Woke at 7:30 with a call from the Neil Mitchell program producer Nicole. We chatted for a bit and agreed that I would be on sometime in the morning.
Went up on th roof to have a look. Dead calm- valley full of smoke- can't see the flames like last night. Would frankly prefer to see the flames- keep your frinds close and your fires in view. Or sumsuch.
The north wind kicked in about 10 am- just as I was doing my spot on Neil's show. We chatted about the current and past situation. With the chnge coming I noted that we were back to being concerned, but not overly worried. We are prepared as ever and the house is as fireproof as possible. We've raked and hosed and picked up stuff all over. Bring it on. And on. And on.
Popped over to nearby property to watch "Elvis" the sky crane chopper getting watered up and bombing the Asses Ears fire (to the south of the farm). Two minutes to make a run, 1 minute to fill up, 10000 litres a run. 20 an hour. The farm we were on has some impressive fire breaks cut all the way round the Asses Ears. If the fire crawls across- they will hold. If it gets on and blows, the embers will take it well over the break. The break is 50 metres wide- we were getting ash from 10 k's away the other night. That's some kinda fire break needed there!
The Mt Difficult fire to our east is progressing slowly- flanking usfor sure, but only a true threat if the wind goes east.
The Asses Ears fire was somewhat exhausted at dawn- burnt out most of the area. the 30 knots of Northely wind has re invogorated it and undone much of the good work of the water bombing choppers...
So now, 2:12 pm, we wait for the change. James is having a sleep and I might catch 40 winks too.
Suspect we'll need it.
