CFS News
Happy New Year from your Cherry Gardens CFS Brigade!
After a relatively quiet period during the second half of 2019 the brigade had an eventful November and December. In addition to the usual traffic incidents and wayward burn-offs the fire season started with an unseasonable “Catastrophic” fire danger day in November. That day the brigade was called to active standby, meaning truck crews were assigned and were required to attend the station for most of the day, ready to head out quickly should an incident occur. Thankfully, despite a number of small incidents, the local area remained quiet for the day, but the work was far from over for many of our firefighters. At 3am the next day 7 of our members departed as part of the Sturt Group strike team to the Yorketown fire, which at that time was burning out of control and threatening Edithburgh and other settlements on Yorke Peninsula. Thankfully the fire was quickly brought under control, but further strike teams were required to prevent any spot fires from reoccurring.
In addition to local and South Australian deployments our brigade has also been strongly represented in interstate strike teams to New South Wales and Queensland, and at the time of writing these are predicted to extend well into December if not later. These deployments average 5 days in length and those of our members who have already returned have said the conditions were extremely challenging and exhausting, with the local communities extremely grateful for their assistance.
On another note, the brigade was honoured to participate in the annual Blackwood Christmas Pageant in December along with other appliances from the Sturt Group. Our members are always encouraged by the tremendous support shown to us at these kinds of events and we thank you.
Around Cherry Gardens the hills are back to their usual summer brown despite some heavy December rainfall so please remember to work out your Bushfire Survival Plan and clean up around your properties if you haven't done so already. Please check out the CFS website at cfs.sa.gov.au for more info.
Here's hoping for a quiet and uneventful fire season!
CFS AIR STRIP
The Cherry Gardens Air Strip group has been called out to support the aircraft on a number of smaller fires locally and down the Fleurieu Peninsula, including the fire at Myponga
CFS Cherry Gardens train every Monday night for those who may be interested in what we do.
To report suspicious behaviour call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
For all other emergencies dial 000 and ask for “Adelaide, Fire” “South Australia”
See the CFS website for more information, and stay safe.
