Well as some of you know, Im a volunteer firefighter.
(Btw: You can see the types of trucks we have here: http://www.bushfire.nsw.gov.au/index.cfm?cid=77&cfid=577795&cftoken=10507345 we have one Category 1 tanker and 1 dual cabin cat 7)

On Wedensday, I went out with my dad for a while, then we came back home about 15:00. My mum told me someone from the Brigade had called to see if I could attend a fire. So I rang the fire station:
Me: "Hey how ya doing?"
My Deputy Captain: "Not bad. Can you go to a fire?"
Me: "Yep. Be there in five minutes".

This wasnt the exact conversation, but its close enough.

I grabbed my gear, put it on, jumped in the car and my dad and I drove towards the station, a 4 minute walk away (faster in the car, duh ). As we were driving we saw the fire truck coming towards us. Dad flashed the lights and I jumped out yelling "TAXI!". The truck pulls over, I jump in and off we go, lights and sirens going. I ask "whats going on?" and was told "fire at Gosford."

Now Im in Sydney. About 1/2 an hour north of the CBD. Gosford is a good hour or hour and a half drive to the north of Sydney.

After stopping at HQ to find out more details, and picking up two more people for a total crew of 6, and gaping at how many people will ignore a 14 ton truck with lights and sirens going and drive like we are just another person on the road, we drove up to Gosford.

We finally get there and this was about 16:15 or so-ish.
We put in a backburn after dealing with a stupid tree-hugging resident (do you think we WANT to burn your garden?!). At about 22:00 I ask what time we might get a relief crew. Im answered with "ooh maybe about 4 or 6 in the morning". A little while later the DC comes up to me and says "I did tell you this is a 12 hour commitment right?" "Nope". "Oh...sorry.".

*grumble mumble*. Not that I'm complaining too much. It was a lot of fun. But I didnt get home till about 5 am the next morning, by which time we were all exhausted.

With the backburn burning away from us, and our unit not doing too much, we just sat around after about 23:30ish, in about 6 degree temperatures wearing just a cotten jacket, cotton pants, and a cotton shirt. We were rather cold . So we lit another little campfire and kept ourselves warm that way.

It was a great day, a great experience... but man oh man I wish he'd mentioned the 12 hour and the Gosford part a little eariler lol.

The backburn was successful, and we stopped the fire I understand.
We dont know how the fire started, and its very very dry in the whole of the state at the moment.

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Founder of the Massassi Brute Squad (MBS)

B'tduz: A popular dwarfish game which consists of standing a few feet apart and throwing large rocks at one another's head.

"Yes, it's a bloody flying alligator setting fire to my city!" - His Grace His Excellency the Duke of Ankh, Commander Sir Samuel Vimes.

Morituri Nolumus Mori

Woo! Go SN!

Nice to see you're enjoying the work. Were you stull glowing in your purdy clothes?

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Wise men say that fools rush in where angels fear to tread, so look before you leap, so to speak, because the grass is not always greener on the other side of the hill.

Nazgul my hero!!!

Do you ever run around the city in your own tight spandex superhero costume?

If not I'd rather burn

if(getThingFlags(source) & 0x8){
  do her}
elseif(getThingFlags(source) & 0x4){
  do other babe}
else{
  do a dude}

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There is no signature

Yeah we all have to wear the yellow pants and jackets and helmets and so on.

And no sorry... no superhero stuff

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Founder of the Massassi Brute Squad (MBS)

B'tduz: A popular dwarfish game which consists of standing a few feet apart and throwing large rocks at one another's head.

"Yes, it's a bloody flying alligator setting fire to my city!" - His Grace His Excellency the Duke of Ankh, Commander Sir Samuel Vimes.

Morituri Nolumus Mori

So I'm assuming this was a grass fire of sorts and you used the back burn to create a fire break. That's good stuff. I want to get into wildland fire when I finish with school, working on perscribed burns and such.

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I'm not an actor. I just play one on TV.

No it was in a hilly eucalyptus tree-ed area. We put in a backburn in front of the fire to stop it from getting towards some houses. It wasnt moving very fast at all.

Later in the night we had to go to a retirement village and take a look there because the fire was about 60 metres away from it. However two other trucks were already there and they took care of it I think.

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Founder of the Massassi Brute Squad (MBS)

B'tduz: A popular dwarfish game which consists of standing a few feet apart and throwing large rocks at one another's head.

"Yes, it's a bloody flying alligator setting fire to my city!" - His Grace His Excellency the Duke of Ankh, Commander Sir Samuel Vimes.

Morituri Nolumus Mori