Blackened Bikeride

This morning I jumped on the bike and headed off to check out the damage from Thursday's fire.

Click on the photos for a larger view.

We live to the west of the local airport and this photo shows the eastern fence line. The worst part of the fire went to the east of the airport.




I have previously had photos of the Duckpond area. The fire burnt around the duckpond and right up to Caloundra Rd (the main road in from the Bruce Hwy).



The fire crossed Pelican Waters Blvd and burnt right up the Little Aths running track and the Village Life Retirement home. These stumps were still smouldering this morning.



This photo shows beside the Village Life Retirement Village looking towards the Little Aths grounds.





The last photo I took was as I was returning home. It shows looking through blackened trees towards the airport.

School, airport closed by blaze (from today's local paper)

Caloundra was surrounded by flames and smoke blanketed across Coast skies yesterday, as one of the worst bushfires in memory raged out of control. More than 150 residents of aged care homes in Golden Beach's Blaxland Street and 160 students of Caloundra City School were evacuated yesterday as thick smoke spread throughout the area. The heavy air proved too much for some elderly people, who had to be treated for smoke inhalation. Worried parents rushed to take their children home, while residents of Village Life, an aged care home, were taken to the Caloundra Power Boat Club, where the Red Cross sent an emergency response team of 13 volunteers to care for victims.

The Caloundra Airport was also evacuated and the Caloundra Hospital had contingency plans in place if fire fighters failed to halt the blaze's destructive path. Caloundra Road and part of the Nicklin Way were blocked off by police for hours, effectively cutting off access to Caloundra and Golden Beach while more than 100 firefighters battled the blaze on the ground with support in the air from two water bombing helicopters. The fire came too close for comfort for some home owners, with the flames coming right up to the back of homes, as well as Caloundra Indoor Bowls Club. The fire began as a wildfire in bushland off Bells Creek Road just after 11am and despite seven fire crews immediately rushing to the area, the dry conditions and 40 knot south-westerly winds were enough to turn the bush into a tinder box. It had burned more than 400 hectares in less than three hours, making the jump from inaccessible bushland to Pelican Waters before 2pm. Triple 0 calls immediately began flooding in, as the plume of smoke spread across the Coast and residents in the immediate area started smelling smoke. By 4.30pm ground crews were reporting they had more than 70% of the fire contained, but an additional five fire trucks and crews were called up from Brisbane to help local efforts, with more placed on standby. A late wind change gave fire fighters some relief in the early evening, but they continued to fight the blaze overnight and it's thought additional heli-bombers will join the fight this morning to "get the jump on" any spot fires which may flare up mid-morning when the wind is expected to turn again. What started the fire is still not clear, but it's thought that a lightening strike from Wednesday's storms may be to blame. Police praised the fire officers who worked tirelessly to ensure there were no injuries or loss of homes.

Fire Pretty Well Out

The excitement is over. The fire which threatened homes and 2 schools at Pelican Waters is well under control with hotspots being mopped up today.





The wind would change from time to time and this would bring the smoke closer to our home. The closest the fire got to us was about 500m away from the house. This meant it was pretty smokey and created some eerie scenes during the afternoon.



Helicopters water bombed the fire collecting water from the local Bellvista Lake. At one stage flames were clearly visible from our front window.








Today has been spent cleaning up. Ash is everywhere making quite a mess. Even now an occasional bit of ash is blown into the pool. I have cleaned the pool twice so far and I have hosed all the ash off the patio and around the pool.

Trish flew to Melbourne this morning but we were both up early cleaning the floors and dusting the tables and furniture. The house needed a good clean after the howling winds and ash.

Click on the photos for a larger view.

More photos of the fire can be seen by following the link under Les' Links on the right to "My Photos" and looking in the Fire Photos folder.

More Fire Pics

The view from our front door looking towards the sea.







At the end of the court showing how the fire is burning behind our estate and headed to the left side of the picture. You can see the missing fence palings through which I took the previous photos!


The current view towards Caloundra.
Click on each photo for a larger view.

Fire

A large grass fire has broken out beside our estate in today's strong wind. Fortunately the wind is blowing the fire away from our estate. No property is in immediate danger from the fire. The road is the 'new' access road at the end of our court!

Smoke billows into the air.








The smoke heads towards Caloundra.







Click on each photo for a larger view.