An incredible fight by hundreds of brave firefighters, heavy machinery and water bombing aircraft and a lot of luck as regards wind gusts, has saved the beautiful and historicla town of Toodyay, in Western Australia, from distruction by fire.  It was very close.  Fire fighters have  reported ' that if the fire had jumped just one more road........... '

A couple of nights ago, it was a night of vigil for many after a day of 42 degree heat, fire is sweeping through the wheat belt of Western Australia, threatening several areas including the beautiful town of Toodyay.  I was unable to write about this, on that evening, it all seemed, too powerful, almost vulture like, to turn such horror for many, into a blog post.

This is my earlier blog post of the beautiful town of Toodyay, the central town itself having just survived a fire that has destroyed a wide area around it.
At the same time,as these fires, there is drought in New South Wales  which has been broken by exrtensive flooding. This is Australia, her beauty and her terror. My prayers for those battling such dreadful extremes and the aftermath clean up. My special thoughts are with my best friends in Toodyay, Western Australia, where 38 homes were lost in the fire.

My friend in Toodyay,  who lived through this horror, alone in  a big house, with only her pets for company, no TV reception and the mobile phone battery flat for some of the tme, could see the flames, which came within several hundred meters of the propery which is the old Station Master's house, the fire was as close as the far side of the railway crossing.  With the fire able to jump 10 kilometers ahead at some stagesand start new fires with a strong gust of wind, it must have been terrifying. Across the other side of the country, myself and a few other good friends could only express (((hugs))), in typed messages through our facebook page and feel helpless to give comfort and were only reasured by knowing our mutual friend in Toodyay, was sensible and would be doing everything she could to ensure her own safety.  

From our on line chat, I could tell, the following day, New years Eve, was still extremely hard, as I imagine the aftermath of such horror would be for anyone.   While most of the country believed the danger was over, the fires, she told me, were in fact only 'contained' within an area, but still burning fiercly and presenting a risk and her neighbours had evacuated. 

A town meeting, my friend attended, informed the residents of the shocking amount of loss of property and livestck, fortunatelly no human lives were lost.  Also revealed, was how lucky the town had been. It was all 'too close'.  it would only have taken a gust of wind and the town would have been destryed, like the towns of Marysville and Kinglake in Victoria.  The rest of the afternoon was spend by many residents, comforting each other over thier losses.  I heard of somepone who lost thier porperty and all on it, while the home and contents was insured, the orchard valued at half million dollars, was not.

My heart goes ot those who were affected by fires and the floods which in the last week,  have claimed life and at the same time realize that the northern hemisphere is gripped in a chilling winter that has also claimed lives.   Nature is beautiful and harsh.  Never more than this New Year am I reminded of the words of the beautiful poem written a long time before there was any talk of 'global warming or climate change,  'My Country', by Dorothea Mackellar

I am in awe at the courage of and have an admiration for, the men and women who serve the community as fire fighters.

Have you ever volunteered for service with the Country Fire Authority, or considered a career as a professional fire fighter?

Volunteer CFA members are not only those who fight the fires, there is an extensive range of interesting jobs, volunteers can do.

There are many ways that Volunteers can make a valuable contribution to the community. CFA welcomes different people with different skills to meet a wide variety of community needs.

Firefighting Roles

  Firefighter

  Incident Controller

  Pump Operator

  Crew Leader

  Communication roles

  Special skilled roles including chainsaw operation and breathing apparatus

Non Firefighting Roles

  Brigades In Schools presenters & other community education programs

  Brigade administration roles

  Administration support roles in Incident Control Centres

  Leaders for Juniors program

  Media and public relations

  Fundraising activities

  Community events

I once was part of a crew who went into a valley community threatened by fire coming down the mountain towards them, to collect all the dogs we could fit in an ambulance so we could take them to board in fire safe areas.  I played a small role, in the bush fire management, but one that gave me enormous satisfaction 

Often volunteers wish to move on and become professional.
Career Fire fighting.

The Country Fire Authority in Australia is currently seeking applications from people interested in becoming career fire fighters.

Australia and the USA have a cooperative agreement to share fire-fighting resources.


Experienced firefighters over 24 years of age may be interested in Fire Service Training, the online Bachelor of Arts in Fire Service Administration through the Lewis University in Illinois, U.S. Lewis University has been named one of the “Best Colleges “by U.S. News and World Report for five consecutive years.

The online Bachelor of Arts in Fire service Administration from Lewis University is an ideal way for career fire fighters to advance their careers by gaining management skills specific to the field. Training is available to international students, with students from thirty different countries, represented on campus.