Clear Ambiguity

My life has been completely nuts for the last few weeks with fires all over the place in South Australia. Unfortunately it has been even worse in many other states as the country burns.

I am a rather untalented photographer with no skill, some luck and an amazing work place so here are a few pics of recent fires. Larger versions and more photos can be found via pcuse.com/gallery.

Brenton keeping an eye on things at Gums Lagoon in the South East.

Dyson’s silhouette.

Gums burning at Gums lagoon

Mallee burning at the bookmark fire in the riverland.

National Parks strike team

The definition of futility :)

Playing catch the lightening strike

Brenton’s handiwork.

Nature’s palette.

The gear bags start to melt.

Hot!

Artsy mirror shot

Bonnet reflection and my favourite pic from Cox’s scrub

Keep driving!

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Hi folks,

It has been a very interesting and hectic start to the fire season across the country. I have played a small part by helping out at the following major fires and a whole stack of smaller ones.

Kangaroo Island around Gosse in the Flinders Chase National Park (photos in http://pcuse.com/gallery)

Scott Creek

Humbug Scrub (based at One Tree Hill)

Gums Lagoon (based in Keith and photos at http://pcuse.com/gallery)

Bookmark fire (based at Waikerie in the riverland, photos up in the gallery tomorrow)
We have another fire ban day tomorrow and they are already looking for crews to go away. It should be an interesting week.

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AdelaideNow… Stark warning on SA climate

I can’t believe that an Australian Premier has actually stated that climate change exists. This is a news article about what South Australia is likely to expect during the next century and is quite frankly scary. It includes a picture of my CFS (local volunteer fire service) captain Richard Coombe because one result of climate change is going to be increased wildfire activity.

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Here are the results of my recent Fighting Fit medical.

• Cholesterol: 4.24

• Category: <5.0
• Risk weighting: 0

• Category: <140
• Risk weighting: 0

• Category: <95
• Risk weighting: 2

• Category: Male
• Risk weighting: 1

• Category: No family history of heart disease
• Risk weighting: 0

• Category: Never
• Risk weighting: 0

• Category: Active but not aerobic
• Risk weighting: 2

• Category: Could improve
• Risk weighting: 2

• Category: Overweight
• Risk weighting: 4

• Category: <7
• Risk weighting: 0

• Category: <19
• Risk weighting: Some risk

Lung Function:

• Forced Vital Capacity: 5.5L

• % of predicted: 103 (>80% required)

Referal to doctor: NO

Health Classification:

Class 2: “This person should be consulted prior to allocation”

My notes:

OK, so I passed the medical and can now do the fitness test for this fire season. That is a great start to the year. However I still need to look at my health. In particular my weight, which at 103kg is still way to high for a 187cm person. Dropping more weight will have the added benefit of dropping my blood pressure which has been 120/80 for most of the year (on Anacand medication), but increased dramatically as I approached the medical and ran out of tablets.

My class 2 rating means that I can still be a valuable member of the team and can still qualify for A status in fitness, but I will not be an automatic pick for extended away trips. This fire season is starting to look very serious though, with warnings from local fire autorities and even some from overseas about the conditions in South Australia. So, I think I will be busy anyway.

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I spent last weekend at Ngarkat Conservation Park working on a fairly large fire. It ended up at around 80000 hectares which is 800 km2. I have put a few pics over at pcuse.com/gallery.

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We have three of these water bombers available during the fire season in South Australia. They are are piloted by some amazing people. These guys fly some really difficult terrain and really bust their guts to help wherever it is needed.

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I have just had my yearly fire fitness medical, and unfortunately it looks like my geek nature, multiple children and hectic life are getting the better of me. It looks like I have hypertension, or high blood pressure.

A quick chat to the sports professional doing the medical gave me the following advice.

I need to lose around 10-15kg in weight as I am currently 109kg and at 187cm (6′2″) I am about 14kg overweight. I am using this calculator which is just the first one I came across using google.

I am only 38 years old and I know I am fitter than many of my peers, as I do a fair bit of heavy and aerobic type work. However I really need to fix this. There are many reasons that I have to, like my work often involves sustained and heavy work up very steep hills, and the most common way for firefighters to die is via heart attacks. I also am concerned for my own health, and and well have to fix it.

I work around 10km from home, so will start to ride there instead of using the car, it is basically uphill all the way, so I should be awake when I get there, and the trip home will be a nice relaxing coast. I will also ride the kids to school/ kindy when I have that time of day free- I did this morning.

I really enjoy riding, and used to ride 100-200kms and go camping in a previous life. I have very little time these days though, as I am either working or watching children. I just need to make a slot for me.

I am not alone with having hypertension, as 1/7 Australian adults have it, while 1/3 American adults have it. Hopefully it is just a weight, lifestyle and food choice problem, and not genetic.

Update
Turns out the ride to work is 12km. Unfortunately I am unfit enough that it took me 66mins. The time will come down over the next few weeks hopefully.

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Here is one of the south east national park units in the thick of it. We were making sure a backburn didn’t get too silly and had a couple of cars watching the fingers and stopping the burn from becomming an issue. I have a few pics from the same spot, but I really like this one because of the fire in front of the car. The smoke and heat haze makes the whole thing look a little fuzzy though.

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This is a rather dodgy shot of a Wedgetail (wedgy) Eagle flying around a fireground after the fire has gone through. It wasn’t too far away, but it pushed my little canon A85 to its limits. Well, it pushed me anyway. It is always amazing to watch the wildlife during and after a fire. Birds of prey like this come in and have a feast of the injured or dead animals.

Again, sorry about the quality, but I like it.

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