2019/20 Fire Season
Carwoola Brigade, like so many Rural Brigades in the 2019/20 fire season, experienced its busiest season ever.
The North Black Range fire
The first fire in our local area started on 26 November 2019 after a lightning strike up in Tallaganda, seen here from our station at Carwoola
North Black Range fire
The NBR fire, seen here from Carwoola across the Hoskingtown Plain, burned over 30,000 hectares
North Black Range fire
In the first couple of days we were working up in the forest trying to contain it. Carwoola and Hoskingtown-Rossi crews here in the Ralpine valley
North Black Range fire
Then, on 29 November it burst out of the forest and made a run for Braidwood. Crews here racing to get ahead of the front...
North Black Range fire
Some days it wasn't possible to fight the fire and crews reverted to simply protecting what properties they could
North Black Range fire
Many more days spent working the flanks of the fire, trying to stop it spreading. We weren't always successful but morale remained high
North Black Range fire
Aerial support was in very high demand all along the coast. Here our own Peter B, one of the Divisional Commanders, is liaising with one of the pilots
The Clyde Mountain fire
The Clyde Mountain fire was next, burning from the coast back towards us on the other side of Braidwood. Night shift near the Kings Hwy not far from the top of the Clyde
Charley's Forest fire
Our part of the Clyde Mountain fire was renamed Charley's Forest. 21 December was expected to be Catastrophic, and it was.
Zoe, Mark & Deb 10 km south of Nerriga, waiting for the expected devastating southerly change...
Charley's Forest fire
A catastrophic day on 21 December. The anticipated southerly wind change has just hit and a number of crews have taken shelter in a refuge off the Nerriga Rd as the front hits
Charley's Forest fire
After the fire front hit, crews were straight into protecting properties
Defending Nerriga
21 December finished up with many crews in and around Nerriga village defending what we could as a huge firestorm hit again. This is at the Nerriga school house/museum - the village itself is 500m beyond this wall of fire
Nerriga village
Homes and infrastructure around Nerriga were destroyed including this footbridge over Bindi Brook
Many weeks work
Crews worked for many more weeks on the Charley's Forest fire as it kept spreading west
Defending more properties
Many more properties needed defending as the fire kept coming from different directions
The Jinden fire
Next we turned south to the Jinden fire near Krawaree where we worked for weeks. Here we are lighting up a back burn near Wyanbene Caves
The Pialligo fire
Late in January, a fire started near the airport, jumped Pialligo Ave and raced towards Oaks Estate. Carwoola sent several crews to assist with protecting Queanbeyan
The Beard fire
The day after the Pialligo fire, another fire started just a kilometre away and also took a run towards Queanbeyan
The Calabash fire
When the Orrorral Valley fire in the ACT spread over into NSW in the hills around Bredbo & Michelago, Carwoola crews were again sent to work
The Firies' fridge
The famous "Firies' Fridge", donated and kept filled by the people of Bungendore, was heavily used by Carwoola crews for many weeks.
The Firies' fridge
After the fires were over, Carwoola led the procession of emergency vehicles through the centre of Canberra as the "Firies' Fridge" was presented to the National Museum of Australia
Morale
While the work was unrelenting, Carwoola members did manage to have a few lighter moments such as enjoying the Christmas haybale display on the Windermere property near Hoskinstown
The Australia Day Address
We were proud to host our Governor-General as he recorded some of his 2020 Australia Day address at Carwoola station, focusing strongly on the volunteer spirit of Australians
A Huge Effort
Carwoola Brigade contributed over 95 crews over two and a half months of this awful season, plus 12 more out of area deployments prior to the local fires