Week 5

After a relaxing and well earned break over the weekend, it was straight back into action for our second term at Quest. As always, the week was full of different experiences, and as I sat down just after lunch on Sunday, I began trying to document everything we had done in the week. We had been up every morning at 5am for our fitness sessions with Mrs Stone, we had taken down two of the unused tents as they needed to be repaired, and we spent two fascinating days rebuilding our tractor that we had stripped completely. The mechanics helped us and we all learned a huge amount about the fundamental aspects of the tractor engine we were rebuilding.

                  As I sat on the veranda of my tent, about to put this week into words, four workers came around the corner and asked for ‘Mr Ross’, our facilitator. We pointed them towards him, and after a very brief chat with him Ross began to act slightly more urgent. He came over to the five of us who were around and said to get water and a hat, and to gather the other members as we needed to go and control a fire. We could see a small plume of smoke coming over the distant hills, but at the time, we all thought that we were just going to put out a bonfire that had got a little too big, and just had to bring it under control.

                  As we began loading our fire beaters into the truck, I began to realise how serious the situation might be as we loaded more and more water onto the truck and began packing burn patches. We left the camp in two trucks, and travelled as a team towards the smoke. As we got closer and drove over the hills in-between us and the fire, I was full of adrenalin, as I had never fought any kind of fire before. A few minutes later, we arrived where we were needed, and we suddenly realised the sincerity of the task at hand.

                  The fire had already ripped through a whole mountain side, and was travelling fast with the increasing wind back towards where we had come from. It stretched for many kilometres either side of us, and only when there was a break in the smoke could we see the orange wall snaking its way up the neighbouring mountains. We progressed along the fire beating it out as we went along, like an advancing army with our beaters as weapons. We stepped back when the wind picked up, and beat the fire heavily when the wind died down. We covered what seemed like a huge stretch of land and stopped the fire from going any further in that area. But in the end it seemed like it was all for nothing, as we were told the fire had jumped the road and was coming around back behind us. We retreated right back to the nearest road and began to ‘back-burn’ towards the oncoming flames. We had started fighting the fire at 2.45pm and by the time we began the back burn, a couple of hours had flown by already.

                  Our throats and eyes were sore and teary from the smoke, faces were bright red from the intense heat and our legs were lacerated from the huge thorn bushes that we had to rush through to fight the flames. We were spread along the road, making sure it didn’t jump across at any point. For the next 3 hours a team of about 40 of us followed the line of the fire as it carried on over the hills, licking up everything in its path at an alarming rate. By the time the sun set, the fire stretched either side of us for as far as we could see, and all the areas we had worked in the early afternoon were simply ash. We had managed to get water on board, and we knew we had a long night’s work ahead of us. At one stage, once we had walked right into the heart of the bush, all we could see was the silhouettes of the guys around us amongst the flames. We realised that the bush was too thick and there was no way we were going to stop the fire there. We turned around and made our way back to a road. The fire was the only light that lit our path in the darkness, and as we trekked across scorched ground, we had to pay close attention in order not to get disorientated or separated from the group.

                  We finally met up with our trucks and were welcomed with cold drinks and a place to take the weight off our feet. We headed back to camp, but only momentarily to get some food on board, as our job was still unfinished. By the time we had shovelled enough food to last the next few hours, it was 10 o’clock. We all jumped into the truck once again and drove towards the border of the land we are all living on known as ‘Quiet Waters’. The fire was now only metres from the fence line. The area where we had cycled for 2 hours the day before was now completely burned. We started another line of back-burning, and with the help of the fire guards already in place, and another huge effort for 2 more hours, we were able to stop the fire from crossing the fence. We had mixed emotions at the time, as we were relieved and happy that we had protected our home, but we knew that the fire still raged on elsewhere. But there were other folk out there having the same success as us, so we went home at midnight knowing we had done our job.

                  I will never forget the views of the blazing fire tearing up whole mountain sides, with huge flames that burnt so fiercely they echoed down the valley. Also the feeling of powerlessness as the fire blazed through areas which we either couldn’t put out, or thought we had protected. Being from England, I had never seen anything like it, and it may be some time before I see anything similar ever again. The guys who live out here have said they have never seen a fire so bad, and they have fought hundreds of them before. We can definitely say we put our blood, sweat and tears into fighting the blaze, and it’s an experience I will remember vividly for a very long time to come.

Oli Pike