
And very, very tired.
It had been their last day.
Tomorrow it would be home time.

 Grandma had a long, hot shower

After dinner.
Ken, their Incident Controller
Had bought some beer
As a “Thank You” for holding
The fire line.
Some people sat around quietly talking
But Grandma had to go to bed.
She had been very busy for three whole days.

Next morning

Grandma packed her bag
And was ready to leave for home
After breakfast.
This time the bus took them
To Cooma airport.
Their little plane was waiting
And soon they were flying home.

First they stopped at Narromine

To let off the other CAT 7 crew.
“Goodbye, and thank you”
said Grandma.
She had enjoyed working along side
The Narromine crew.

Then back to Bourke.

Grandma went home
And soaked her yellow overalls.
They had to be washed three times to
Get the soot and ash out.
Then she hung them on the clothes line
And had a long sleep.