LAHARUM’S Ray Zippel wrote the following piece for a Wimmera Farming Network newsletter shortly after the Northern Grampians Complex fire.
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We were caught up in the fires in January.
There has been some big fires around us in the past, as far as I’m aware none of the property I manage has ever had a fire on it since settlement.
I farm at Laharum on Winfield’s Rd. adjacent to the S.W. corner of the Olive Plantation.
I also manage property for an absentee land holder at Wartook and Brimpaen.
We mostly run stock although have some crop and an area harvested for native flower production.
SPECIAL FEATURE: Northern Grampians Complex fire, five years on
Out of 2,400 acres we had 1,500 acres burnt which included all of the house block where I live and all of the farm at Wartook and 100 acres at Brimpaen.
Every wooden strainer assembly burned, approx. 34km’s of fence, a set of sheep yards the old Rosebrook woolshed a couple of smaller sheds- luckily nothing that we were really dependant on.
As most will remember the weather leading up to the fire was stinking hot and over a period of 3 days we had a weather system that moved through with no rain and electrical storms.
The second wave of storms lit a fire on the Brimpaen turn off that we were able to control on the Wednesday night. The third storm system started a series of fires, the one that affected us struck about 3.30am on a peak above us in an area we call the Salt Cave.
I had been out all Wednesday night working on the nightshift on the fire at the Brimpaen turnoff. As I came home next morning I could see smoke and while discussing it with a neighbour we saw it take off.
I knew from past experience what was going to happen next it was just a matter of how long we had and how big it would get that I wasn’t sure of.
Our fire breaks were good at home but most of our neighbours were away on holidays so I put the disc’s on the tractor and started to work fire breaks where I could around their properties and at Wartook.
Later in the afternoon the fire had really built up and it had generated a massive smoke plume but was still in the National Park.
From about 10.30am a helicopter had started water bombing the fire, by late afternoon we had 5 Helicopters in the sky above us and 2 fixed wing aircraft. They were amazing, flying straight into a massive plume of smoke that we were later told was 14km’s high.
Around mid-afternoon we started shifting stock in preparation. Unfortunately because of the heat nothing wanted to move. We managed to get all the stock at home yarded. At Wartook all the stock were camped and because of the heat were very reluctant to move. We have 2 sets of yards on the property and I had 2 really good paddocks next to the yards that had pure stands of clover in them. We put all the stock on them intending to come back in the evening to yard. We then opened all the gates on the property for access.
The fire built up on the S.E. corner of the olive plantation about 6.00pm and came with a rush hitting us about 6.30pm so we weren’t able to get back to yard the stock at Wartook.
I had my brother, a neighbour and friend there to help.
We were able to stop the fire at the front fence.
About 7.30pm we had another fire front hit us, it burnt the tree at the front gate and our timber front entrance. Once again we were able to stop it.
Once things had settled we thought our part of the fire was over, we mopped up and thought we had done well.
We sat around, had a drink and something to eat, by now there was no electricity. My brother and neighbour decided to go home and come back in the morning to help clean up. I needed to sleep, I hadn’t had any sleep the previous night and a very early start the morning before.
About 12.30 am I had a call to come quickly the fire was on its way again. When I woke the house was full of smoke. The wind had got up and when I got to the front veranda what met me was something I have never seen before.
Unknown to us the giant cloud of smoke had collapsed on itself and created its own weather pattern. From the front veranda we had a tornado like wind bearing down on us that was tearing olive trees out of the ground as it came. Whole trees alight in the cloud as high as we could see bearing down on us. Fortunately for us it stopped just short of our boundary fence.
From 12.30am to 4.30am the strong S.E. wind rained hot sparks and burning leaves on us as heavy as a rain storm.
I had a generator hooked up to our pressure pump and the fire pump and tank on the ute ready to go.
The generator ran for 10 mins. then stopped and I couldn’t get it to run. Next day we found it had a faulty oil pressure light. Our fire unit ran for half a tank then something jammed in the impeller and it also stopped.
No water- so then everything around the house that might hold a spark went out onto the lawn.
About this time a neighbour turned up and he sprayed the house for me with water then had to leave because the fire was heading his way again.
Absolutely everything around us seemed to be burning- all I could think was the sooner the trees around us burnt the sooner we could manage what was happening.
A fire truck from Sanford, then Casterton and Coleraine turned up looking for water, which they got out of the house dam. The Coleraine truck sprayed the house then got bogged in front of the house so we at least had them for a bit until another truck pulled them out.
We spent the next 2 hours in the haystack with a leaf rake and mop bucket raking hot embers off with the rake and putting them out with the mop.
During the night we thought we saw all our neighbours homes burn and were told by others getting water that they had been lost.
About 2.30am we saw the Wartook property burn.
The fire died down about 4.30am and we started to mop up.
When the sun came up about 5.00am we were exhausted but relieved to see some familiar things left and the house and sheds still intact.
On checking both of our near neighbour’s homes were in fact still standing and what we had seen during the night had been a caravan burning and not their home.
It was 11.00 am before I managed to get down to Wartook, it had stood there all alone, I was the first-person in.
The old Rosebrook woolshed had burnt, the veranda on the house was smouldering and I put it out.
The woolshed, hayshed and main yards were still there although very singed. The fire had burnt around and under the tractor but it hadn’t burnt. The iron walls on the timber framed woolshed had turned blue from the heat but was still in-tack.
A small tool shed, the back timber sheep yards, a lot of paddock trees and all the timber strainer assemblies had burnt.
All the stock that had been put on the clover paddocks were ok, the clover had burnt but not hot.
The only stock burnt was a mob of young ewes that had jumped a fence into a Barley grass paddock.
The whole place otherwise was burnt black- in some places all that was left of a lot of old big Red Gum trees was a shadow on the ground.
As soon as I had assessed everything I got on the phone and rang our carrier and everyone I could think of who might have agistment.
I organised a back hoe to bury stock, a couple of mates to come and help shoot stock and government vets to access to stock.
Over the next 2 days all the stock were shifted off the place, injured shot and buried.
Thankfully for us it was done quickly because as every day followed there was more and more bureaucracy that made it near impossible to move or make decisions.
I did seem at one stage as though we might have to dig up the dead stock and shift them because I hadn’t got a council permit- thankfully common sense prevailed.
We had sheep on agistment from Harrow to Kellac and our cattle were trucked to Yarram where they were involved in a fire a fortnight later.
It is without doubt the hottest and most complete fire that I have ever experienced.
I’m certain with our changing climate we will see more events like this.
We pretty much rebuilt all the infra-structure in 3 months after the fire, we would never have been able to manage without the help from the Blaze Aid crews and some good friends. Blaze Aid did a tremendous job in particular the clean-up. The shear amount of work to be done would have defeated us had it not been for their help.
We were insured with Elders and they were very helpful and got to work assessing the damage quickly.
We did have a few things to laugh about during the fire:
- We had our neighbour’s pets at home, a cat that didn’t get on with our cat and never stopped meowing- in the end we had to put it in the car when we wanted to sleep.
- Miniature goats (the neighbour’s pets) were locked in the workshop with our working dogs, the goats ate all the labels off the chemical drums and the dogs didn’t know what to make of them.
- All the trees burnt around the chook shed yet the chooks got up next morning as though nothing had happened
Things I have learned from the fire:
- Fire will burn again over burnt ground (our last fire @ 12.30am was also the hottest and most dangerous)
- A good stand of clover is a great asset in a fire. The stock were safer there than in the yards
- A green lawn around your home is also a great asset.
- Plantations of Aleppo Pines stood up well, they slowed the fire down and took ages to burn.
- Our fire breaks worked well, on the night they seemed ineffective. On reflection they took the heat out of the fire.
- We would most certainly have lost a lot more assets had we not been there, I would not hesitate to stay and defend again if I was satisfied with my prior preparation.
- The quicker things can be organised after the fire the better, bureaucracy takes over and it becomes near impossible to shift stock and do what needs to be done.
I spent some time looking at the farm plans and in the end decided pretty much to put the fences back where they had been. We altered some gate ways and put in extra gates in places but overall the old farm plan had worked well and stood the test of time.
We took the opportunity to level and sow down 320 acres that had been in a rough state. It was a good opportunity to get in a dozer and an excavator to clean up first. The fire had burnt all the sticks so that made the job easier.
The fire allowed a window of opportunity for weeds and we have had to spend time cleaning pastures. We didn’t replace all the fencing, some of the newer pre fire fence has been repaired.
It’s interesting to note that without any local discussion nearly all the new fence in the district consists of Steele strainer assemblies, Steele posts 6 or 7/90/30 Cyclone and a plain wire. Barb wire has virtually disappeared out of fences.
All our stock returned back on farm by the end of March to start lambing early April. Lambing went relatively smoothly considering what everything had been through.
We will be cleaning up for a long time, particularly tree plantations and burnt trees and replacing shedding.
The Horsham City Council did and has done a wonderful job helping with the clean-up, repairing roads and infra-structure.
We are fortunate to have a very tight knit community and they have been a great support, particularly feeding and looking after Blaze Aid and volunteers for over 4 months after the fire.
For me the take home message is that we need to act on these fires immediately when they start otherwise they get too big and can’t be managed.
We’ve had an enormous loss of private infrastructure, a massive job cleaning up and a National Park that has 86% of its area burnt black.
This was one of the hottest and most complete fires I have ever seen- it left very little behind.