FIRE AS A TOOL

I grew up on a cattle property in the foothills of the Bunya Mountains north of Dalby in Queensland, where it was my father’s custom to burn off the old dry grass every spring prior to expected rain. Thus as children my sisters and I learned to light fires and, if necessary, to fight fires to keep them under control. We saw fire as a useful tool, but today many people fear fires due to the devastating bush-fires of recent years.

Ever since moving to the Granite Belt in 1992 we have made it a practice to burn off our grass land towards the end of winter to prevent a possible spring bushfire. At this time of year the air is cold and the ground damp so fires are more easily controlled than later when warm weather arrives. An account of the worst bushfire I have seen in our district is given in my book Wildflowers, wilderness and wine. That year the fire occurred in October when a strong Westerly wind brought down a wooden power pole on private land and grass was ignited. With a strong wind behind it the fire roared through the dry grass, crowned into the leaves of the eucalyptus trees, jumped the highway and sped through the ravines and across the hills to the east of us, destroying homes and taking the life of one woman. That night the same fire came upriver towards us barely kept under control by the volunteer Bush Fire Brigade, commonly known as ‘Bushies’. It was these men who decided the next day that because we had kept the land near our home clear that they should burn back from there to meet the fire. They were using fire as a tool to fight fire.

Also recounted in Wildflowers, wilderness and wine is the history of our friendship with Nick and Mary Jane Hese who first came to Das Helwig Haus B&B as guests in 1994. They became firm friends who offered us their assistance and knowing that Nick’s occupation was as a professional firefighter I enlisted his help the following August to burn our firebreaks. That day he arrived on his motor bike with his leather jacket sprinkled with snow. As not enough snow fell to wet the ground we were able to burn the land the next afternoon.

You will also find in Wildflowers, wilderness and wine an account of how Nick and Mary Jane later purchased their own land here on the Granite Belt where they often spend weekends. Once more Nick came this weekend to assist me with our burn-back.

Nick has lit the first fire

In the photo above Nick is seen walking ahead of the slow moving fire towards two large trees in the distance carrying water to douse their trunks.

Mature eucalyptus trees

Every year I protect these trees as the dry wood of their half dead trunks would easily catch fire. Then they would act as chimneys with the fire spreading up inside their hollow trunks until finally, burnt out from the inside, they would crash to the ground. Such aged trees as these provide many smaller hollow branches as nesting sites for parrots, homes for possums and hives for bees. They are also my example for younger generations of how this country appeared in 1876 when my Grandfather Hugh Mulcahy was born in Stanthorpe. The Granite Belt was then open forest country with the eucalyptus trees spaced this distance apart. I explain in Wildflowers, wilderness and wine how the introduced European bee went feral and established colonies in such mature trees. They then pollinated the eucalyptus blossom creating masses of fertile seed and with the cessation of Aboriginal burning the young seedlings flourished. Now the hills of the Granite Belt are covered in thick eucalyptus saplings which pose a tremendous fire threat.

Trixie in ashes

When there is sufficient body of grass, as there is throughout the district this year, a fire will burn cleanly leaving no untidy patches of dry grass. The Granite Belt and much of Queensland will face an extreme fire risk this spring and summer until the rains arrive, as there was no opportunity to burn off the grass in 2010. The last winter/spring/summer season gave us the wettest July to January months we have ever experienced in this district and the country was too wet to burn at the end of winter. Add to this another year of grass growth and we are sitting ducks for a major bush-fire unless we take preventative measures now.

Fire dragon

Using farm roads and mown firebreaks Nick moved along these using a fire dragon to ignite the dry grass. The fire dragon is a bottle of gas to which a hose is attached. Once lit, the gas feeds fire flaming from the end of the hose, but at the turn of a switch the gas fuel may be turned off.  Two years ago I was able to get assistance from the Bush Fire Brigade who sent a team to burn our land, but this year they have been overwhelmed with cries for assistance. As they are all volunteers this also means that they must give up their weekends to do such work. There are just not enough weekends in the season for them to manage all the necessary fires. Thus when the fire warden wrote out my fire permit, licensing me to burn our grass, he remarked how essential it was for as many farmers as possible to accept the responsibility of burning their land this year.

Mown fire-break

After lighting and containing the first fire behind our dwellings we moved around the southern side past our poultry pens and on towards the river. When this was well alight Nick carried the fire dragon down to the gully, near the eastern boundary fence between us and our Cannavo neighbours. Here he lit another fire to burn back towards the fire you see established in the photo above.

Burning back

This was a technique we repeatedly used throughout the afternoon. Nick would start a fire where there was a secure firebreak then move ahead of it to ignite another fire which would burn back to meet the oncoming fire.

Fire on dam wall

Our next move was to burn the grass land surrounding our farm dams, where the water provided another excellent fire-break.

Trixie

Meanwhile Trixie was having great fun chasing rabbits startled by the fire. Every so often she would wade into this dam to cool off and lap the water. She would emerge and once more run through the ashes covering her legs in black soot.

Beyond the dam

Once the dam wall had been burnt, Nick ignited another circle of fire along the water course and Mt. Stirling Road.

Fire seen through decidous willow trees

I then moved up to near the house to protect the row of Radiata pine trees. Fire will not harm deciduous trees such as the willows nor Eucalyptus trees but will quickly scorch the leaves and branches of pine trees. Once these pine needles are burnt they do not regrow like leaves and if a tree loses a large quantity of its needles it will quickly die. In previous years I had ‘lifted the skirt’ of these trees by trimming lower branches, but beneath them lay a ground cover of dry needles and grass.

Radiata pine trees

At the end of the day I was happy with our efforts and can relax now knowing that our land provides an extensive fire break around our home for the season ahead.

Wildflowers, wilderness and wine

Australians may purchase Wildflowers, wilderness and wine on my site www.australia-book.com.au. I arranged for 2,000 books to be printed and available for distribution here in Australia when I found the postage from the USA to Australia to be too expensive. My book was published in the USA by StrictlyLiterary. Anyone can purchase Wildflowers, wilderness and wine as a print on demand book or a PDF copy online at http://stores.lulu.com/strictlyliterary What my publisher likes about this service is that books are only printed when sold. The other advantage is that for only $5.00 anyone can download a PDF copy to read.

One of the reviews my book received said that it read like an adventure story because of the way I could recount such happenings as bush-fires and how the community rallied to assist those whose homes were threatened.