Fire at Mt Kuring-gai

[iceman]

There's a fire at Mt Kuring-gai - the F3 freeway is closed in 1 direction..

Gary Kopff lives just near there! Best of luck to you and Mai, gary.. please check in when you can and let us know you're ok.

I have another friend that lives just near Gary - I hope they're ok too.

[netwolf]

Just saw this on the news, hope Gary and family are ok.

[gary]

Thanks guys,

Very much appreciated.

Mai and I are fine and our property is undamaged.

We'd only just returned from Lostock with our nephews Aaron and Mathew.
Mat had won the 10" Dob in the lucky door prize (the boys didn't own a telescope
and for the past year since the last Astrocamp, they were really hoping to
win one, so thanks to myAstroShop for their generous prize). Mat had
asked Mai could she show him how to assemble and use it. They got to
Step 1 when the phone rang and we went into our full property protection
routine. The boys and my sister-in-law were of enormous help in
assisting us prepare the property. The air-cranes were quick to arrive
and thundered low over-head every few minutes. At this point the
fire was about 1/2km away.

Then around 8:30pm 6 fire trucks arrived out front and they then
told us they were going to start a back-burn operation from our property.
This was a success though not without trepidation, as the conditions
were far from ideal and the operation had obviously been planned
at short notice. Fire crews then ran hoses to the back of our property and
neighbouring properties which back onto the Kuring-Gai Chase NP. They
then started the back-burn and it went well, but meant very little sleep
was had by anyone.

See photos here taken from our roof last night and this
morning as well as some in the neighbouring Park taken a short
while ago.

http://www.wildcard-innovations.com.au/images/bushfire_2007/

Mai and I were both very tired after Lostock but the subsequent
events gave little opportunity for rest. However, we are thankful to the
NSW FIre Brigade, the NSW RFS and State Emergency Services Teams
who continue to work hard as I type.

Best Regards

Gary Kopff
Mt. Kuring-Gai, NSW

[merlin8r]

That looks a little close for comfort Gary!! Great to have those Sky Cranes on hand huh? Glad it all worked out for you, but I bet it smells pretty awful!

Clear skies,
Shane

[gary]

Hi Shane,

Those Sky Cranes do really work and are worth every cent.
I think it will take months to get the smell of smoke out of my nostrils.

Gary

[xstream]

I'm glad to hear it's all turned out okay, Gary.
The fire was trying to leap the road when we went through yesterday with those incredible winds.

You'll sleep well tonight!

[gaa_ian]

Glad to hear all is OK Gary. Must have been quite a shock to come home to after such a high point at Lostock.

[netwolf]

Glad to hear your ok Gary. Those Firefighters are the real blessing, far more valuable than there machines. They walk into danger without a second taught to save lives. Best of luck to them. Real Heroes.

Regards
Fahim

[danielsun]

Wow Gary! Must have been scary to see it come so close, all the fire crews are true heroes!
Glad to here everything is o.k.


Regards Daniel.

[astroron]

:hi: Gary,glad to see all is well even though things got a little to close for comfort.:eyepop:
I was going to give you a call but thought better as you would have been pretty well occupied.
All the best to Mia :thumbsup: Ron

[Ziggy Stardust]

Glad to here everything went well in the end.

We had a close call back in December, with the big fire at Whiteman Park coming over the road ( jumped in several places!) and burning open grazing land to with in half a kilomter of us as well...

You got say a pray everynight for those fly boys bombing the fire front.

Tony

[Orion]

I'm glad that you and your family are alright Gary.

[norm]

Great to hear that all is safe. You'll definitely need some R&R !!!

[Fomalhaut]

First of all, i`m Jan from Germany and i am proud that i were your guests for 2 months in your great Country. I stayed in Mt Kuring-Gai at my uncles home.
I think i must call him. ( looking at the pictures )
When did the fire starts ? Cause i flew on Saturday in the late afternoon. Are the fires still on ? That looks really bad .

[Omaroo]

Glad you are OK too Gary.

Mark Suchting also lives in Berowra, which was reported to be directly affected.

MARK - is everything OK with you?

[xstream]

I think you'll find he's in Tamworth for the festival.

[RB]

Gary I'm glad all is well now, we were all thinking of you and Mia while the fire was out of control. Those images are terrifying and bring back bad memories.

I hope all goes well from now on and I'd like to say too, what a fantastic job the firefighters do.

Andrew

[wavelandscott]

Ditto the comments of others for Gary and family...

Also hope everyone else in the areas impacted are doing well too!

[gary]

The fires began on Sundey afternoon here. Though they are still burning in
parts, they are believed to be largely under control. No assests were lost
in Mt. Kuring-Gai though the park is now badly burnt over a wide area
which will extract a large toll on the prolific native wildlife here.

Hopefully your uncle will be fine, but like most of us, somewhat drained
from the experience. Does your uncle have a daughter that lives in
Mt. Kuring-Gai as well by any chance (i.e. your cousin)? If so, she is
our neighbour as her parents live here and were originally from Germany.

Best Regards

Gary

[gary]

Mai and I would like to thank everyone for the well wishes.
We are fine and already looking forward to the next AstroCamp, which
we are glad to hear will now be held in, hopefully, cooler October. :)

Neighbouring suburb to Mt. Kuring-Gai is Berowra, home to
optician Mark Suching, Austrlian Sky & telescope Editor, Greg Bryant
and 25" Obsession/Argo Navis owner, Steve Amerongen. Thankfully the fire
is being controlled and Mark, Greg, Steve and their families should be fine.

The NSW Fire Brigade, RFS, SES, NSW NPWS have all done a fabulous job
in difficult circumstances and their response times were very fast.

We hope that not too many of you were affected by yesterday's road
and rail closures.

We appreciate the sense of extended community that the IceInSpace forum
provides.

Best Regards

Gary Kopff
Mt. Kuring-Gai

[Satchmo]

G'day Chris, Thanks for your concern. I'm fine but a little disappointed and worse for the wear.
I travelled to Tamworth after Lostock and enjoyed the Country Music festival on Sunday, helping a few friends with their busking set-up. Tamworth was passing parade of colorful people in their element: spiffy `'cockies and corn-fed cowgirls ...I'm not a fan of C and W music but I really enjoyed their spirit .

Monday morning I got a call from my Sister ( who also lives in Berowra) telling me to get home as they were water bombing not far away. So I cancelled my gliding bookings at Lake Keepit and headed back in stifling day time heat. My next van must have _aircon. and cruise control_:doh: ...

We were shunted off the freeway at Ourimbah, and I got the info that the only way into Berowra was via Wisemans Ferry punt and the wait was allready 4 hours. With two big German Shepherds suffering in the heat this was not an option, so I ducked a little known road from Ourimbah that actually crosses the freeway all the way to Mangrove Mountain, and dropped in on a friend there who put me up for the night. Was sipping on a cold beer instead of stuck in the traffic What a narrow escape from hell :-)

I hear Mt Kuringai is badly affected , but they were water bombing as close as 500m across the valley from me, so I guess I did the right thing. Will probably stay near and watch things very closely for a while until the danger period is over.

Mark

[Omaroo]

Glad to hear it Mark. I hope the doggies are none the worse for wear too.

We only just made it past the F3 closure - it had already started as Jenny and I drove through. I'd say there was about an acre of grass already gone and fire engines on the way. Failing that I suppose that we'd have gone back up the freeway and stayed in comfort at our company house at Summerland Point on Lake Macquarie and driven back last night.

Cheers
Chris