• In the thick of it Grant Webster, a member of the Wyndham RFS.
I was called out from Wyndham as soon as I let them know I was available around 3pm and we headed straight for Wolumla then onto 71 Red Gum Road, Yellowpinch where we were stationed until the fire threatened to block our exit.
As we approached the southern side of Potoroo Palace on the way out we found a crew trying to defend a small timber house in grave danger from the fire front which was crowning by then driven by a strong southerly.
The entire hill was ablaze and the call went out to abandon the attack and head for safety.
But as we prepared to evacuate the scene a helicopter bombed the fire front.
That was enough to allow us back in, so we positioned the truck and ran a hose out around the back of the house and managed to stop the fire about 10 metres from the back door.
The house actually had a professionally installed fire sprinkler system and the pump was running but the tank feeding it had run out of water.
There’s no doubt the house would have gone up if that helicopter hadn’t arrived in the nick of time. Things calmed down a little after that and the crews gathered at a staging point on the corner of Millingandi Road to await further instructions.