On Thursday night we ended up being deployed to St Andrews, the closest township to the south of the badly devastated Kinglake. Our staging area was the community hall which was shared with federal police and the army who were responsible for the grissly task of assessing damage and searching for the deceased ( Read more... )

Sorry for the delay in touching base (ok so it's been MONTHS) but, as you can imagine, much of my time is spent on firefighter forums and email lists, fire websites (checking incident reports, maps, weather observations and now starting to debate the causes of such high fatalities ( Read more... )

Ten years ago five firefighters tragically lost their lives fighting a wildfire in Linton, Australia. This event prompted discussion by firefighters and their supporters around the world about how to best recognize the sacrifices of these men and all other firefighters who had made the ultimate sacrifice. Through much discussion and debate a date ( Read more... )

I'm sorry I haven't updated for a few days but I was busy and then too tired to put things in words ( Read more... )

For those of you following what's happening with my Dad ( Read more... )

Firstly to everyone who has sent their warm words of support and love - thankyou :) It's a hard time realising your parents are only mortal even if you know that they have serious ilnesses ( Read more... )

My father was very excited about my upcoming birthday last week and seemed more absent minded than usual forgetting to do normal things which are part of his daily routine. I initially thought it was his Alzheimers getting worse however last Thursday he suddenly appeared much weaker, with visible shaking and extreme confusion so he couldn't even ( Read more... )

I finally get my laptop computer back (YAY!!!) after almost five and a half weeks without it and THEN I find I can't access the internet! NOOOOOOOOOOOOO ( Read more... )

I still miss him.

http://fire-babe.livejournal.com/47041.html

Yesterday I was telling a few people about the cat who has moved on to our property a few weeks ago. She stays by our house 24 hours a day and now turns up to my door expecting breakfast and dinner. She's had some trauma as she hisses and growls if I try to approach her and she seems quite spooked when trying to grab the food. I have been unable ( Read more... )