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Sky
Crane Saves Escarpment.
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By
Peter Andrews, © 2002. |
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November
9, 2002. |
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It was around three
o'clock Friday afternoon when a familiar and chilling, brown
cloud started to appear above the campus of Wollongong's university.
Such clouds have for some time now, become the subject of fear
for many coastal, rural and mountain ridge-top dwelling Australians',
living within or near the bush.
The summit of Mount Keira
from the Wollongong Botanical Gardens.
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It has only being
less than twelve months since those other enormous plumes of
smoke and ash, funneled their way across the Tasman Sea to to
blanket Auckland. And within their wake, burnt gum leaves were
deposited in their billions over land and sea. The high-tide
mark on many Sydney and Illawarra beaches ran black for a months
thereafter. |
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So huge were these
plumes of smoke, they clearly showed up on weather satellite
photographs. And on reaching Auckland, the city's air pollution
readings went completely off the scale.
The full perspective with Mount Keira
and the the dying brown lawn of the Botanical Gardens. The lawn
reveals that even the coastal regions of southeastern Australia
have been in drought for quite some time.
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With such memories
still fresh within minds of many in southeast Australia, this
latest and quickly growing brown cloud was clearly a sign of
impending disaster.
It was reported
in the Illawarra Mercury that temperature just before three o'clock
hit 38 degrees C (100 F) at the university weather station. And
walking through a deserted and brown botanical garden lawn nearby
around that time, there was no difficulty in guessing that the
humidity reading was most likely to be next to nothing. |
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Fortunately for
the escarpment, the only factor missing to complete the right
mix for a total disaster was the predicted hot north-westerly
winds. But the Illawarra Escarpment in 2002 had one other benefit
that it had lacked back in 1969 on Black Friday.
The Erickson Sky Crane on its way to
having a big dump.
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spacepace |
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Due
to their overwhelming success last Summer, the popular Erickson
Sky Cranes were back to help out in what is clearly going to
be another potentially difficult season for bushfires and for
those who have to fight them.
And in action.
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Being well into
the afternoon when this new fire had taken hold, time was limited
for any helicopter water bombing, as such a task at night is
not a consideration for safety.
So with the fire
growing and time to contain it quickly running out, the huge
Erickson Sky Crane was left with little choice when it came to
a source of water.
The combination
of incorporating a quicker option of scooping up sea water just
off North Wollongong Beach and a lack of a hot north-westerly
wind, obviously paid dividends. |
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By lunch the
following day, most of the numerous spot fires that looked quite
threatening throughout the night, were well and truly out.
The Sky Crane
and other helicopters were back out in force from dawn, this
time drawing fresh water for bombing from reservoirs at the back
of the escarpment.
Scooping up sea water,
just off North Wollongong Beach. The smoke in the background
is from other fires, up in the northern suburbs of Wollongong.
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Many in the Illawarra
would of no doubt, be quite happy with the outcome of this bushfire,
one of a few within the region happening on the same day. However,
with predictions of very little rain until Autumn next year --
and an enormous accumulation of mulch on the ground as a result
of months of drought conditions, there is still quite a long
way to go before any threat of any potentially dangerous fires
will abate. |
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Peter
Andrews © 2002. All Rights Reserved. |
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