Yeah, very much so. Sadly, there's a _lot_ of damage in Harcourt: the town and its immediate surrounds were hit hard by the fire. No fire-caused deaths, thank heavens, but some fifty homes destroyed, several vineyards and orchards, and much more. The region's entire crop of apples, pears and wine was destroyed when the Coolstore burned down, along with the lovely Coolstore Cafe that I used to walk to in the mornings when I lived there.
Slade's house and office survived, along with most of his equipment, but he's lost all of his lambing-sheds, all his hay and 90% of his grazing-land. But he's one of the lucky ones: some of his neighbours have lost everything. And the fire's still there: there's still smoke everywhere, still firefighting-helicopters clattering overhead, and partial roadblocks still in place. A small spot-fire flared up right in front of me as I walked through the paddocks yesterday; one of the burnt-out fence-posts was still warm to the touch, a full week later. Scary. It'll take a long while to recover from this mess. Oh well.
So glad to hear that you, slade and family survived the fire Tom. No one realises the benefit of fire breaks until you are in such a situation. A controlled burn can prevent the fire from jumping from forest to residence.
Hi team. Finally, a chance for me to comment. It's hard to put into words the experience we had in going through this fire. For a start, let me make it clear that riding a fire like this one out in the swimming pool is NOT a recommended action. However, with the speed of the fire, we ran out of options very quickly. The differentiating factor is that, as scuba divers, we have an air option that most do not have. Fires like this one remove the available oxygen from the air as they pass through.
We have a long and costly repair bill in front of us. 98% of all our pastures were destroyed, and all of the fences except the lambing paddock were destroyed.
For us, the biggest lesson is related to the green belt, which we spent many years developing. As the fire raced towards us in the pool, it hit the green grass about 5 metres in front of us and promptly collapsed in that area. The most amazing thing, though, is the front of the house. We have a deep green belt at the front of the house (around 30m deep). Very few native plants are in this area. Natives tend to be high in oils and/or high in dead plant material. My planting intentions were set by some work that was done following a previous severe fire season. It was found that oak stands carried the fire out of the canopy (the most dangerous place for it to be) and dropped it into the high-humidity zone beneath the trees. The principle, applied, saved our house and the main sheds, which fell into the protected zone.
So now - into the rebuild. Bit by bit and with assistance from an amazing organisation called BlazeAid.
Many thanks for that, Slade - and again, so very glad that you and the others survived without injury, and that all the planning and hard work to protect the house and the farm's core paid off so well. I'll do whatever I can to support you in bringing the farm back to its renewed condition.
I'm so glad to hear that everyone is okay, Tom. ❤️
Yeah, very much so. Sadly, there's a _lot_ of damage in Harcourt: the town and its immediate surrounds were hit hard by the fire. No fire-caused deaths, thank heavens, but some fifty homes destroyed, several vineyards and orchards, and much more. The region's entire crop of apples, pears and wine was destroyed when the Coolstore burned down, along with the lovely Coolstore Cafe that I used to walk to in the mornings when I lived there.
Slade's house and office survived, along with most of his equipment, but he's lost all of his lambing-sheds, all his hay and 90% of his grazing-land. But he's one of the lucky ones: some of his neighbours have lost everything. And the fire's still there: there's still smoke everywhere, still firefighting-helicopters clattering overhead, and partial roadblocks still in place. A small spot-fire flared up right in front of me as I walked through the paddocks yesterday; one of the burnt-out fence-posts was still warm to the touch, a full week later. Scary. It'll take a long while to recover from this mess. Oh well.
So glad to hear that you, slade and family survived the fire Tom. No one realises the benefit of fire breaks until you are in such a situation. A controlled burn can prevent the fire from jumping from forest to residence.
Stay well and regards to Slade when you see him.
Hi team. Finally, a chance for me to comment. It's hard to put into words the experience we had in going through this fire. For a start, let me make it clear that riding a fire like this one out in the swimming pool is NOT a recommended action. However, with the speed of the fire, we ran out of options very quickly. The differentiating factor is that, as scuba divers, we have an air option that most do not have. Fires like this one remove the available oxygen from the air as they pass through.
We have a long and costly repair bill in front of us. 98% of all our pastures were destroyed, and all of the fences except the lambing paddock were destroyed.
For us, the biggest lesson is related to the green belt, which we spent many years developing. As the fire raced towards us in the pool, it hit the green grass about 5 metres in front of us and promptly collapsed in that area. The most amazing thing, though, is the front of the house. We have a deep green belt at the front of the house (around 30m deep). Very few native plants are in this area. Natives tend to be high in oils and/or high in dead plant material. My planting intentions were set by some work that was done following a previous severe fire season. It was found that oak stands carried the fire out of the canopy (the most dangerous place for it to be) and dropped it into the high-humidity zone beneath the trees. The principle, applied, saved our house and the main sheds, which fell into the protected zone.
So now - into the rebuild. Bit by bit and with assistance from an amazing organisation called BlazeAid.
Many thanks for that, Slade - and again, so very glad that you and the others survived without injury, and that all the planning and hard work to protect the house and the farm's core paid off so well. I'll do whatever I can to support you in bringing the farm back to its renewed condition.
I am glad that everyone are safe!