TOM BROWN I was harvesting on our property Hill Plains, when I
conditions. As a farmer I also watched the weather
I was tasked with putting in place fire and movement
received the call that really started the 2015 fire events
constantly, being at its mercy throughout the seasons.
bans for the shire, so I kept this all in mind. As a rule,
for me. It was the afternoon on Monday 16th, when the
But in all my time, I had never come across a forecast
I try to keep everyone in an area harvesting right up
local DFES office contacted me regarding the fire that
like the one I had received for the following day. The set
until a ban, when fire danger becomes too great. It’s the
had been burning in bushland up at Cascade. By about
of conditions predicted were extremely unusual, and
best possible way of keeping producers observing and
3pm that afternoon I had driven into Myrup Fly-In Estate,
thoroughly disconcerting.
informed of conditions. When people are still out there,
and after jumping into the chopper we were on the way up to Cascade.
they are aware of the situation and the weather occurring. Keeping in mind that you never know if the forecast will
They can notice lightning strikes from storm events or
be right or wrong, we spent a good few hours going
building smoke from fires. The aim is to keep the area
Once on site we landed to pick up Will Carmody, before
over different scenarios. Amongst other things, we talked
focused on the weather coming – by keeping them out in
flying out to observe the fire front. Ash Stewart and I then
about the number of units Cascade may need if the fire
the paddock, keeping things moving, keeping producers
waited on the ground as the chopper did a second run
emerged. Cascade is a sparsely populated area, and
aware of what’s happening around them. It keeps people
over the fire with Paul Carmody and Brian Welke. Being in
during the middle of harvest there is probably 15 to 20km
thinking, and they are less likely to head inside or off the
the air allowed the guys to get a good aerial perspective
between headers. Most of the farms are operated by
property and ignore the day.
of what they were dealing with and assisted them with
small family units, with many of the machines driven by
formulating a plan of attack for the following day. After
backpackers, unused to Australian fire conditions. The
On Tuesday, I ran the harvest ban scheds as planned. It
finishing up, we dropped the guys back down before
district could not hope to cope with the magnitude of
was a very calm morning, and out west the fire was still in
heading back to Esperance.
what could come at them.
the bush. As the day heated up, the Merivale fire started to give grief and I was soon up in the chopper, watching
Once back, I headed to the DFES office, catching up
Strangely enough, the weather leading up to the forecast
with Gavin Warnes and debriefed him on the situation in
had been fairly mild. Sunday had been warm, but a bit
the building fire go roaring towards the national park.
Cascade. We talked in length about plans going forward,
cloudy, and Monday was quite cool. It had been patchy
The on-ground efforts at Merivale were in full swing.
with great emphasis on the forecast for the next day.
weather to harvest in and producers around the region
However, because of the smoke and difficult terrain, the
had been hampered by the conditions. Tuesday was
volunteer fighters were unsure of whether it was safe to
The forecast which I had received for Tuesday was
predicted to start out cool and calm- a good harvesting
get in to assist. At one stage, I asked the chopper to drop
nothing short of extraordinary. I had been a bushfire
morning - before we were to be hit by this amazing stream
down, and we picked up one of the firies. We lifted him
officer for around 24 years, during which time I had
of hot air that was coming down from the Goldfields.
up and flew him around for a few minutes, so he could
been responsible for monitoring and recording weather
pg 132 | TOM BROWN