Banksia Park Puppies

You may have heard in the media about the recent bushfires roaring through Victoria! Well, unfortunately the Rosedale/Gippsland fire happens to be close to our back door. We certainly do not want to alarm anyone but just keep our followers and families updated. We are not in immediate danger but are not out of danger yet either; the fire is hovering approximately 4-6 kms away. For now, we have no property damages, and everyone is safe and secure, but with this enormous fire we just dont know what’s around the corner.

At the local community meeting held at the Longford hall on Saturday, we were informed that it could potentially take 2 weeks to have the fire under control. CFA crews are currently creating containment lines and back-burning whilst still attempting to control the flames with tankers and aircraft. CFA Vic facebook has updated that the Gippsland blaze has already burnt through 10,952 hectares of land. Our hearts go out to the other families and livelihoods who are in danger or affected!

We have always been aware that the potential of a bushfire could be real, it’s just one of those realities that come with living and working in the bush! Because of this, we have fire plans and preparations in place.

These include:

• Members of the Hams family and team are trained as CFA Volunteers who stay and protect the property and dogs.

• Younger and older members of the Hams family relocate into the local town.

• Team members look after the puppies and dogs when appropriate and leave to the safety of their own homes in town.

• Regular burn-offs of the under-scrub throughout our property every year plays a huge role in reducing the chance of fuelling a fire.

• Installed sprinklers on all our nurseries, sheds and homes.

• Numerous water tanks and fire hoses throughout the property.

• Diesel pumps and dams.

• A bore system that can be used to flood the park or specific areas if required.

• Our nurseries are air-conditioned and fanned to keep our parent dogs and puppies cool with fresh air during hot and smokey days.

• We also move any of our parent dogs from the middle of our property up to the front where it is safer.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank CFA Victoria and all other fire agencies and fighters for their goliath efforts in battling this blaze along with the 700 other fires across Victoria since the start of December, according to ABC News!

We would also especially love to thank the generosity of our family, friends and members of the local community, some who even left the safety of their homes to help us out in ways they could, from being on-call for fire-duties, helping with our dogs, providing safe temporary accommodation and the many well-wishes!

Fingers crossed for some much-needed rain to help slow the fire and allow the fire fighters to contain the fire and get it under control.

If you’d like to stay updated with the Gippsland/Rosedale fire or would like to be prepared in case of an emergency, Vic Emergency (other Australian State’s equivalent) has an app, Facebook page and website to stay informed.

Here are some photos taken this afternoon on our property. No filter or editing here, just the golden-smokey haze of a nearby blaze!

We also took some photos at a nearby pine plantation just outside of Stradbroke, in Longford. Much of the smoke is heading in a south-easterly direction covering Longford, Sale and Wurruk.