Wife's Fire Fighting Gear.

[user 14190]

Today the wife received her new outfit for fire fighting, makes her now the OIC of our 2 person fire brigade, I have been relegated to the position of pump starter and tea boy.

I have been telling her that there is no fire close at the present and she can put normal clothes on for a while. She says she feels better in the gear, will probably find her all rigged up tonight out wandering around trying out the new Petzl headlight. Good thing she does not know how to set the pumps up at present or I might be looking for a new place to live. Was going to put in funny pics, but it is funny but serious at the same time. :lol: :lol: :lol:

Graham

 

[LONEWOLF]

Nice bit of kit and fingers crossed it will never be used...

LW...

 

[user 14190]

Yes we are hoping that we never need to use it either, but we feel happier having it and she can almost see over the collar if she stands on her tippy toes, they do not make fire fighting clothes for someone who is height challenged. Have to be careful in case she reads this. layful: layful: layful:

Graham

 

[goody2shoes]

Was thinking the same thing about the height factor...

Good on her Is all I am going to say

Goody

 

[LONEWOLF]

Don't worry Good things come in Small packages I say...

Mrs Wolf would need eyes cut into the top to see out of... {)

LW....

 

[Manpa]

Nice to see someone prepared and protected, I cringe when I see people fighting fires in thongs, shorts and singlets.
Radiant heat can be a killer.

 

[CreviceSucker]

Nice to see someone prepared and protected, I cringe when I see people fighting fires in thongs, shorts and singlets.
Radiant heat can be a killer.

Radiant heat from canopy fires (tree tops) has been measured at 1560 Celsius

It can seriously burn your ass.

But you shouldnt bring your donkey to a bushfire.

 

[Goldfreak]

Ass lol only just got the joke :lol:

 

[RM Outback]

Great bit of kit :Y: It's the Radiant heat that kills, burns your airways the PPE helps you get closer to fight it. A thick sponge soaked and a bucket of water or any water for that matter to resoak the sponge and breathing through the sponge will save your airways (this method saved a few in black Saturday and is a last resort tactic) the PPE will give some protection for your body in a dire situation.

The smartest option is leave early on bad days/nights, not always an option though.

 

[shakergt]

looks way to clean erfect: Mine don't stay that clean for long. I'm lucky if it stays clean a week before its got some sort of fire related dirt on it. Remember not to wash it in the machine with soap based washing powder as it removes the proban. the protective agent to help make it fire resistant. If you do ever need to wash it just put it in the machine and use water only or synthetic detergents.

The DOS:
1 Proban treated articles can be washed in any
conventional washing machine
2 COLD or WARM wash for both whites and colours
(temperature not to exceed 60C)
3 Wash programme used should be for non-colour fast
articles
4 Only SYNTHETIC detergents should be used e.g. Bio-zet
Castle, Cold Power Drive, Dynamo FAB, OMO Radiant,
Spree or Surf
5 For heavily stained or soiled articles a short pre-soak (up
to two hours) may be useful
6 Regular washing will help prevent soiling build up
7 Garments may be tumble dried (take care not to over-dry
as excessive shrinkage may occur)
8 Garments may be dry-cleaned

The DONTS:

1 DONT wash Proban garments in traditional soap based
powders e.g. Lux, Velvet, Advance. These soap powders
can form flammable deposits, which may adversely affect
the flame retardant performance of the fabric.
2 DONT use hypochlorite based bleaches. Bleaches such
as Domestos, White King (and all supermarket blends)
attack the Proban finish and can lead to the flame
retardancy becoming ineffective.

 

[Shep]

Leave the collar long as you want to be able to suck ya head in when its real hot and also do yourself a favour and get a fair air mask.
I was a paid fire fighter for years and the best bit of kit I had was the mask.

http://www.fairairmasks.com

 

[user 14190]

Shep, we have been trying to get some of those masks now for weeks, apparently he is overrun at present and has some production problems, has not answered any email and sounded stressed on the phone, so we will find something else in the mean time, just in case, like RM outback's idea as a last resort if all else fails. We hope that the uniforms will still look as clean (not used) for a lot of years to come. :| :|

Graham

 

[Shep]

Thats a bugger, with any luck you have no issues. I have family that farm near Nowra and it would be good if they could keep their feed

 

[user 14190]

Shep, they must be on the north side of Nowra as that is where most of the farming seems to be, the south side is mostly timbered fairly well and we just had 8 trees taken down under our Councils 45 degree rule which means if a tree is close/high enough that looking from the foundation of an approved building at an angle of 45 degrees the tree would make contact with the building if it fell then it may be removed without Council permission, we like our trees, not greenies, just like the birds and other animals that live here, sometimes, but not often, even the possums. Have tree orchids growing in a lot of the older trees. Have a huge dead tree that the tree man was indicating about removing, he was told that one stays as that is the tree that the Dollar birds like when they travel down from New Guinea each year, they arrived last week and will stay until the end of February.

Have been here 26 years and today went for a walk around and have found at least another 12 to 14 trees that are already in that 45 degree area and that is not holding the 45 angle lower than it should be. Most of these trees have grown since we have been here and have not noticed how they have grown until now, one or two are over the 30 meter high range. Had a big one at the front of the house lopped about 6 years ago and it is now higher than it was before it was lopped, so a few more are going to have to be removed soon.

Graham

 

[mudgee hunter]

Must be hard at night to find a spot to take a whiz without been seen in those fluros and reflectives! :lol:

 

[user 14190]

No lights in the area and pretty much can do that day or night with or without fluoros, tis good for me, but wife is a bit more discreet just in case :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[user 14190]

So about 12 years ago we put in a large dam for fire fighting as our bore became unreliable after a neighbour put in a dam and went through the water table, our dam was very close to full about 6 weeks ago, but a few days ago while testing pumps we started to suck mud so the inlet pipe was lifted a small amount, but it looks like there is not a great deal of depth left and it is has dropped about 12mm over the last 4 days, so there was a bit of a panic on as to what to do as we have a long way to go with this fire season, we have another dam at the front of the block which is holding water as it is surrounded by trees, but would not be accessible in a fire situation.

The decision was made to by a 22500 litre tank and pump from the front dam to fill the tank and that will stop any more loss of water. Rang the local seller and as normal was told that the last one sold yesterday and they are not getting any more in until the end of February as the RMS (Roads and Maritime Services) has put a stop on the delivery of tanks in NSW until February. Did a check of the RMS web site, nothing found so rang a Company in Sydney that sells tanks and we are getting one delivered next week, no problems with RMS that anyone else knows of. So it looks like the local seller did not want to get one in this close to Christmas, so all the necessary fittings to adapt the new tank and and another redundant 4000 litre tank into our fire fighting system have also been purchased on line from an Australian Company in Sydney also. So some up for Sydney seller :Y: :Y: :Y: and some down for local :N: :N: :N:

Graham

 

[StoneTheCrows]

I am with you Graham

Hope it stays pristeen for many many years :Y:

Maybe you can put up a piccie in 12 months and show us what it looks like then

 

[Ridge Runner]

Puts a whole new meaning to the words Hot Date layful: layful: layful:

Good On Her for having the Stones to take on such a roll :Y: :Y:

 

[user 14190]

Ridge Runner, she has been game to have a go at 'most' things that we have chosen to tackle during during our 54 years together. Where we live now we purchased the steel framing in lengths and I cut and welded the frames and trusses and the both of us put up a 9 meter by 18 meter garage, 6 meter by 12 meter for accommodation while we were building the house and the house was 24 meters by 10 wide, we did all except cement work, bricks on house, sheds were clad with colour bond and we did the roofing also. We did try to get 2 sons to assist on occasions, but they were too busy this week, can help in 3 weeks time, so wife and I did it all and about 4 years ago put another 12 meter by 9 meters by 3.6 high shed, but that is the last one. I think I have been one lucky man to get the support and help to do the things we have done and still be happy to spend quality time with each other. O :heart:

Graham