Chapter 05

A Time of War

Senior Constable George Rochester races out of the courthouse to his police car while talking on his radio. He soon confirms he’s the closest to the farm with the fire. He’s also a member of the local RFS so he has one of their radios as well. On the RFS radio he gives out the alert about the fire and its location while he starts his car, turns on the lights and siren, then he races out of town at high speed. Mark Meadows, the RFS sub-captain for that part of the Hartman RFS District lives on and works a farm near to the Johns farm, and he responds about heading that way.

Ten minutes later George and Mark are parked side by side on a hill and both are looking north toward the Johns farm. The town of Hartman is to their south-east and the fire is north-west of them, almost at the northern border of the Hartman RFS Control Area. Already the closest RFS units are at the fire. Unlike Bennett’s Road all of the units here are located on different farms and the volunteers drive them to the scene. Due to the farms being so spread out this is a more efficient way to get them to the fires. The land here is wide open plains and the farms are a lot bigger than near Bowen’s Creek.

Mark surveys the large triangle of burnt land behind the fire-front moving to the east. It’s about half a kilometre wide and burned over a kilometre from the shed where it started. The hay-shed is still burning, but the crop fire is a much bigger concern as the shed has done its worst by setting the crops on fire and it can’t do any further damage.

George asks, “Mark, is it my eyes, or are those trucks having trouble staying with the leading edge?”

Mark turns his binoculars on the RFS trucks at the northern and southern edges of the fire, and swears when he sees the men in them are bouncing around while spraying water from the tanks because the three trucks are racing to stay with the fire-front. He turns to his car, spreads the map on the bonnet, and pulls out his radio while looking at the map. After activating his radio on three frequencies Mark says, “General emergency, runaway wildfire Hartman RFS Control Area. Racing east with a wind from the west behind it. Evacuate all areas east of here.”

George turns to his car to grab his police radio to spread the news and to get the police busy with evacuating people. While he does he hears Mark adding, “All town fire services stay in town and try to protect your towns by setting up protection on the west side. All Hartman RFS units north of town make for Little Creek Crossing to set up a safe zone on the edge of the village. Check farms and evacuate everyone to Little Creek as you go. It’s going too fast for us to handle, let’s protect our people, that’s the best we can do with this one.”

Right Here

James and Al are in the workshop completing the servicing of Tom’s Tanker and its twin, Tom’s Tanker Too, when the message about the fire at Hartman comes over the RFS radio. James pulls out the map and he sees Hartman is directly west of them, about twenty-five kilometres away. However, he knows how fast a wildfire can race, especially with the wind pushing it. Walking outside he feels the strong wind is from the west and that really worries him.

While racing for the detailed district maps James keeps in the RFS utility he has as the local RFS Captain he shouts out, “Jenny, Jean, take the two Tom’s Tankers and fill them with water. Then race over to Daisy Too to soak all of the trees and the ground around them. Then get your arses back here after refilling the tanks. Al, race over to the RFS Shed and fill up every damn tank, sprayer, and bucket you can find.” They all dash off while he spreads the map out.

After a moment he pulls the radio microphone out of the ute and says, “Hartman Control, Bennett’s Road Command. I need the current location of the northern and southern edges of your fire and where it started from.”

Mark responds with his best locations by estimating their distances from known crossroads then he asks, “What good is that?”

James responds, “I know the wind direction and this gives me an indication of where it’s likely to hit us so we can concentrate on it there.” Marking the three points James draws lines outward from the start point. Assuming it will spread at the same rate he extends the lines.

Mark comes back on the radio, “The wind and fire are picking up. It’s moving east faster, but the sideways spread is a bit slower due to the faster forward speed.” He gives the new north and south points, and they’re within the lines James has on the map to make a narrow funnel.

Standing To

Lifting his radio James takes a breath then says, “Bennett’s Road RFS Command is declaring a regional fire emergency and calling for all fire services east of Rivers Run Road and within half an hour’s drive of the city of Rivers, town of Bowen’s Creek, and the town of Carter to report to the RFS Command Centre at the entrance of the farm Right Here. If the wind doesn’t have a major change of direction it will cross Rivers Run Road at Right Here in a path some kilometres wide. We need everyone here right now to prepare the roadside area to stop it. Bring everything and everyone you can.” When he releases the button there’s an orderly flood of responses from the local RFS and town fire services.

The local RFS and farm people are the first to arrive. James has his utility set up by the entrance and he’s busy sending people to where they can be of use as soon as they arrive. Many have to park beside the road to wait for suitable equipment before they can get to work. Twenty minutes later people and fire-trucks are spread out over a fourteen kilometre section of the road, seven kilometres on either side of James’ command centre. Jenny and Jean have returned and they’re setting up the fruit shed to provide food, drinks, and a rest area for when it’s needed.

The various tanker trucks are out dousing the roadside and as much of the crops on either side of the road as they can reach without entering the properties. James wants all of the vehicles to stay on the road to enhance the response times in moving about.

Mark Meadows is pacing the fire-front as best as he can and sending regular updates on the two end points. While the fire races closer to Rivers Run Road they tighten up the line because they can now narrow down where it will hit. The tankers and trucks from Rivers and the two towns are spread along the line because they’ve the biggest capacities and the strongest pumps. The six regional RFS units are all there too. So there’s a very solid line of equipment and people along the roadside.

Disaster

James is starting to feel good about the situation as all of the people west of here have been evacuated east of their line, all of the road is doused, plus a few hundred metres each side of the road is soaked with water, and he has a solid line of trucks and people to fight the fire when it reaches them soon. Then his whole world is turned upside down. Police Officer Randy Davis looks up at James, “Just got word, five kids are still at the McClain Farm, a car is on the way to get them.”

James spits out, “Shit!“ while he spins for his ute. He jumps in and he takes off in a cloud of dust.

Al reaches for a radio but Jenny stops him, “Jim is driving the fastest vehicle in the area and he should get there sooner. However, there’s no way he can sit here while some kids are in danger. Anyway, they’ll probably need two people when they get on site.” Al gives a slow nod in reply. He knows Jenny is right, but he doesn’t like it and he can tell she doesn’t like it either. However, both know Jim is his father’s son, so there’s nothing they can do about it.

After a couple of minutes’ drive along Rivers Run Road James is in a slide while he skids around the turn into Bowen’s Creek Road to head toward the fire. Just ahead of him is a police car with its lights and siren going. A little further down the road James blows past the police car like it’s standing still. When the RFS assigned him this utility James had his mechanic upgrade the motor, now it’s the fastest thing in the district. After two more kilometres James skids in the entrance to the McClain farm as he swears at the thick cloud of smoke and fire glare he can see over the ridge only a few kilometres further west. Flying down the long farm drive he hits the switch for his siren. A moment later he pulls up in a huge cloud of dust in the homestead yard to see four surprised kids standing on the back veranda staring at him.

Getting out of the utility he asks, “Is this everyone on the farm?”

The eldest, a girl, replies, “No, Annie is off reading somewhere. We’ve been looking for her to have lunch. She’s not in the house or one of the buildings.”

The police car pulls in behind James as he says, “Damn! OK! You four, in the police car and race for town. I’ll look for Annie.” James turns to the officer, “The bushfire will be here any moment, get these four out of here now. I’ll look for the fifth.” The cop nods yes while the kids race for the police car. In seconds the police car is on its way out at high speed while James is turning from his utility. He has one breather pack on his back, another on his left arm, and a pack with fire blankets on his left shoulder while walking toward the fields calling out, “Annie,” as loud as he can.

For two minutes he’s walking around the edge of the fields near the house calling out and not getting a response, then he hears a distinctive sound. A little to his left and ahead someone just popped open a can of drink. He races in that direction. A moment later he almost steps on a young girl about twelve years of age lying on the ground hidden by the crops and listening to music on ear buds while reading. The music is so loud he can hear it, despite the way she has them stuck in her ears.

Pulling the girl to her feet James hits the ‘off’ button for the music then he pulls the ear buds out. She starts to struggle, but stops on seeing his RFS jacket. Holding the breather set he says, “Quick, put your arms in this and strap it on.” While she settles the breather set onto her back in a comfortable way he looks around and he isn’t happy with what he sees of the situation due to the latest changes to the fire.

The fire-front is racing across the field toward them and an arm of the fire has already spread further ahead. His utility is on the other side of the several farm buildings to where they are and the fire is already between them and the truck with the workshop already on fire. There’s no way out, so they have to find a place to hide from the fire.

Between them and the homestead is the sorting yards and beside the sorting yard is a loading ramp to help load stock onto trucks. The ramp is packed earth between brick walls. Taking Annie’s arm James heads her to the east side of the ramp. On getting there he pulls out one of the fire blankets and he lays it on the ground with part of it up the wall of the ramp. He has her lay on the blanket in the corner then places two more blankets so their sides are between that blanket and the wall before he lies right beside her and pulls the three metre long blankets over them.

“Right, Annie. Put the mask on and turn the valve beside it on to the first click. That will give you a metered measure of oxygen despite no outside air. The blankets will protect us from the bulk of the heat, but it may still get very warm. We have to stay here until we’re very sure the fire has passed over and is no longer active around us. The tanks will give us air for nearly two hours on the first setting.” She slowly nods in reply. He sets his own mask in place then he reaches for the microphone of his belt radio. Holding it up near his mask he activates it and says, “Bennett’s Road RFS Command, I’ve found the girl and we’re caught in the fire, we’re... , “ and he gives a grunt just before he passes out.

While he’s speaking to Annie the fire reaches them to set everything around them burning, except for the dirt ramp and their blankets. On the other side of the ramp is an old gum tree, very rotten and only just staying up. The fire weakens it further and the wind is enough to finally knock it over. The tree falls onto and across the ramp. One of the last remaining large branches sticks out enough to hit James on the head and knock his head into Annie’s. To put his breather mask on James has to push his helmet back and doesn’t put it on properly afterwards. The branch hits James on the back of the head, but instead of hitting the side of his helmet it hits the top of the helmet which has more protection. So instead of cracking his skull through the weaker side of the helmet the hit does no serious damage, but the force of it knocks him forward so his forehead hits Annie’s forehead and both of them are knocked out.

Bennett’s Road RFS Command

Al and Jenny smile when they hear James on the radio saying he found the girl, but are very worried when his transmission is cut off with a grunt of pain and is followed by silence. One of the volunteers calls out, “Here it comes.” The yell moves along the long line of waiting people. They all take a deep breath, then they stand still while they watch an old and hated enemy come charging at them at full speed. It sounds like an old steam express train racing through the station when the fire-front races toward them.

It hits the damp crops in front of them and it staggers while it slows down. Al puts the RFS radio to his lips, “All tankers, hit it hard.”

Twelve kilometres of road comes alive with the hoses on the tanker trucks working on the fire. Some are concentrated and aimed as far into the fields as they can go, spraying around as much as possible, while others are using a wider spray to cool the air and stop the fire-front.

For three minutes the two forces face each other, then the fuel at the fire-front starts to run out and the fire dies down a little. This is what the bulk of them are waiting for, Al gives the command and the ground troops slowly move forward to attack their old enemy. Backpack spray kits go into action when people set about putting out the fire at the ground level. The trucks move off the road and up to the fences to spray further into the fields. People move to gates and enter the fields before spreading out again, utilities pull up beside fences and people climb into the back of the utes so they can jump down into the fields.

Squad by squad, unit by unit, all of the ground troops advance and eliminate the enemy while some of the trucks move to the gates to move into the fields to advance on the enemy. The extra troops to the sides where the fire didn’t reach are already moving in and flanking it.

Ten minutes after the fire reaches Rivers Run Road it’s clear they’re winning and soon mop up operations are all that’s left.

Al is in command at the moment so he can’t leave, but others do and Jenny is leading the race to the McClain Farm in her truck. She’s followed by the two Tom’s Tankers, a police car, and an ambulance. A few minutes later all five vehicles are stopped in the yard near the burnt out remains of Jim’s RFS ute. Jack is standing on the roof of his truck using binoculars to scan the fields. He soon says, “Right, he has to be around the buildings. There’s no lumps out in the fields big enough.”

One crew sets to putting out the burning homestead while the rest spread out to look for James and Annie. After two minutes one of them spots the fire-blanket under the burnt out tree. After a few minutes of hard work the tree is out of the way, the blanket is opened, and they find the two unconscious people. Both are breathing and have pulses so they load them into the ambulance and both are off to the hospital.

Note: The RFS uses combined pumper / tankers for versatility.

Aftermath

Both James and Annie have concussions so they spend the next few days in hospital under close observation.

Many millions of dollars of damage was done to crops, sheds, and houses in the path of the fire. Due to the speed Mark Meadows declared the emergency people were able to evacuate in time. In a lot of cases the evacuation was only as far as the nearest village where they fought to keep the village fire free and all in it safe. James and Annie were the only people to be caught in the fire itself and they survived unburned.

The government holds a Royal Commission into the fire and the events leading up to it. Mark, James, Al, and all who held the line at Rivers Run Road are commended for their quick thinking and hard work. Criminal charges are laid against the four main players with Lewis, Johns, and Pike being sentenced to ten years in prison while Henderson is sentenced to seven years. The latter two appeal, but lose the appeals because they both knew they should have called in the fire while it was still small and could easily be put out.

Amanda Marks starts a class action against the insurance company for compensation on behalf of all who lost something in the fire. Her claim is based on the insurance company’s stance to punish people instead of minimising damage. She claims Pike’s action was a standard operating procedure within the culture of the company. The insurance company is quick to settle out of court and it’s also very quick to pay up on claims by anyone who lost anything in the fire, other than the one by Johns.

The Daisy Too trees take only minor damage due to their pre-fire soaking. James’ burnt out RFS ute is replaced and the wreck ends up in his workshop as another rebuild job, which Jim does very well on. Thus the Bennett’s Road RFS ends up with another vehicle over their official list of equipment.

Note: A Royal Commission is an Australian Commonwealth or State Government investigation into a serious or major event.

Life Continues

Those affected by fire damage get busy in rebuilding or replacing a lot of buildings, equipment, and fences. The farmers work very hard at putting their properties back into proper working order.

What looked like being a thin year due to the extra-long dry spell and hotter weather than normal turns out to be financially better than expected. The average yield per hectare is down for all of the crops due to the weather problems at a critical time in the crop growth. This results in less produce for sale, plus the large losses due to the Hartman fire and other less dramatic small fires means the total crop yield is well down. This puts the per tonne price of what little is harvested higher than the previous year. Thus those who have valid insurance claims get paid out on the current price of the average crop yield. This helps cover a lot of the costs of the year’s operations for many of the farmers affected.

Naturally the bulk of the money is invested in the preparation and planting of the next lot of crops. That’s how farming is, this year’s crop is harvested or finished so you start preparations to plant next year’s crop.

Children grow up and people grow older while the crops are sown, grown, harvested, and sold. The many cycles of life go on.

Like Al and Jean, the cycle of life means James and Jenny watch their children go to school, then university, and some move away to work in other fields or areas while a couple of them stay to work the farms they live on. All are trained in the aspects of farming and farm life while they grow up, and they help on the farm until they move away.

Life is change and a part of the changes of life is death. Matt Porter dies of a cancer a few months before his parents’ planned retirement. In an odd twist of fate when Al and Jean Porter retire it’s Al and Jean Cowley who fill the gaps in the farm work. Al Cowley and his fiancé move into the house on Daisy Too because his studies concentrated on orchards. Al and Jean Porter move to the house on Daisy Downs while Jean Cowley and her intended move into the main house on Right Here because Jenny and James don’t want to move house.

The new generation of farmers take over the main burdens of the farms while being directed and helped by the previous generation. This is the way of farm life where generation follows after generation. Time moves on and Al marries his Mary while Jean marries David to become Mrs Watt as David is Bob’s great grandson.

The main driving force of the farms is still James with Jenny in full control of the books and the fruit shed. Al and Jean Porter still help out by working part days, or when there’s a task where their knowledge or help is needed to do it right. The new couples have children and there are more than enough people to work the three farms well.

James is very annoyed by the changes in his physical capabilities as the years move on. Due to the damages done in his earlier endeavours he’s no longer as physically capable as he was and the doctor is telling him to cut back on the physically demanding work of the farm. Despite knowing what the doctor says is true he wants to fight it, but he can’t fight the doctor and Jenny as well.

On his fifty-fifth birthday Jenny sits James down and says, “Jim dear, you know you have to do less physically demanding work. The kids and grand-kids are more than capable of doing the farm work and now they only need a little direction from you. You’ve trained them too well. You now need to find a new challenge in life that isn’t so physical.”

He sighs then replies, “I know, Jen, I know. I don’t like it and I’ve no idea about what to do now. I can’t do anything that involves a lot of paperwork or reading, you know that. So what is there? If I spend all my time in my wood workshop we’ll need to build a huge shed to store all I make. So what can I do?”

She grins as she hands him a USB drive while saying, “There’s a few files on here I think you should look at. Then let me know how you feel about what they suggest.”

He nods yes while accepting the drive. After the lunchtime birthday party James heads to his computer while the rest of the family heads back to the farm work. He spends the afternoon watching video files.

Changing Directions

Seven months after his birthday James is standing in the bedroom he added onto the house for Tom which is now converted into James’ office. He stands in the middle of the room as he looks at the way Jenny has set it up for him. Slowly shaking his head he turns around and returns to the lounge room to look at the group sitting there. Jenny, Tom - who is home on leave from his work for four weeks, Al and Jean Porter, Al and Mary Cowley, Jean and David Watt are all sitting there, smiling.

After a deep breath and sigh James asks, “OK, my new office is set up for me to work in at home should I get the job. Now what?”

Jenny grins, “Jim, I’m more worried they’ll give you the top job than if you’ll get the job at all.” He turns to her, “I’ve been talking to people about this for months. I’ve not done any real work before now because I wanted Tom back here to help direct us. Thus this four week blitz.”

James turns to Tom and raises an eyebrow. Tom grins as he replies to the implied question, “Dad, getting you elected to the local council is going to be dead easy. Much easier than helping my regular boss get elected to the Senate, and he’s well liked in the electorate. We’ve got four weeks to get your name and face before the voters who don’t know you and to let the rest know you are really standing for election.” James goes to speak, but is stopped by, “Dad, every farmer within ten kilometres of here will vote for you, so will all of the truckers who live around here, as will all of the RFS people. That’s fifty percent of the voters right there, so it’s clear to me you’ll be elected.”

James just gives a slow head shake as he says, “OK! You lot have it all planned, so just set to. Make no promises without clearing them with me first, and tell me where I have to be for what publicity events. Let’s get this show on the road.” They all smile and start taking turns to tell him what they’ve already arranged.

Publicity Launch

Late-morning of the next day, a Saturday, James is at a party for the members of the local RFS people and their families held in a major park in Rivers. The party is to start with a catered lunch he’s paying for. The food is ready and the park is jammed with invited guests, including the local print and television reporters. Tom had much bigger plans for the day than James approved, when objecting to some aspects James said, “I know you’ve got to organise a few publicity things. However, they have to be done the way I’d do them, not the big and fancy stuff others will do. So no big stand, right!”

The result of that conversation is James climbing into the back of the burned out RFS ute he rebuilt. He has a microphone in his hand which uses radio to reach the several large speakers set about the park. Grinning, he turns it on and says, “OK, everyone. Please turn to face the pool complex.” They turn toward him. “Good, now if you’ll all keep quiet and pay attention for a few minutes we can get all the speechifying out of the way then we can get stuck into the food and drinks then the kids can play games. I’m sorry, but my campaign manager says I have to give a political speech so we can write all this off as part of my campaign, so listen up for a moment. I’m sure many of you know I’m running for the local shire council this year, if you didn’t, you do now. I’m not going to make a lot of promises about doing this or that yet, mainly because I don’t know what does and doesn’t need to be done yet. Once elected I’ll have the access to all of the information I need and I’ll make decisions on the issues then. I do promise to do the best job I can and to do my best to see we get the best return for the money spent by the council. I won’t be the only one on the shire council so I can’t promise to do things, just to fight for them to the best of my ability. Please vote for me. Now, I believe that speech is long enough to qualify as a campaign speech, so you can now rush the food tables before the smell gets to be too much.”

The crowd laughs while they move toward the long line of food tables to the side as James climbs down from the ute. In minutes there are orderly queues of people at the food tables and James is having a word with many people while he wanders through the large crowd of people present. At each table of food and drinks is a bucket with a sign saying, ‘Donations for Jim Cowley’s campaign, please don’t put in any money unless you can truly afford to.’ Some smile and drop a few coins in, some pass by without adding to the buckets, but that’s as expected as James made a point of inviting a lot of people who are a bit short of money and he made a point of telling them not to donate.

The large crowd enjoys the food and the children enjoy the many games and activities set up in the park; including a range of jumping castles, face painting, various rides, even horse and donkey rides.

Jenny made a point of over-catering for the lunch, but she’s surprised about how little food is left after the day is over and everyone is on their way home about four thirty in the afternoon. She turns to James, “Jim, they sure were a hungry lot!”

He laughs, “You didn’t take a good look at them, did you!” She shakes her head no. “I figure we had about five hundred or so extras in for a feed. A lot of passing tourists pulled up and asked what was up. I told them to join in and enjoy themselves. Also, a lot of the Rivers locals called by to talk to me and I sent them over to get a bite too.”

That night the news is full of James’ campaign launch. The local television news is typical when the announcer reads:

Six months ago the nominations opened for the upcoming local government elections. Local farmer and RFS Commander James Cowley stood for the Bowen’s Creek Shire Council. While all of the other candidates have been on the campaign trail for months the news from James has been quiet until lunchtime today when he had a campaign launch picnic in the park beside the Rivers pool complex. He gave one quick short speech and told everyone to have fun. Many people passing by were also invited to join in.

They show a video clip of his full speech.

After his short speech I spoke with Mister Cowley about why he left his campaign so late. He said, “Jenny is my campaign manager and she waited until our Tom was able to help her with professional advice. He’s home for four weeks to help her out.” Tom Cowley is James’ eldest child and also the campaign manager for Senator Murphy of the Rivers Region, one of our most vocal federal representatives. I don’t know how well James will do in the election or how his short campaign will go with the voters, but those in the park today all said they’ll vote for him. Like any campaign activity they had out buckets for campaign donation, but these ones had signs asking people not to donate unless they can really afford to do without the money. I even saw James stop a couple of people from putting money in while telling them to see to their family first. So it’s clear he puts the people first.