Fire lessons learnt the hard way

摘要

With summer all but here and good spring growth in many areas, the risk of fire is once again all too real. On December 17, 2009, Stewart Sutherland of Tooma Station knew he was facing a high fire danger day. The low humidity and strong winds simplyconfirmed it As pasture and cereal seed producers, Stewart and his wife Kate were in the middle of harvesting but for safety had shutdown all machinery by late that morning. "The fire started down at Ournie, about 35km from our property, with high windscausing overhead power lines to spark onto dry pine plantation," Stewart said.