Well they say it never rains but it pours and the rains have certainly kept up which presents it’s own set of problems. We had to cancel our training day - un bogging trucks is not part of our normal training and we just didn’t have enough lighter fluid (or napalm) to actually get anything to burn. Then Friday morning (3.17 am to be exact) the page came through – fire at Gilmacs hay processing Comer Lane Goornong. For the uninitiated this is one of the biggest hay processing plants in Victoria and as luck would have it the fire was in the smallest shed containing 3000 tonnes of premium hay bound for export.
As our crews arrived it was clear that the structure was fully involved and the decision to make tankers 6 and pumpers two was transmitted to Vic fire. The biggest concern for the crew and incident controller (Tim) was the processing plant. It was already showing signs of heat distress from the radiant heat. Tim and the crew did a fantastic job with only superficial damage to the wall of the processing plant. The shed containing the hay was too far gone so it became an asset protection and containment exercise. In the end there were 12 appliances including the ladder platform from Bendigo. The rain over the preceding weeks provided a further complication as the access to the water sources was virtually mud. Many thanks to the crews from our neighbouring brigades for their prompt support and assistance. The shed continued to burn for the next 4 days and the final bill being around 1.5 million dollars.
