Bushfires December 2006

That close?

Fri, 22 Dec 2006 23:04:56 +1100

Back burning comes to within 50 metres of the Star Hotel. What you can't see in this photo is the fire trucks outside the hotel and all the people in the bush manning rake hoes. Oh...then it started to rain heavily so we were totally safe!

Army fuels up.

Fri, 22 Dec 2006 19:00:10 +1100

As the road to Walhalla was closed for nearly two week, diesel supplies were getting low so the AIF came to the rescue and filled up any vehicles who turned up. Here the Star Hotel bus gets a tank full.

Fire burns 24/7

Fri, 22 Dec 2006 18:59:43 +1100

The best time to view the fire was at night. One evening a group of residents piles into the Star Hotel bus to go and have a sticky nose and relieve the boredom. This is the fire burning on the southern side of Stringers Gorge opposite the main road into Walhalla.

Smoke and mirrors

Fri, 22 Dec 2006 18:59:19 +1100

Some days were better than others. Thursday 21 December had potential to be very bad. You can see the trees bending in the wind, but the large number of CFA and other fire equipment in Walhalla meant we were ready. Fortunately...nothing bad happened.

Trains safe

Fri, 22 Dec 2006 18:58:50 +1100

The Walhalla Goldfields Railway were advised that Walhalla was the best option for all their rolling stock. So the rather brave crews moved all the carriages from Thomson through the burning Stringers Gorge to ensure their protection.

Hurry up and wait

Fri, 22 Dec 2006 17:57:46 +1100

Long hours with nothing to do...The Age tried to get some action into the fire in Walhalla.

Malcolm to the rescue

Fri, 22 Dec 2006 17:56:31 +1100

When things started getting hot at the bottom of Stringers Gorge near the Thomson River, Malcolm the huge air crane was called out for water bomb the Walhalla Goldfields Railway. This photo appeared in The Age and really says it all!

Slow burn

Thu, 21 Dec 2006 07:20:03 +1100

The fire took 4 days to burn down Stringers Gorge. The very steep terrain slowed the fire down but also made it impossible to fight.

On the beat

Thu, 21 Dec 2006 07:13:15 +1100

During the fires we kept the GreyHorse Cafe running 24/7. It was a favourite with all the emergency personnel in town, but we had to keep the door shut to stop the smoke detectors from going off!

D Day

Tue, 19 Dec 2006 03:23:10 +1100

On Tuesday 19 December, the fire reached the ridge of Mt Little Joe. We could now see the flames.

Look out, it's behind you!

Tue, 19 Dec 2006 03:21:00 +1100

Smoke billows from the fire burning on the other side of the ridge at Maidentown. This is about 1 kilometre away from the hotel.

Walhalla Fire Brigade

Tue, 19 Dec 2006 03:20:33 +1100

For a bit of fun we broke out Walhalla's 1903 hand pumped fire cart...it works too!

Getting closer

Tue, 19 Dec 2006 03:16:48 +1100

The inevitable march of the fire. Here it crosses the Bruntons Bridge road just near Happy Go Lucky about 6 kilometres from Walhalla.

A sign of things to come

Thu, 14 Dec 2006 17:47:58 +1100

On Thursday 14 December the Coopers Creek fire was deliberately lit at Jubilee some 8 kilometres south-west of Walhalla. Under very strong north-west winds it travelled 30 kilometres to the south-east destroying property in Toongabbie and Cowwarr. The sky to the south of Walhalla was black with smoke while the town was bathed in sunlight.