Where's the fire

Like a lot of young kids I wanted to be a firefighter when I grew up. As often happens though, I grew up and didn't make it happen however I never lost my interest in it and to this day am fascinated by fire trucks. Maybe I'm just a big kid. (No maybe's to be honest, I am).

On a recent trip to the country town of Burra, about 130km north of Adelaide in South Australia, I came across a shed at one of the local attractions (museum) which houses the town's first motorised fire engine; Up until the time this engine arrived horse and people-drawn appliances were used. It was in 1902 when the first car arrived in the town but wasn't until 1922, the same year the fire station building was completed, when the first motorised fire appliance was brought in.

You can see my wife (left) and her mum sitting in the engine which is housed at the Bon Accord Museum. It's a 1922 Model T Ford and was operated by the South Australian Fire Brigade. An interesting note is that 1922 was also the year the first X-Ray machine came to the town hospital. Hard to imagine life without these simple items isn't it?

Burra, established in 1845, was a copper mining town and by 1860 was producing 5% of the worlds copper; An impressive feat considering the resulting ore had to make the journey from the small town all the way to England for smelting! The town had just under 5,000 people in it at peak population, (now under 1,000), and despite the closing of the mine in 1877 many stayed and turned their hand to farming and other pursuits.

The South Australian Fire Brigade had a lot of ground to cover and this appliance would have brought their response times down significantly. It would have been considered state of the art equipment at the time although these days is laughably sparse.

These days the SA Fire service is split into two main branches being the Metropolitan Fire Service (MFS) and the Country Fire Service (CFS) who, along with the State Emergency Service (SES) provide for the protection of the South Australian community from the effects of fire, chemical incidents and other emergencies like natural disaster and vehicle accidents.

Wildfires (bushfires) are quite common here due to our climate, and amount of bushland, so these three services work in conjunction or individually to cover all types of fire and emergency call-outs. At times incidents mean appliances are drawn from many stations and in that case these units work collectively to combat the situation, even sometimes just relocating an appliance and crew to a station whose units have been called away to a job. We have had many emergency situations in which every appliance and crew/personnel work together at the same time and it's not uncommon for crews from all over the country to be flown in when wildfires are out of control. In fact we've had crews from all over the world fly in at times. They do a job that many can't, or won't.

I live with few regrets in life, but one is my inability to become a firefighter in my 20's. I don't dwell on it of course, however it was something I dearly wanted to do but was unable to for various reasons. Firefighting these days isn't just about holding a hose and spraying water on a fire. We're surrounded by all sorts of hazards, toxic chemicals and flammable items with most of our homes being literally filled with flammable plastics like paint, floor coverings, soft and hard surfaces...Almost everything in a modern household is extremely flammable. The job wasn't any easier back in 1922 though, and has always been dangerous.

Looking at that truck in Burra, sitting on it the other day, made me wonder what it was like for the firefighters who manned that appliance. Were they passionate about their job as firemen, did they carry people out of burning buildings, how did they personally deal with the tragedy's they turned-out to and did they all survive their tenure as firefighters? I'll never know I guess, but this truck, and the two others beside it, stand as a reminder that those blokes stood ready to act in protection and preservation of life and property.

These days the CFS, now responsible for fire and emergency rescue in the region, drive modern appliances and are backed up with GPS, meteorological and communications technology as well as helicopter and fixed-wing fire-fighting units...Necessary in this world I guess, but I can still picture this red Model T Ford chugging along down the road loaded with brave blokes pulling on heavy coats and helmets on their way to a call-out knowing they will have very little back up. I always like driving, but I reckon it'd be cool being the bloke dinging that bell on the left! I think it would have been something to see this thing turning-out for a fire...No two's and blue's, just a dinging bell and a few brave blokes.