Good news for sure. Stay safe. A selfie of you in your firefighting gear would be beneficial.
An update... and thanks for the well-wishes.
I did not lose power during the entire fire, although I did have my generator fuelled & on standby just in case.
I pretty much stayed up 'til 0230 to keep an eye on things. It was calm and eerily quiet with the occasional 'crack - crash' of a tree falling somewhere back in the bush. I could see bits of ground flame here & there and, just across the road from the end of my driveway, was a tree that was 'candling'. That was mesmerising to watch the steady cascade of embers flowing down, but it was onto already burnt ground and with no wind it wasn't proving a problem.
Sunday morning was still smoky plus there was 1ml of rain in my gauge, so I deemed it safe enough to go to Church. Home just after 11am to find 'mop-up' crews had taken care of the 'candling' tree and were getting a bulldozer ready to go into the burnt out area parallel to my property. The odd helicopter was bombing some patches back in the ravines. The sounds of chainsaws = crashing trees and generator powered water-pumps (on the fire fighting utes) carried on for the rest of the day. I still left my own firehoses connected & run-out, just in case and had my firefighting 'outfit' ready to don.
This morning is fairly clear, there was 3.5ml of rain in the gauge and the crews were back 'at it'. The helicopters have returned to their base. We're expecting heavy rain for Thursday so I'd say that this little adventure of mine (staying and defending my property) is over.
I'm not one for 'selfies' but I have laid out what I wore. I did wear that black 5-layer filter mask underneath the anti-flash hood = it worked a treat against any smoke inhalation whist putting out spot-fires & when the fire reached it's closest. The anti-flash hood & gloves are RAN issue... the same 'pattern' as used in the RN, RCN and RNZN. I wore a standard, cotton, long-sleeved 'work shirt' with a cotton t-shirt underneath. The trousers are issue RAN DPNU (Disruptive Pattern Navy Uniform), cotton with some sort of fire-retardant and there are velcro tabs on the ends of the legs to tighten them against your boots. Lastly are
the most comfortable boots I've ever been issued by Navy in my entire life! They are "Oliver" firefighter boots, steel toe, leather uppers with brass-zipper fronts and heat-resistant 'rubber' soles. So comfortable and cushioned that could've worn them all day and not been fatigued. Mind you, they need a wee bit of polish on them now for having traipsed through burning embers and ash.
