Springside fire extinguished thanks to quick-thinking neighbours
Published Date: 07 Jan 2020
Summary
Alex Kelsall was working in his yard at lunch time on Saturday when he saw smoke rising up from the valley, about 400 metres from his house.
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With hot winds and a record-high December temperature of 39 degrees out at his farm at Springside, he knew not to dilly-dally.
He got on the phone to Dougal Munro down the road and the two mates made their way towards the flames, calling 000 on the way.
They drove a front-end loader and a ute towing a trailer mounted fire-fighting unit in the direction of the flames.
Mr Kelsall and Mr Munro found the source of the smoke about 20 metres from a third neighbour's house.
Retired orchardist and grazier Gordan Selwood was inside at the time and was unaware his house was under threat.
Mr Munro said when they arrived about a hectare of land was alight and they quickly got to task.
They used their fire-fighting equipment, which included two water tanks and two pumps, as well as a trailer mounted fire-fighting unit, to extinguish flames which had engulfed a farm rubbish dump.
In the 10-15-minutes it took for the NSW Rural Fire Service to arrive, the duo had the blaze under control.
Mr Munro said with a father, uncle and best friend in the bush brigade and RFS, he learned early you had to be prepared.
"You can't be caught short and hope that the brigade will get their in time," he said.
"A small amount of water early on when the fire is small can get it out quickly - otherwise you're using up to 100,000 litres an hour to contain something out of control."
He said he's grown up in the region and most of the farmers are prepared to protect their properties and one another's.
"We've done it over the years. A friend of mine from Tasmania said to me 'it's just what the local militia do' look out for one another and try to get on with it," he said.
The fire was believed to have either been started from an electric fence or a compost heap spontaneously combusting.
Mr Munro said he was too busy to hang around for a thank you from Mr Selwood.
