Royal Australian Air Force firefighters have been thanked for helping to extinguish a massive hay fire in the Northern Territory town of Katherine last month.
RAAF Base Tindal’s No. 17 Squadron Fire Section dispatched two Airfield Panther fire trucks and two rural fire trucks to the scene within 15 minutes of receiving the distress call on 7 November, with crews assigned to protect two gas bullets and attack flames in mill and feed storage sheds.
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“When we arrived, all the hay outside the structure was ablaze and spreading inside where equipment was stored,” No. 17 Squadron fire controller Corporal Laurence Jamieson said.
“The LPG gas bullets were being heated by the fire and needed immediate cooling to prevent a possible explosion.
“The Panther fire trucks utilised their roof-mounted water turrets to protect the gas bullets, break up the hay fire and halt the fire spread, while the rural trucks relayed water to keep suppression efforts going.
“Saving a local property and assets was deeply rewarding and gave us a real sense of accomplishment. This incident reinforced the strong partnership between Defence, local emergency services and the Katherine community.”
According to NT Fire and Rescue senior station officer Daniel Kenna, RAAF personnel “integrated seamlessly” and were able to “save structures and associated machinery critical to stock feed production”.
“Without RAAF support, I’m uncertain whether we could have held the fire where we did – particularly the protection provided by one of the Panthers to the two large gas bullets under direct threat from fire impingement,” he said.
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