Heavy Hazardous Material Response Unit

Well, I just got back from the Woodford brigade (about ten minutes up the road) where one of the guys is also a member of the NSW Fire Brigades and he arranged to bring their new Heavy Hazardous Materials Response truck up for a viewing and training.

The guys approximate that the truck is worth close to a millions dollars, and having seen it, that is easy to believe. It has every bell and whistle you can imagine. It even has football stadium style lights that extend and can be moved to any number of settings all via remote control and when they are not in use, tuck in neatly behind the cab. It carries 38 cylinders for breathing apparatus, fridges, a microwave, computers, one of those whiteboards you can print out, its own weather station and more buttons and touch screens than you can point a stick at.

The photos below show some of the bells and whistles....

This is a photo showing the main work area. This contains half of the breathing apparatus cylinders, fridges, some pumps and water among other things.

This is a view into the truck from the back. All of the crates you see contain various equipment required for response such as boots.

These two photos are of a control panel just inside the door to the back of the truck. It gives a constant update on what is happening, including oil pressure, what doors are open and a general overview of what the truck is doing.


The tour wouldn't be complete without a view inside the cab. The screen at the top of the photo is a massive GPS unit and the buttons below control all of the lights and sirens. The truck is fully automatic with push button selections for drive and reverse and so on.

Well, that is about it on the big toy. Hope you enjoyed. I did!

Painting of Ben...

Hi all. A short (long) time ago Karen asked me to paint a picture of Ben. I selected a photo of him at the lake at Wentworth Falls feeding some ducks chips. For a long time the canvas has been green with a couple of charcoal outlines. Well now it is done and I have some photos of the progress as it came together.

This was the first step done well over 18 months ago. As I said, the first thing I did was paint a solid green background and put some basic charcoal lines in to mark where things were going to go.

The next thing was to start to add some more solid colours in blocks, especially the large shadow area from a tree and the water in the top right corner.

Next comes some more detailed colouring. The ducks and "Ben" start to take form. Still just solid colours and little detail but getting closer to the final product.

Finally the extra details are put in. Ben gets a face (not necessarily his), the ducks and the container in Ben's hand get chips, extra shadows are added, the grass gets texture and the water gets some silver highlights


This is my first attempt at doing a person. Not as good as I hoped, but practice makes perfect as they say.....

Village Fire Fighting Assessment

Well, I did it. I went to the Village Fire Fighting (VF) assessment today. I passed, but I am now quite tired. We were assessed on a response to a motor vehicle accident, a structural fire and ropes, ladders and fire extiguishers. It was quite a cold and rainy day, but that still didn't stop us working up a sweat in our gear!!! We had to do three runs of each excercise and, as the assessors said, if we didn't get it right within three runs we would fail. It was only a small group of us and most had put in a lot of practice, so there were no problems.

Well the next thing up is first aid in May and then I will look at when I can do Advanced Fire Fighting, which takes it all to the next level.

Talk again soon!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks for all the fish.....

Hi all. Thanks for the comments. Quick update. Ben has been at his dad's for the week and he comes back tomorrow to have the second week of his holidays here. We went to the Katoomba Hospital last Sunday and booked in to have the baby. We also had an appointment with the obstetrician on Monday and he has given mum and baby a clean bill of health. (Phew!) Our next appointment is on the 15th of May, and the 18 week ultrasound is due in a couple of Weeks. Rest assured I Will post a pic.

I am off to my Village Fire Fighting assessment tomorrow. Village Fire Fighting involves anything from storm damage to vehicle fires and accidents to structural fires. Should be a good day. I was training with one of the other brigades last Saturday and I think we all feel well prepared.... I will post tomorrow to let you know how it went.

Bye for now.

Slide shows galore...and more to come.

Good evening. I have posted some slide shows for your perusal. More news and photos to come soon, so watch this space...

P.S: I lit the fire!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

PS: I forgot to mention....I lit a lot of the fires you saw in the fire photos! Was it fun? What do you think? I think that anyone that knows me well will know the answer to that. That means you Dean, Chris, Mum and Shayne.....

Helloooooo? Is there anybody in there?

Well...it seems Karen, Ben and I are taking the plunge into the world of bloggland. This is just the beginning. Hold on tight. We will take you on and adventure involving fire (with flames), dogs, cats, fish, rugby, babies, paintings and whatever other weird and wonderful stuff pops into our heads or lives..... Let's kick things off with some photos. You will find below some interesting things, or at least interesting to us, so take a look and tell us what you think .....................

First the fire photos. The first photos are of the hazard reduction (a controlled burn done in cooler months to reduce high levels of bush fire fuel) that was conducted by the Fualconbridge Rural Fire Brigade (RFB). This was assisted by other RFBs including Valley Heights, Winmalee and the National parks and wildlife service. Some of the flames were well over 6 metres high!!!

The helicopter pictured drops incendiary devices in the areas that can not be reached on foot. They are like ping pong balls that, when activated, undergo a chemical reaction that causes them the burst into flame. They are simply dropped out of the helicopter and off they go!This is a photo taken at the Blue Mountains Championships of our Captain, Stewart, officially being handed the keys to our new category 1 (big) fire truck. Last fire photo, I bet you thought that would never end! This is a crew of us from Faulco RFB manning one of the checkpoints at the Six Foot Track Marathon. This is now one of the top ten marathons in Australia and attracts runners from far and wide.

Next, a couple of paintings I have done....

A photo of the boys, Bazal and Murphy the cats. Murphy is the white one. He is our wedding cat, we got him just after our wedding from the Katoomba RSPCA.

Next, a photo of the Mooflower in bloom. This thing is strange. It only flowers at night and is only supposed to flower once a year. Ours has flowered 5 times this year. The blooms have the most incredible scent.
If you look really, really closely you will be able to make out Ben in the centre of this photo. This was his first game of Rugby Union. They played against a team of large islanders that would make Mike Tyson look like a dwarf, so I can't blame him for staying way out there away from them all!!! In all fairness he was actually staying in his position on the wing...lucky for him.And lastly....this is our future bundle of joy at the 12 week ultrasound....No longer a jellybean, now a peanut. We had an appointment today with the doctor at Katoomba hospital and he is very happy with the way things are progressing. It is all very exciting for us.
Well....as Peter Cundall (Gardening Australia on ABC) says...that's your bloomin' lot. I will put some more stuff up as it happens and when it is not so close to my bedtime. Oh, and I am sure Karen will be putting in her bit, and Bippo (Ben for those of you that don't know).

Adios Doritos!