Originally Posted by
Ascend Charlie
We had another bushfire in my suburb today, luckily the wind was blowing it away from my place. The B 214 chopper and the spotter were on the scene pretty quickly, and worked like cut snakes as the fire was advancing rapidly on a line of houses that were threatened last month too.
But what puzzled me is the complete reluctance to use salt water to fight the fires - the ocean was 100 metres away, and a huge lake 1 km away, but they tracked up to 5km to a fresh water supply in an industrial area, greatly increasing the time between drops.
Obviously, salt water is going to stay in the soil for a while and kill the vegetation, but wouldn't that be preferable to losing your house?
AC, Peregian Beach fire? Report
here from Nine News shows the proximity to the beach, start 50 seconds in with shots of the MacD 214B and the belly tank
Quite an early start to the bushfire season here in Queensland and northern NSW, crews look to be busy for a few months yet
