10 March 2009

By Judith Martin

It was hard, dirty and dangerous work, but the five Army fire fighters from the Emergency Response Squadron of 2nd Engineer Regiment, who lent their labour to devastated Australians last month say they will never forget the experience.

The team, led by Warrant Officer Class Two Wayne Bramley (Linton) included SSGT David Murray (Linton) SGT Rob Allen (Waiouru) CPL Chris Kennedy (Waiouru) and LCPL Eric Pepperell (Burnham), were part of the 50-strong contingent of New Zealand fire-fighters, air operation personnel, fire behaviour specialist and incident managers who travelled to Melbourne in support of their Australian colleagues. They returned home on 7 March.

The state of Victoria, and in particular the area north-east of Melbourne has been devastated by the bush fires, which have claimed the lives of 201 people. The fires were exacerbated by unprecedented weather conditions, and as well as fatalities, thousands of people have been evacuated from their homes, many of which have been destroyed in the fires.

WO 2 Bramley, 2 LFG’s Fire Master, said his team spent most of their time back-burning, and blacking out, methods used to control massive fires.

Back burning is burning from a control line back in the direction of the active wild fire. Blacking out is burning any residual that is left after the back burn is completed and the active fire has stalled. Pockets of vegetation and ground litter pose a risk of re-ignition.

“The fires were in remote areas and the Australians bull-dozed a lot of tracks to help prevent the fires spreading. One of the main problems was what was known as “killer trees”. These were huge eucalyptus trees, some of them about 100 years old, which are burnt at the base and could come down with the slightest breeze. If we found them we had to tag them, sometimes close the road to the area, and call up the bulldozers to come and knock them over,” said WO2 Bramley.

The fire crews rotated in the work they did. When hot spots and embers were found after back burning they were doused with water supplied by one of several fire vehicles following the crews.

He said it was very hot, dirty and at times dangerous work. “An ember fell on a vehicle tyre one day and the tyre caught alight. You couldn’t touch any metal parts of the vehicles without burning your hand.”

WO 2 Bramley said his team found the experience professionally very rewarding. “We’re well trained in the military and we have the skills to help in situations like that. We don’t usually get the chance to use those skills here so it’s good to be able to put them into practice to help our neighbours.”

“The days were long – up at 5.50am, and we worked until dark. We went to bed between 10 and 11pm, sometimes later depending on what was happening.”

After each seven days on the fire line the men had two days off. They abandoned their two-man tents in the bush, and opted for a hotel in Melbourne.

And what was first on their mind after hitting a smoke-free zone? A beer? A swim?

WO 2 Bramley: “Yes we did think of that. But really it was having a rest. It was tough work but we’re all delighted we did it.”

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