Burgled

Originally posted by pintohoo ↑

yes, petrol - except for No. 1 with electric.

when I went through petrol or diesel - the only real risk came down to having to refuel in a fire so - I put on extended tanks - they run all day pretty much.

Now I have the house powered no matter what the grid is doing - I really think that most of the stations will be redundant - unless we have a large fire.

I class them more or less like this

a. small fires

b. large fires

c. POQ fires

Small fires are a doddle - and just the electric should do the trick easily - I might wet down the gardens a bit with a backup pump station (petrol) if there is plenty of time - but, after that - nothing that the electric can't handle.

Large fires - would bring on more resources - and, I would be working hard - that would test the system - and, me.

POQ fires ---------------- I don't really give a toss - I wouldn't even try - I would switch the house to it's own power, flick the sprinklers on - stay on watch as long as I was game - then very early in the piece - depart for the bunker - and wait outside or move inside.

The battle on the day is too hard to write a firm script for because there are just so many variables -- size of fire, direction of wind, available manpower, etc. etc.

All I know is that I have a secure area should I choose to retreat - and, that I would retreat if I felt at all that I couldn't handle what was coming our way.

And, I am conservative - if I don't think I can win easily - I would be in the bunker Looking for the insurance company phone number

oh, btw -- picking when to wet down is a big deal - it uses water (lots) - and, you just can't be wet down all the time you think there is risk - often you will be seeing fire for days before it's a threat - again, depends on the conditions.
Fighting doesn't use much water at all - which is why I am very happy to have the electric now - because if you are running a petrol or diesel - you have to be using some water or you fry the impeller - whereas - the electric just sits there doing nothing until the pressure drop fires the pump - as it does 365 days a year.

Ever since we wired the house in to gennies ----------- we said - we should have done that 10 years ago - it is the best thing.

Also -
Luckily - I have one dam that has maybe?? a couple of hundred thousand litres usable at worst that I do nothing at all with - what I do with that is if the garden needs a decent water in summer - I put a pump in that and Parsifal (my partner) runs hoses out of that to nearby gardens - I can get a fair lot of gardens near the house with that water - which means that a. the plants are in good condition even in the worst spring summer - and b. whatever I drop on there keeps it very moist for at least half a day - and, I can keep that water going for hours - without drawing at all on the resources I consider critical.

Expand

Hey Pinto . Seeing as you have such an elaborate system I thought of an addition . Have you thought of having a camera or two outside and connected to your bunker ? In the midst of the fire they may not be much chop because of the smoke but they might enable you to watch the approach for longer once you have retreated to the bunker and also before you get back out .

I have a few friends that rode out the Black Saturday fires . They only survived more out of good luck than good management even though they were experienced country people . Things happened in those fires that no one expected . People learnt a lot as a result of those fires .

Lucky992 . Most people I know that have little fire fighting pumps have them in an open area ( away from other combustibles ) and they have them in a little structure ( think big doghouse ) that has it's own sprinkler system . So , as long as the pump runs it is also keeping itself coolish and hopefully will stop the fuel evaporating .

I live on acreage but not in the bush like you guys so I have the easy option of leaving . I am building up a fire fighting sprinkler system for my toyshed/workshop as there are things in there that aren't really replaceable . The plan is to turn it on and leave . I'll probably even have the option of turning it on remotely .

Appreciate the sharing of ideas here .