News & Updates from Vicki Avcin ~ AusCrafts · Page 89

Last Sunday I spent the day at a training day for the Collar Dam we use. Named because the top of it has a collar fitted and it is a portable dam. We had 5 different brigades attending with 31 members.

The day started a lovely sunny morning but by 10am we were playing with water in the rain!

It did clear up after about 10 mins but just as we were finishing up around lunch time the heavens opened up again. This dam is a portable water source for the Fire Service when we are in an area that doesn?t have a reticulated water line. The dam is set up and then a relay of tankers fill it with 12,000 litres of water.

Depending on the size of the tanker it takes around 3 of our tankers to initially fill it.

Then while the water is used by the trucks filling up on the fireground, the tankers are then going to a water supply and refilling and bringing that load of water back to ?top up? the dam. The dam can also be used by water bombing helicopters which have a large bucket hanging from underneath the helicopter, known as a Bambi bucket.

When the helicopters are in use e-flares are fitted to the top of the dam for pilot guidance. We often attend fires that have no water, and in summer quite often dams are dried up or have a very low water supply, so these portable/collar dams mean that the fire trucks have a supply of water constantly without having to wait for fire units to leave and fill or wait till a tanker returns from refilling. The dam is folded up and fits in a shelf on a trailer and is easily assembled or dismantled by 4 people. When full it is higher than most people as you can see in the pictures. 2 fire units can be filled at the same time with an inlet/outlet opposite each other.

Sometimes it is very tempting to want to just dive in on a hot day at a fire, but so far no one has gone in.

Apart from the fact that the water source for the water that goes into it could be from a dam or lake, a hydrant, a water tank or swimming pool as the tanker will fill from the closest water source to minimise turnaround time.

Sometimes our nearest water source might be 20 mins away (plus filling time and another 20 mins back ). 40 plus mins is quite a considerable amount of time for a fire unit to be off the fireground at a ?going? fire, so by leaving the tankers to do the filling of the dam and having this close by, units can fill and be back on the fireground quickly. The cards I?m promoting are just 2 of my cute little Owl designs.

Very quick and easy to make. Check all my other cute little owls too.

Well it was a big week last couple of weeks for two of my kids with both having settlement for the purchase of new homes within 2 days of each other. My daughter, Bridget, has brought her very first home so I?m so excited and proud of her.

She has worked very hard towards saving and purchasing and has brought a 2 bedroom home which will be a lot closer and easier for her to get to work.

Her place settled on 22nd February. She?s still not living in it though as the previous tenant was a very heavy smoker and my daughter doesn?t smoke, and the walls and ceilings need cleaning and repainting before she moves in to live.

She also wants to pull up the carpets and replace in the bedrooms. The other floors she?s replacing with timber flooring. There is a small park next to her house which will be great for her to run and play with Jaylee , my grandfurbaby.

Her place is in a gated community precinct so she won?t have to worry about any structural work should it need it at any time as the Body Corporate will do that.

Also it?s a more secure place safety wise. My son Paul, and his wife Kelly and Chloe and Riley and their furbaby Milo, settled their home 2 days later on the 24th February.

They have brought an acerage block as Paul is the owner of a trucking company, so although there is already a big shed on the block, there is plenty of room for another bigger shed.

Although this isn?t their first home, I?m still really proud and excited for them. He works long hours, usually has only one day a week off which even that is spent working on one of the trucks.

But it will be closer for them for Chloe and Riley?s schools.

They were sad to leave the ?old? house as it was planned and designed by them and they?d done massive amounts of work to it.

Also made it easy when we went to Brisbane as it was only round the corner from another son and family.

But they are looking forward to their moving into their new place too and adding their touches to it. So we now will have to go and visit soon to see their new places.

Can?t wait to see what they?ve done to put their ?personal? touches to the places. I know Bridgets will be very different from the Real Estate pics as her colour scheme after painting will be very different.

Paul said their place won?t need anything done as paint is good it?ll just be coordinating their preferences with what is there.

The photos are of them outside their new places with the ?Sold? signs. The items I am promoting are 2 new Topper Bumper Kits one for females and one for males.

On first January..yes New Years Day..

I was monitoring the radios and heard brigades respond to a fire in National Park at Coonarr just south east of Bundaberg Queensland. Could tell that it was a large fire as responding crews were calling in brigade after brigade. New Years afternoon and I got the call to say a Strike Team would be leaving early next morning to go and assist. So up at 4.30am 2nd January, had my morning ?kick start? (nice strong coffee), bit of breakfast and off to meet the 5 fire trucks from our area and led by our Group support vehicle that would be the strike team leader.

We headed off arriving at our staging area by 8am. We were immediately tasked to strengthen the containment lines put in by the crews during the night. This proved challenging as we were to put backburns to the existing breaks.

As the backburn was put in at night while it was cooler, the fire only burn to a height of around a metre or two up from the ground leaving the foliage above unburnt.

The wind was picking up and as it burnt in, the wind picked up as the day heated up and we found the fire was crowning through the tops of the trees and coming right back over the crews.

Fortunately the crews managed to stop it spotting over into unburnt ground.

Once that was done we had to work up the central break and continue to deepen the width of burnt ground.

The fire continued to burn through the unburnt ground in the middle of a section of the National Park.

There were other crews working on the other side of the fire doing the same, strengthening containment lines. We had the support of helicopters which were water bombing anything that looked like breaching those containment lines.

These pilots are brilliant. They?d fly in, drop their load of water bang on target each time. Over and over they would drop, refill and be back again.

We were all very grateful for the tremendous accuracy they had as we?d have had big problems as the fire raced through the coastal heath causing spotovers. The biggest challenge of all though was on the 2nd day we were there when the sandy tracks/roads we were working on deteriorated into what could only be described only as ?talcum powder?.

Super fine ?dust? and it covered everything. At one point we couldn?t see the writing on our vehicle! It was in every nook and cranny imaginable and we were covered in this white powder.

We were released from the job late in the afternoon when we were happy that it was all safe and headed home. Driving down the highway on the way home, all I could see as the Strike Team lead vehicle was clouds of ?powder? as it blew off the trucks behind me.

The photos show the water bombers and the amount of dust on the vehicles. Check out all my bookmarks. Here is just two that I have listed.

2015 has gone and we roll into 2016. Firstly I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and New Year.

Thank you to everyone who purchased my items in 2015 and the fabulous cardmakers that make my designs spring to life with their wonderful creations from my designs. Well I?m so proud of my beautiful grandkids. I is wonderful to see the Grandkids growing up into beautiful happy kids.

I am so proud of them all. We also had a new addition in 2015 with the birth of gorgeous little Axl. A little brother for Zoe and Zac. Zoe has completed her first year at high school, and is loving it.

This is the first year here in Queensland that Year 7?s were at high school. Yr 7 was normally the last year of primary school and students ?graduated? before heading off with the senior students. Zac completed Yr 5, so 2016 will be his last year at primary school.

I can?t believe he?s at that stage already!!

Only seems a couple of years ago that he was starting school!! Chloe is in Yr 6 this year, her last year at primary school and will be heading off to high school next year.

She has excelled in 2015 with her dance having gain High Distinctions in all her exams. Riley goes into Yr 4 and is also excelling with his dance classes.

He loves Hip Hop and took part in his first eisteddfod this year. Nathaniel goes into Year 3 this year.

Again it only seems like a couple of years ago that he was born and hooked up to all sorts of machines as he was 6 weeks premmy. 2016 will see another little granddaughter being welcomed into the world which will be a little sister for Nathaniel. You can see by the photos what gorgeous kids they are??.but then I am a little biased!! I am promoting recent uploads of some inserts for cards and a quick Celebration design

Some more adventures of our Canadian cousin and her friend that came out in November. The main purpose of the visit was to meet the Australian family, which we managed to do. Firstly they spent a week in Brisbane with son and daughter-in-law and the new baby and 2 of the grandkids.

During that time they had a very Aussie experience when they went to a Farmstay near Toowoomba. Here they ate Damper, learnt how to crack a whip and see how a farm is run. Then it was up here to us for 2 weeks.

A couple of days to rest and see some of Hervey Bay by hiring scooters for 4 hours where they explored our beautiful Esplanade and the shops. They came home with bags of souvenirs for the family back home.

Monday night was out to dinner at the Boat Club as we?d planned to do that Sunday night but it was stormy so we postponed till Monday.

Then Wednesday hubby headed up to Bowen to meet more family up there. They loved the beaches up there.

Saturday they headed back home. Only 2 hrs out a wallaby hopped out of the long grass on the side of the road and head butted the car.

All good - only the bumper bar coming off the worse for wear but ?100mph tape? fixed that and they were on the road again arriving home Saturday night.

Bowen is a 12 hr trip in the car. Sunday morning saw Georgie going down and visiting Hervey Bays Dragon Boat Club, as she is a member of the Dragon Boat club back home.

She went for a training paddle with them out in our beautiful bay for 2 hours and had a fantastic time.

This was the highlight of her trip to Australia. Monday again and we went to Snakes Downunder where they got to pat and feed the kangaroos, learnt all about our snakes, lizards and crocodiles.

And of course the ?big promise to her? that she?d get to get up close and personal with our gorgeous koala?s. We also made sure she got to meet the local fireys too both here in Hervey Bay and my friends in Bowen.

They gave her a ride in the firetruck and let her splash some water around. Tuesday it was time to head back to Brisbane, where they met 2 of my kids and families, then headed down to the iconic Outpost Café at Canungra to meet hubbys other 2 brothers and wife of one of them. Back to Brisbane again until they left to get their flights back home at 4am on Thursday morning. They loved Australia, the friendliness of the people and cousin Vera said that she?ll be back in 2 years. Since going home and telling the family it seems now her mother, and hubby and kids all want to move here.

That is something that will play out in the next few years maybe. It was a fantastic visit not only for them but for us also. The items I?m promoting are my new window pillow bags.

Designed to have an acetate window on the front. Check them all out.