Adsense



    

Friday 14 February 2014

Some Valentines Love To Some True Heroes

Hey All,

So I've been very quiet on the blog front and that my friends is mainly because of Summer, it's hot and my motivation for all things crafty,DIY and blogging has been completely zapped.

However this Valentines Day I want to talk about the amazing CFA (Country Fire Authority) and the volunteers who spend their Summers fighting to save homes and lives.

I'm sure you're all familiar with beautiful pictures of Australian beaches, the surfing, the swimming and of course fun in the great outdoors. However there is another side to Summer the one we all dread, Fire Season.



This beautiful ancient land of ours shows no mercy in Summer, it's hot, it's dry and it's ready to burn. Most days my Facebook feed is full of alerts and updates to fires within the state.
Our news programs showing homes and properties destroyed and worse human and animal lives lost.

This is danger that faces these amazing men and women, who take time away from their families and jobs, and risk their own lives, all without payment.





Photos taken from CFA Facebook Page, Keith Pakenham, CFA photographer. Feb, 2014

Fires can strike any and everywhere, from way out bush, to 20 minutes from the city. The veggie garden I showed a while back is bone dry and dead, with the exception of a few tomato plants and they are watered daily. Our national parks and bushland turn to tinder in these condition and the smallest spark can destroy entire towns. 

On Tuesday, I awoke to the house full of smoke, smelling like a camp fire. I shut all the windows and doors. A couple hours later I notices that the house was getting hazy and the smell much stronger, only to discover fire 2.3 km away. Now "The Mansion" is pretty safe from direct fire but you can never say totally safe. Embers can be blown from up to ten kilometres away. In comparison to the other fires burning at present, it wasn't serious and was able to be contained by the six trucks in attendance pretty quickly but it was scary enough. A reminder to have the fire plan ready and discuss it with the kids.

A few years back members of my family lost everything during fire season, the kids not only had to deal with being homeless and without anything but the clothes on their backs but the death of school friends, those are not the Summer memories you fully recover from. 

So if anyone deserves some love and gratitude this Valentines day it's to all of our CFA guys and gals and in particular to my friends Sally, Dave and Curtis, you guys are amazing. To anyone in the fire affected regions, my thoughts and prayers are with you.

CFA are always grateful for donations, for more information on donating to CFA go to their website here http://www.cfa.vic.gov.au/about/supporting-cfa/


Thanks for reading,

Mel xo

9 comments:

  1. So true! They do an amazing job, year in year out. I am grateful for them.

    ReplyDelete
  2. The same as our RFS, they do an amazing job and we all owe so much to them. Glad you are all safe!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Oh my goodness! How devastating it would be to lose everything. The CFA definitely does deserve love and gratitude.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Unbelievable. Even with the emails you have sent, telling me about the fires, I had no idea until I saw these pictures, exactly what you can (and others have) experienced. How scary. Those brave men and women that volunteer (without pay!) to help protect all of you. What a wonderful and eye opening post.

    ReplyDelete
  5. My goodness, they are truly amazing to cope with fires like that. Really had no idea that it could get so bad. Stay safe my friend,

    Hugs, Estelle xx

    ReplyDelete
  6. Wow, I had no idea just how bad the fire hazard is. That would be so scary to wake up to smoke in your home. Firefighters are heroes and deserve any appreciation and support we can give them. Stay safe!

    ReplyDelete
  7. OMG those photos are so beautiful, yet so horrifying!! I didn't know, either, how bad the fire danger was there. Stay safe, and God Bless those firefighters!!!!

    xoxo
    -andi

    ReplyDelete
  8. So much devastation ! It's terrible, Mel, and as you say the loss of human and animal lives are the worst. I have been watching the news and your firefighters are topnotch ! However, here by us, they usually arrive a few hours after a fire start - usually factories in our area. Fire {caused by weather} is not a common thing in our province, but down towards the Cape Province it can get bad, although never as much as over by you guys. Stay safe and always alert !

    ReplyDelete
  9. Wow...what a difficult time of year I'm sure. You and your family are in my thoughts. I hope you all stay safe.

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment, between housework and 5 kids, this is the only thing I get out of bed for ;)

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...