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Forum Index : Other Stuff : BushFires
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mackoffgrid Guru  Joined: 13/03/2017 Location: AustraliaPosts: 460 |
Daveo99, This week will be testing .... These bushfires are likely to affect many of us. I hope your Father will be okay, and his property. The RFS has update the map for the bushfire near my property and they've expanded it to virtually our boundary. I think it's precautionary, I think the fire is not quite under control but not out of control  - after taking out 2 houses and some sheds.I'll be staying Brisbane, in the Air Conditioning. |
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Grogster Admin Group  Joined: 31/12/2012 Location: New ZealandPosts: 9306 |
Yeah, I have been watching this on the news here in NZ, and really insane. One of your firemen was being interviewed, and called it a "Fire storm", which is perhaps apt. We've had some bush fires over here in NZ too, but our ones are like a candle compared to your fellas ones.  Stay safe.   Smoke makes things work. When the smoke gets out, it stops! |
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| zeitfest Guru Joined: 31/07/2019 Location: AustraliaPosts: 482 |
I think a "fire storm" is when the wind generated by a fire forms a storm-like cyclonic pattern and so amplifies the fire. Some fires are further creating "pyrocumulous" clouds, ie a fire creates its own weather, including dry lightning as well as wind, and so new ignition points. It is not even officially summer here yet. |
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Gizmo Admin Group Joined: 05/06/2004 Location: AustraliaPosts: 5078 |
The big fires create their own weather, generate massive winds. The next few days are going to be scary for NSW especially, the the highest fire weather rating. Both Qld and NSW are in state of emergency, so no open fires, no welding, grinding, BBQ's. Got to feel for the wildlife, they are struggling already with this drought and land clearing, and now fire. In a couple of years we'll discover this period we are in now saw a mass extinction of many critters. The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago, the second best time is right now. JAQ |
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| Davo99 Guru Joined: 03/06/2019 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1578 |
I saw the ash Wednesday fires from a safe vantage point some KM away blowing through a stretch of Bush. It was just raging through the treetops often seeming to take big leaps ahead and then the ground fire followed. One could ne image the speed with which it travels if one has not seen it with their own eyes. It's one thing to see a big fire on TV, it's another to see ( and hear) it first hand as well as drive through an area after it has passed and see the nothingness that remains. Apparently there was an area of bush near my father which didn't go up on Saturday they are now worried about re-igniting with the wind change. I think atm the smoke which is covering the whole mid north coast could be a greater danger with his asthma. I have seen some political finger pointing the last couple of days as to the cause of these fires. Politics is a low game but the accusations some are throwing up, literally, to point score and gain political ground on the back of so much heart ache and suffering is some of the most disgusting behaviour by people in power I have ever seen. Those responsible should be thrown out of any office and jailed for their comments and known lies and treachery. Plenty of time later for political BS, right now if they were worth the Co2 they exhale they would be getting their useless arses out there and helping others not blaming them. |
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| mackoffgrid Guru Joined: 13/03/2017 Location: AustraliaPosts: 460 |
Well, it's been long couple of days. Watching these bush fires from Brisbane, it's had involvements on three different approaches within a couple of kms. I have a lot machinery and tools at risk. I find the RFS websites good but still insufficient and FB is not much help either. On Thursday We watched (youtube, almost live) a meeting where RFS, Police etc were updating the community. They were blunt, these fires weren't over until we get significant rain, and BOM is saying this may be Jan, Feb. In the end we went down on Friday to see if we can get in, to see if we can move our fleet of aging machines to safety. It was amazing that we only lost 2 houses in our neighbourhood, The carnage to the trees along the road side was huge - trees that would be been hundreds of years old - gone, front yards burnt out, 1000's of acres of paddocks burnt out, But the tinge of green is already appearing on the low paddocks - amazing. In the higher paddock where there were more trees, and another house burnt down, the ground looked totally obliterated, reduced to sand. Our property is more isolated, dual access, through national park at one end; or down a long heavily treed public road (more like track) which normally looks very wet and lush, then through a neighbours farm. The fires came up to our neighbours gate. This all happened the week before. Meanwhile there is an active front about 5km south of us. With the westerlies blowing we hoped we were safe - there is basically thick forested national park between us. We spoke to another neighbour who has quite a commercial operation with a very defendable setup and lots of water. He wasn't the first to say he hasn't seen a fire like this one. We agreed the smartest thing to do is to move all our heavy machines to his place. This took us up to nearly midnight - we were nackered (doesn't take much). It didn't help that our old Acco tipper doesn't have working lights  I never worried about it since I don't work in the dark. Might do something about that. - Not staying there for the night - went back to Brisbane, with a ute load of chainsaws, tool boxes, small engines and whatever that had some value.Went back yesterday to retrieve the Winston batteries, inverters, yes, the Warpverter. We found cold embers all over the property, some up to 6" long. How the place didn't just light up I don't know. We filled up with mowers, 4 stroke garden tools, sat modems, whatever I could quickly grab. The day was heating up, the Helicopters carrying water tanks were flying directly over us, the wind was changing, our exit was through 3+km of grassy tracks heavily treed on either side so we figured it was time to leave. Didn't even tie the load up, I grabbed the luxo maggie lamp from the cabin and went. Tidied up and secured the load when we hit the bitumen. We have sufficient retrieval of assets that we should have invoked some natural law and the place will now be safe from fire. Now where to put all this stuff ...... Cheers Andrew |
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| Davo99 Guru Joined: 03/06/2019 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1578 |
I made a Quick trip to Taree From Sydney on Friday Night. Never seen anything like that before. Soon as we started on the back 9 from Heatherbrae to Taree the smoke started, Further north we got, the thicker it became. Even through we left Heatherbrae in the pitch black of 10:30 at night, it was easy to see how much bush was burnt out just from all the toasted road signs. I was relieved to find the orange glow's in the distance were not fires but the amber coloured street lights in the little tows we went through/ past. Time we got round where the Hillsville fire was the glow was off the fire but away from the highway. I swear I could feel the car not running right from the thick smoke replacing oxygen. The smoke made the spread of light from the street lights very Errie. A bit like fog only different and more ominous. The smoke was thick enough it was burning all our eyes and making our throats sore. I wondered how my Dad was going to be with his asthma with this invasive stink. We turned off the highway and the sight was frightening. I was up there 3 weeks ago and it was dry but nothing different. Now it was like a scene from a war movie, Everything was burned, the bush, the footpath beside the road, The garden in the middle of the round about, the grass on the side of the road. I wondered how Dad din't get burned out. Even now at midnight through the thick blanketing smoke you could see the devastation. Went past the old house now nothing more than a brick Chimney and some twisted roofing iron. Getting out at Dads place the smoke was so thick it made me cough and stung my eyes and throat even more. Took me a long time to go to sleep with the smell and thick air. In the morning it had cleared substantially. We went into town and the road out was just devastation. Like mentioned, a lot of the ground was burnt to sand. One could see into the bush for a long way and see things that were not normally visable. Saw the collection of cars that had been burnt out is someone's yard and noticed everything gone in the place but a seemingly untouched garden shed. The fire had ringed the block my father lives on which is 3 Blocks that back onto one another for a total of 60 acres. It had got into the place behind Dad but no further. He dodged a bullet there. Everything to the main road into town was burnt. A few surburban houses near the turn off were OK, the properties beside were burnt but the Homes were in tact. Dad said the water Bombers had saved them. In town Dad spotted the Local Mayor whom I had seen on TV a few times through the week. Dad has known him for years before he even got into politics. Was talking to him and the guy was lamenting how they had a bunch of equipment from the army somewhere including tankers and dozers and other things but they would not do anything more than make sandwiches and provide medical treatment to those injured because... " It was too dangerous for them to be fighting fires". I asked Dad waht could be more dangerous than being shot at and if they had to go to war, were they going to refuse on the grounds they might break a fingernail? The guy was clearly frustrated with a lot of things including some of the emergency services. He was telling Dad of a guy out the back of town that had a Big Dozer. Pushed a lot of rubbish back before a fire got to him and then went down the road and saved at least another 4 Houses and was working clearing breaks to other places. SES turned up and told him to stop because he was putting himself in danger. He told them he would decide when he was in danger and kept going. Police were called and he was threatened to be locked up if he didn't stop. Fire was no where near the place then but when the fire did come, the places he dozed were fine, several others where he didn't get to along the same road went up. Guy was very frustrated with a Number of things in how the fires had been handled and the over the top OH&S type mentality that had been prevalent. As he said to Dad, Of course it's dangerous but there is a difference between life threatening and not wanting to break a fingernail or get a blister. Going down the road from dad back out to old bar and wallaby point was quite a sight as well. I was only out there as well a few weeks ago and again it was so different it was bloody scary. One thing that struck me was how dry everything had become just in the last few weeks. Where Dads lawn was brown before with some green tinges and patches, now the grass is just gone and it's mainly dirt. I had planed some grass for him in early winter up the back and it was doing well but now is back to dirt. I was looking at it and Dad came up and said he had been watering it every day but he could see it going backward in front of his eyes till he gave up. We went down the dam which I had also looked at a few weeks back and was shocked to find it had dropped about a meter and a half. I said to dad, where did you pump the water to? He laughed and said Pumped? The only pump I have is up the back of the shed buried under a ton of junk. I said WTF did all the water go? Dad said I told you it was dry here. He recounted how he Filled one of the bird baths he put out where he could keep an eye on it and he said before the birds saw it was there, half the water would be gone by lunch time and he'd have to re fill it. I asked where the water went and he said evaporated of course, where you think? I said I didn't think it would evaporate that fast. He said neither did I till I saw it. The other thing we saw when we went to look at an investment property we were thinking of was the cattle. He saw a number of heard all eating hay that were so skinny their ribs were sticking right out. Down near the river there was a lot of irrigating going on obviously just trying to get something growing in the paddocks for the cattle. No question where had and and hadn't had the sprinklers on and where the cows had been let into. Most of the land back from the river looked like it would be lucky to run 1 cow per 10 acres. I couldn't help but wonder about the wild life. So much must have met a terrible end and anything that had survived would have to go a long way to find any food and shelter now and then it would be slim pickings. Yeah, I am weak as water these days but It took me a lot to hold back tears at everything I saw. As I said when I saw the ash wednesday fires, one thing to see it on TV and think that' looks bad to seeing it in real life. One thing that made me laugh and happy was my Father. I noticed a lot of tyre marks on the concrete driveway. I said why have you had the tractor here? He said I had that and the go kart ( ATV Tipper) parked here. I said in case the shed went up? He said yeah but mainly If I had to get out. I said what about the Mercedes? He said stuff that, it's insured and I can buy another one. He said don't want to loose the tractor, they don't make them like that any more and he said besides that, I can get out any way I want here. He said I can go through fences and through anyone's property and if there are fallen trees or anything in the way I can move them. I said that would be the slowest get away ever. He said No, I worked out how to put the thing in high range. Never done that before but It will do 40 Kmh now! I later laughed with my Wife and daughter how we could see the whole area going up in a fire storm and Dad coming crashing out the road block on his tractor with some Kids and dogs in the front bucket and 3 cars chanined one behind the other to the back. We also noticed he had a bag packed and he had his tradie type radio beside it. My wife asked what the radio was for. He somewhat indignantly said the Tractor doesn't have a radio and if I have to get out somewhere I can listen to where the fires are and get away from them. When I asked where he would go he said down the end of the road to the river would be the safest place. He said there are some paddocks down there that are just grass what's left of it and I could easy puch myself a fire break all around and just wait for it to pass. I said might be a bit smokey with your asthma,. He said It hasn't worried me for some reason but I bought a new respirator and have a smoke cartridge on it so I should be OK for a while. Sometimes I wonder about him but he had certainly thought things out with this far as I could see. Bad as it was what I saw, I think that's nothing to places further up around port and up near the border. Fantastic more lives haven't been lost but there sure has been a horrific amount of lives Ruined. The old guy on the TV Morrison was consoling is also a friend of Dads. He lost his place. Won't be easy to start again from his age. I think my father is safe for now. There is enough clearance around his place to make his chances good if a fire does come. It's only that 60 acre parcel that could go up and at least on his place he has cleared enough that I don't think it would get too intense. The pair of idiots either side would be another story. I saw he had cleared near one side, the other is bit of a lost cause. Every year they say this will be a bad fire season but what I have seen already before summer has started, I don't think there are words to describe the potential and probable devastation yet to come. I guess though given how much we contribute to every other country's disaster relief, we can expect a few hundred Million to help our people in Crisis now. Yeah, Right! :0( |
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| mackoffgrid Guru Joined: 13/03/2017 Location: AustraliaPosts: 460 |
So Glad your father was spared, and that you can laugh with your father. Just watch his spirits after a while when either survivors guilt or sorrow for his friends might kick in. I have zero experience in fighting bushfires and am not fit enough to volunteer. I have and will re-offer the use of our machinery as my little bit of public service. I really appreciate the work the RFS volunteers do and I have no doubt they have saved many lives and property. My feeling is the water bombers and more so, the dozers are really saving the day. I don't see why our defence force can't be taught fire fighting - fit young men and women , eager to have a go. There are plenty dozers in most areas, they should be mobilised. We do need a lot more water bombers of all sizes. The fire season started in July in this area!! Just my thoughts Andrew |
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| Gizmo Admin Group Joined: 05/06/2004 Location: AustraliaPosts: 5078 |
I'm with the local RFS, did all the training but took a step back. I found the anxiety of fighting fire while knowing my ability could mean the difference between someone saving or loosing their house was a bit much. Plus I didnt like to leave my home unattended during these events. Fortunately for us out this way we've had no fires, partly due to no vegetation, years of drought have left the place barren. But I do help with the stations computer stuff and other support. I also set up a 5,000 liter tank of water on a stand at the front of my place for use by the brigade, finding water to fight fires is a big problem out here, all the dams and creeks are bone dry. My own place is defendable, provided I'm here to defend it. I have 3 pressure pumps and a bore pump on 2 different power supplies ( off grid ), and water misters to mist over the place. Only takes a few minutes and my house and shed are surrounded by wet ground for several meters. I have hoses that can reach all points of the house and shed, high flow, so I can really throw some water at any spot fires. Plus the usual, clean gutters, no rubbish against shed or house, etc. And I'm not surrounded by trees, just open overgrazed land. Be glad when this fire season is over. My biggest concern is the number of wildlife we are loosing. Glenn The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago, the second best time is right now. JAQ |
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| mackoffgrid Guru Joined: 13/03/2017 Location: AustraliaPosts: 460 |
Bloody good idea!! |
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| Davo99 Guru Joined: 03/06/2019 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1578 |
Thanks Andrew. I would have hated for him to loose everything at his stage of life. He says it's all replaceable but there is a lot that's not. I do feel for those that have lost everything. Happened to a girl I knew 6 years ago. Nothing but the clothes on their back and the cars they were driving. Even lost all their animals. I used to think, How do you start from Nothing? It's un natural. I was thinking the other day, in my ignorant view, I think the RFS have it a lot harder in many ways than the regular fire Brigage. easy to distance yourself from a burning structure. Sure you may have to go in on occasion but you are not surrounded by choking smoke and searing heat the same as in a bush fire and they can probably through a lot more at a building on fire in the city than they can when thinly spread around the country side. Not belittling anyone but I think I know which one I would be better off with and it's not the bush. I doubt many city fire fighters are at it for more than a day at a time and certainly not many days strung together like the RFS/ volunteers. |
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| Davo99 Guru Joined: 03/06/2019 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1578 |
Yes, this has struck me too. I was saying to somone today we drove a 100Km stretch along the highway that was burnt both sides and I think we were just in the lower end of the devastation. I can't see how anything but birds could escape a lot of it and for those that did, what now? They would have to travel 10's of KM at very least and 100 in some cases to get to unburnt ground and what do they eat and drink along the way? I feel sory for people but I'm worried about how much wild life is burnt out. A friend last Night showed me video and pics from their friends who's whole 300 acres were burnt out and the only thing that wasn't was their home and shed which they were able to defend within meters. The friends comment was the stench of dead animals everywhere was sickening and they weren't talking farm animals as they didn't have any, they were cropping. There are people that have a lot to answer for with all this and a bloody lot of heros as well that need to be recognised and held out as role models. |
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| Davo99 Guru Joined: 03/06/2019 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1578 |
My wifes uncle lived in the hills at Richmond near Sydney. When he was building the home he got the frame work up and a fire came through and burnt it all down. He always said that was the best thing that ever happened. He said it gave me a wake up call about living in the bush and from there on he re thought everything from a fire perspective. The trees and bush got pushed back along way, he was careful of the plants he selected, where the gardens were put and he re designed the house extensively. The thing I liked was his sprinkler system. There was an old concrete tank up near the road that had once been used for watering horses going back to the horse and cart days. He had it made good and there was a 4" pipe buried underground running down to the house. It was a good distance and a good fall down the hill. He had sprinklers EVERYWHERE and all he had to do was turn a valve and the place soaked. Sprinklers on the walls of the house, the garden, under the eaves, on the roof and out into the lawn to make a perimeter. He didn't have to do a thing other than turn a valve and they were safe. He said there was more than 30 Min water reserve in the tank which is well beyond what they say a fire takes to pass but really, a fire couldn't get near the place as there was nothing between him and the bush well back and all he had to do was worry about embers. There were a couple of 1" Hoses front and back but he said he could never see a need for them and being shown the system and photos of it being tested, neither could I. He said he'd never leave the place, they were safest in it and with nothing for maybe 100M all around other than well watered grass, I believe the place would survive any fire no question. He had a tank he would put on his ute at the start of every summer and go top up the tank but he said it never needed much but it was checking it didn't have a leak anyway. That was one of the smartest systems I ever saw. Just lucky he had the landscape to take advantage of but he did. No pumps nothing to get going or rely on, just turn a valve and the place looked like one of those fire Fighting tugs on the harbour. |
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| mackoffgrid Guru Joined: 13/03/2017 Location: AustraliaPosts: 460 |
A 4" pipe will deliver an impressive amount of water. I've always been mindful of bushfires though never experienced any first hand. My cabin is nestled in the bush and is not defendable at all. Where we've built our sheds and where the house will be will have defences. We'll continue to push back the bush. No gardens around infrastructure etc. I want to get one of those huge 250,000 litre Rhino (or like) tanks to collect roof water and limit domestic to the top 50,000 litres and reserve 200,000 to emergency fire fighting. I should be able to fill this tank twice in a normal year. I have permanent water. I need to install a 1800m long 2" polypipe. I need to pump it up a 20m head. I'll have both a solar pump and a diesel pump. Solar pump just for everday gardens etc. I can use this water for toilets, washing etc. The diesel pump is for fire season and from memory I calculated I should get 50 litre/min from the 2" pipe. If I rig up the diesel tank right I hope to get several days running without refill. In situations like now I'll run it continuously, wetting the ground around the buildings. Sprinklers everywhere is my tactic also. Unfortunately I will need to use pumps. I have no higher ground. Aside from the 2" pipe source, when the situations gets dire I plan to use that 200,000 litres to spray everything. If what happens to me that happened 2 weeks ago to a neighbour, experienced ex RFS, it all happened so quickly with little warning, a plume of smoke nearby, by the time he checked it out, and raised the alarm, his house was on fire. I need to be self sufficient because I am more remote than he is. After this weekend of removing machinery and tools and batteries and inverters and ... and moving to safety; It made me think of a bunker. The authorities generally don't like bunkers for people but fire bunkers for tools and equipment is much easier. Small concrete storerooms for batteries and inverters, another for tools, chainsaws etc. Machinery like backhoes and tractors are harder (not to mention the Cat325), I'm thinking of putting a sprinkler inside the shed to spray directly onto the machines, not much good for the stuff that accumulates around it though. Living in the bush isn't all cheap, Andrew |
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| Davo99 Guru Joined: 03/06/2019 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1578 |
Just talking out my backside, Couple of things occur to me. I would check out the price ( with delivery) of a 250K L tank as against that of smaller ones. I have a feeling something that size may be disproportionately expensive and you may be better off with smaller tanks. I didn't even know they made 250K L tanks and I can't imagine how they would transport something that large? Are they built on site? I have seen the metal ones that are assembled and then a liner put in them. Also saw the 100K l concrete tank a mate had built in the ground some years back and that was massive as well. Could have easily divided that up and made a decent size house out of it. On that note, I would also look at having a dedicated Fire tank that you could keep full all the time and not have to worry about the reserve you had. You mention keeping 200K L for fire fighting. I have a rough idea how much that is and the thought occurs, How are you going to actually put all that water to use? Off the top of my head, I'd be thinking to get that sort of flow in an hour you are going to need a Multi, 4 Cyl fire pump at least and probably something 4" or a good number of portable pumps. It's a lot of water to move. The one thing I DO know from experience is the ratings on a LOT of these pumps, especially anything Chinese, is pure and utter fantasy. Time you run it through lengths of pipe which in itself has frictional losses per meter and put it through valves and heads, the output drops off a lot and a lot of over engineering is required to account for this. The thing is they rate Pumps at outputs they couldn't even achieve with no plumbing and a decent head on the inlet. The numbers sound impressive but actual output falls WAY short. I have a couple of Diesel and a petrol Pump and I can tell you that although I wouldn't say they are bad pumps, you would come up well behind on the actual water delivery if you relied on the numbers they give. You might start at half and work your way down from there. Plumbing has a LOT to do with the end output as well. Even bends in pipe reduce flow, not a huge amount but in fire installations and other critical flow requirements, they are calculated in. My suggestion would be to lay out your system and then calculate the water requirement. No use having 200Kl worth of water if it's going to take 4 hours to use it all. If memory serves, they say a fire passes in something like 15 Min so if You had an hours worth of water ( and I'm sure there are actual recommendations) you would be fine. I know my mate up the road has 3 x 25Kl Tanks so I know what they look like and a 250k L tank would be a monster. I also wonder if it is wise to put all your eggs in one basket as it were? Myself I like redundancy and backup. If anything happened to the main tank, and you know it would at the worst possible time, then you are in strife. Myself I like to have a second and 3rd paddle in the boat but I am the sort of nutter that goes on holiday and packs enough underwear as If I expect to soil myself 3 times a day every day I'm away.... even if the place I'm going to has a washing machine :0(. The mate I helped some years back fight a fire at his place has an electric Pump on a 5000L tank with sprinklers on the roof and some in the garden. The pump is powered by a couple of Truck batteries and a big inverter. It's kept charged with a solar panel. The idea of this was IC pumps can have trouble in fires with the smoke and lower oxygen levels. For this reason the Other pump he has is Diesel. Much less sensitive to air fuel ratio as they normally run in basically a lean condition anyway. In a fire they may run rich, blow smoke and loose some power but they sure as heck would be a lot less finicky than a petrol engine plus the fuel is much more stable to store long term. I have started my little diesels that haven't been run for 3 years with what is in the tank and they start first go. With todays petrol, even the good stuff let alone E-10 rubbish, I would be very surprised to do that. Diesels operate over a very wide air/ fuel ratio and every one I have come across from the factory has a lot of head room anyway. This allows you to override the governor or change the fueling for more power. In the case of a lack of oxygen or inhaling smoke which would be like extra fuel, You would have a lot better chance of it running even at 80% where a petrol engine would be dead or useless. The best setup of all would be a Turbo Diesel as it would have the ability to get more oxygen still into the cylinders even in thin air. The other reason I would recommend diesel pumps in the portable variety as well as serious units is every Petrol and diesel Pump I have compared of the same HP, the diesels ALWAYS have significantly outperformed the petrols. Mate had a 10 HP petrol which far as we could tell had the same pump as my 8 HP diesel but the diesel threw more water farther than what we could ever get his petrol pump to do. I have sen the same thing On my own 8Hp petrol and another 8 hp diesel I have and 2 more other people have I have compared. Obviously maintence is the key with something like pumps as far as fuel degradation and other things go but having something that will survive with less maintence is a step in the right direction as well. For a permanently set up pump I'd also go for electric start. Having the ability to constantly wind something over makes a big difference to the short impulse action. There is a lot of info and recommendation on this online you can look up as to the best type of sprinklers, fire time etc. One thing I have thought of for a fire bunker would be an insulated shipping container. Plenty of room to store IBC's on the top to water cool the thing and I wondered about some Diving type Cylinders of air inside. Don't know what sort of breathing time for how many people you'd get in a container, I'd guess it would be adequate, but just in case. The other thing would be as I have seen on the net would be to bury a container. You could make a protected steel or concrete entry/ exit and if you have machinery it's just a matter of digging a hole and putting some covering on the top of the thing for insulation as it were. In a reasonably cleared area, I think a buried container would be about as survivable as it could get. Even an above ground one with some decent bush clearance and water trickling over it should be very secure. I'm sure there would be a lot on the net you could look up about this. |
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| mackoffgrid Guru Joined: 13/03/2017 Location: AustraliaPosts: 460 |
Overkill is my defence Yes, the tanks are those metal ones with liners, were about $15k but that was a few years ago. They are big, 15m dia by 3 to 4m high. A second concrete 25kl tank may not be a bad idea. 200kl water is overkill I hope. Multiple 50mm lines delivering as much water as I can. Diesel engines only except portable. Yes, we've found it's chalk and cheese between diesel and petrol engines. And we keep diesel on the property so it's really the only choice. It's been a long time since I worked some of this out. I think a 10hp motor should push out 200lpm on a 2" line, and that's 10 high flow sprinklers or 20 x 10 lpm sprinkler heads. We will have to try it and see if 10hp does it easily or if its struggling, then go from there. I will probably want 4 or 5 of those 2" loops. Testing it on a hot afternoon should really cool the place down You wouldn't bother except I really enjoy the peace and quiet, the isolation, the bird noises, being able to work on stuff without worrying about neighbours etc. Work in progress Andrew |
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| Boppa Guru Joined: 08/11/2016 Location: AustraliaPosts: 814 |
I was down south in NSW for my house sale, and the highway through Ballina, you couldn't see far enough to get to half the speed limit...   That was not as bad as it got (and looks a lot clearer than it was) In the first pic, the freeway is just behind the treeline, but you can't see it... |
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| mackoffgrid Guru Joined: 13/03/2017 Location: AustraliaPosts: 460 |
The sun on late Friday afternoon was amazing, It was like the biggest, brightest, Pink-Red LED  I wish I had a cameraEdited 2019-11-20 06:55 by mackoffgrid |
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| Davo99 Guru Joined: 03/06/2019 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1578 |
Did you see the moon? Huge full moon that was in front of us as we got into the fire zone. The smoke thick as it was made it a great orange ball that looked quite ominous. I had a bunch of camera's but no tripod. :0( |
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| mackoffgrid Guru Joined: 13/03/2017 Location: AustraliaPosts: 460 |
maybe it was It was certainly ominous. for a minute it was a rather pinky red, and looked illuminated like a giant LED - very ominous. |
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