maggies_lens

Well I feel better. Nothing like getting in there and doing something that makes you feel useful and fun to help you out of a funk. I want to go walk in the Botanical Gardens soon, it's so pretty in there. Anyway, I got put on a black-out crew with a woman named Jill, a girl named Simone (who is a horse person) and a bloke from my cre wnamed Bob who has been a FF for something like 36 years and was just awesome to work with. I have such high respect for the older fireys, they know what they are doing and the ones that are willing to share their knowledge with you without bragging or being upiity about it are rare and valuable treasures. I learnt a lot from watching the fire and from listening to Bob. Jill was ok, Simone was alright but she's risen from the Jnr's and thinks she knows it all, and wouldn't listen so she wasted a lot of time and water trying to black out well inside the burn-off zone where it's no danger anyway, the most vital part is the 5 meter border. Next time I get to be on the crew that light the fire, at the moment I don't have enough experinace. Blacking out is it, you learn soooo much! Bob hooked me as someone who listens and does as she is damn well told, so I was his assistant all day. :-) Damn hydrant we had to use to refill wasn't sealing well, got utterly drenched. It was a long, long day. Towards the end, a possum came bolting out of the burning area, climbed a tree next to me, anmd proceeded to swear at me! He wasn't burnt, not even singed, poss hot pawed, that's all. we got back to the station and had just finished cleaning the hose, repairing the holes, hanging it up, re-packing the trucks with fresh clean hose and bottles of water, and had just stripped off our gear and had started to relax when the pagers went off! Going Grass and Scrub. *groan!!!!* Off we went. Wasn't big. Lee grabbed the live reel and I was the chick who takes the weight of the hose while the dude on the branch deals with the fire. Lee was branch dude. His car has been stuffed for a month so he hasn't been able to turn out for a while, so he was pumped. I grabbed the hose and started after him when suddenly he decided to act like it was a HUGE fire, and bolted towards it! Almost yanked me right off my feet. Good thing I can move fast and react damn well. :-) we put the fire out before our Tanker and Hallam got to us. Got back to station yet again and this time when every thing was done I said bye and left; I've had enough for today I think. :-D I'll still turn out if we get a page but yeah, no more, please. I reek of smoke. Under the cut are pics of today. They are all from a mobile phone so not the best but meh.