News & Updates from Vicki Avcin ~ AusCrafts · Page 85

Well what a bang to our Summer as the first week is giving us higher than average temperatures already. Heatwave conditions already and summer here only started on 1st December. Has been some severe storms thrown in the mix with some places getting hail bigger than cricket balls.

Sadly we arent getting these storms and our grass is lovely crunchy brown grass. Our fire season has well and truly arrived too with some places having fires that have burnt for a couple of weeks in places.

Weve had one Fire Ban in place already for 4 days in November but there is still Hazard Reduction burning to be done.

Wednesday night I spent 5 hrs on the fire ground at one Hazard Reduction burning 9 stacks for a property owner who has cleared his land (selectively) to try and reduce the amount of fuel on his property.

We have to time these burns so that the weather is in our favour and although we try and do these burns in the cooler months between May and August but when we have had a wet winter we have to do them when we can.

These burns are also an invaluable tool for new firefighters to learn use of equipment and fire behaviour on a smaller scale rather than a wildfire.

So roll on summer….if we have wildfires we will be prepared with reduced fuel loading and firefighters that know their skills.

Photos are a couple of photos from the burn last night taken by Lesley H who was one of the crew

Well those who follow my news stories will know that I won the design for the QFES challenge coin.My design was chosen for the front of the coin, with another firefighter designing the back of the coin.

This coin was to depict who we are and what we do.

So the front of the coin has the QFES logo and the services it encompasses on the front with images of what we do fire/flood/storms on the back.

We knew when we won that we would be presented with a coin in a presentation box, so weve been patiently waiting to get it….nearly 5 months.

Yesterday there was a meeting with the Deputy Commissioner here with Brigade members from round our area and at the beginning I was presented with the coin.

Well 2 actually in the frame…..front and back. So Im really happy that I can now put it up for all to see.

What I think was more challenging was trying to photograph it than designing it because of the glass reflecting everything in the room around it, and my hands and the camera!

Last Sunday and Monday the sky was alive with millions…..and I mean that millions and millions of White Caper butterflies.

Its a phenomenon that we only see every six to 10 years. They were right along the eastern coast of Australia down into New South Wales.

So in effect there was hundreds of millions of these little native butterflies. Caper White butterflies are migrating from west of the Great Dividing Range to lay their eggs. They lay 60-100 eggs each!

No one knows why but they believe that the recent rain on the western side of the Great Dividing Range has meant that these little butterflies have thrived and it may be related to hot and humid conditions, and the wind direction which is perfect flying weather for them as they dont need to consume as much energy to keep warm and hydrated.

They fly so fast with the wind its hard to get good photos of them but it truly was a magnificent site to see all these little white butterflies against the clear blue sky.

The photo doesnt do justice as they were landing on top of a gum tree here that is covered in blossom that it looked like there was snow on top of it.

Definitely no snow as we are having temperatures over 30 deg C here at the moment.

I am so proud of my daughter. Everyday she is at work I wonder what she will encounter.

Some things she tells me about, others she touches on and doesnt want to talk about and yet other things you hear on the news, know shes on roster, and wonder if she was at that job.

She is now a senior constable as this happened 3 years ago and she wouldve been only in the job for a couple of years and still a constable.

I remember hearing about this incident on the news, but although she said she attended, she didnt tell me the details.

Last Friday I learnt more about Boxing Day 2013. She sent me a message with a photo of a certificate, an operational bravery award. Although they are faced with many things and dont go to work to just get awards, it is great to see their work acknowledged when things get nasty.

This was the report on the QPS site the next day……..Bravery award after boxing day stand-off, HendraOct 20, 2016 @ 3:51pmOn the morning of Thursday, December 26 2013, police from Hendra station responded to a call for service to a residence in Banyo where a male person had armed himself with a knife and a sawn-off shot gun, and taken a woman and her 13-year-old daughter hostage.At the time, Constables Morice, Mackay, Hess, Field and Woods attended the address and were fired upon at close range.

All officers managed to retreat and establish a cordon around the address ensuring no harm came to the surrounding community.The hostages were later extracted from the address without injury to them or the police.These officers displayed amazing courage and professionalism on that day and their actions were recognised by the awarding of an Assistant Commissioners Certificate.

On 11th October Hubby and I celebrated our 13th Wedding Anniversary. Its been 13 years of happiness but weve had a lot of obstacles in our wayover those years. I call hubby my Mills and Boon man.

Something you read about in booksalways pretty much perfect, and treats the woman like shes the only personon earth. Well Hubby is everything you read about, kind, loving, thoughtful , he cooks and he cleans and does the washing.

I think Im pretty lucky to havesomeone who just keeps stepping up to what ever has to be done.

We went out to dinner for our anniversary after having a great day. The photo is from our wedding day.