On Monday Afternoon the 16th of January 2012 the shed and house of the Neighbours property diagonally behind our place caught fire. It was frightening how quickly the fire completely engulfed the structure and it looked like the fire could spread to the rear neighbours house at this stage. This photo and the others of the fire were taken within 5 minutes of first seeing the smoke. I called the Fire Brigade while James ran up to the house to grab my camera for me.
The lesson we all learnt is just how quickly a fire can destroy an old building here after many years being dried out by the unrelenting dry heat of our outback summer. Watching this happen, we realize if our place caught fire there is absolutely no time to grab possessions we will need to just get down low and go, go, go!
The sirens could be heard within two minutes of the call which is a testament to how quickly our fire brigade respond here in Broken Hill. The first engine arrived and drove down onto the empty block beside our place and the firemen scrambled into action.
Not long after the first engine arrived another two trucks pulled up, closely followed by the police and an ambulance. Before it was all over we had 7 emergency services vehicles in attendance and even the camera man from the local TV station showed up. It took the Fire Brigade about ten minutes to put the fire out and the police were asking people what they had seen in order to work out whether or not the fire may have been deliberately lit.
An hour later after everything was packed up the Fire Brigade left, responding to another call even as they were pulling away. These guys do a great job and the level of professionalism and skill they displayed was admirable to say the least.
