Six grass and forest fires in the ACT were contained yesterday, but several others in southern NSW and Victoria were reported out of control last night. Showers enabled fire fighters to contain the worst fire, near Eden. Sixty soldiers and 40 Sydney volunteers had been sent to fight it. Eden police said last night that the fire, in the Nadgee Nature Reserve, had destroyed about 58,000 acres of forest in an area 14 miles north west of Eden.
Fishermen were reported to have seen many kangaroos and wallabies jumping into the sea during the week, to escape the fire. The small township of Wonboyn, near Eden, which had been threatened by fire on Thursday, was reasonably safe yesterday after firefighters had burnt a fire-break around it. A fire in the East Boyd Slate Forest, which had burnt about 7,500 acres, was under control, the spokesman said. A fire at Yowaka; north west of Eden, had burnt about 10 square miles of forest and was out of control.
Firefighters in the Kosciusko National Park were hopeful that an 1,100-acre fire in the Grey Mare Range would be controlled today.
Lightning started a new fire today near Thredbo village, crowded with holiday-makers. Park officials expected it to be controlled by today. Several new reports yesterday took Victoria's total number of forest fires to 34. A Victorian Forests Commission spokesman said about 12 of the outbreaks were out of control. Fires near Mallacoota, Mount Buffalo, Tallangatta, Beechworth, and Maffra were the main dangers.
A crop-duster aircraft brought to Canberra from Sydney to drop fire-retarding agents on a fire on the Tidbinbilla Range was not able to take off from Canberra Airport yesterday afternoon because of strong wind gusts. A total fire ban now covers more than half NSW, and the ban on the lighting of fires in the ACT has been extended for another 24 hours until midnight tonight. It began" at midnight on Wednesday. The radio operator for the Goodradigbee Shire, Mrs Helen Spackman, who lives at The Mullion, said the fire there covered about 2,000 acres, but had been brought under control.
The fire in the Urila Burra region of the Yarrowlumla Shire was under control yesterday. The ACT Bushfire Councils fire control officer, Mr A. Fearnside, said the council had fought six grass and forest fires in the ACT yesterday. The biggest of these covered about 1,000 acres of forest at Bulls Head, about five miles north of the Bendora Dam.
About 100 men and four bulldozers ... had brought this under control. The other five fires in the ACT all began yesterday. These were at the Tidbinbilla Nature'Reserve, at Mawson, at the junction of the Cotter and Brindabella roads, at Mt Clear, in the south of the ACT, and at Boboyan, near Gudgenby. The sizes ranged between a quarter of an acre and five acres and they had been either controlled or extinguished by the evening. (The Canberra Times)
22 August - Tathra Bush Fire Brigade - AGM - elected officers: Captain – Robert Otton; Vice Captains –Mike Huggett (Snr), B. Evans (Jnr); Deputy Captains – Colin Attree, Ken Game, Ken Collins, Jake Ingleman; Secretary / Treasurer – G. J. Nicholson1972Brigade inventory at this time came to 12 knapsack sprays 24 McLeod Tools 24 Rakes 3 Axes 3 Scrub Hooks 8 lengths x 30 m / 55 mm dia. hoses 1 x flame thrower 20 September - Tathra Bush Fire Brigade - AGM - elected officers: Captain – Robert Otton. It should be noted here that Robert Otton was elected to the Captain's position for the 27th consecutive term; Vice Captains – K. Jones (Snr), B. Evans (Jnr); Deputy Captains – Ken Game, Jake Ingleman, Mike Huggett, Tony Boyd, Secretary / Treasurer – G. J. NicholsonPublic Meeting held to establish fire trails about the perimeter of Tathra township to facilitate the protection of the town in case of bushfire.
October - Tathra Bush Fire Brigade - AGM - elected officers: Captain – Robert Otton; Vice Captains –Mike Huggett, Ian Stafford; Deputy Captains – C. Attree, Norm Evans, K. Collins, J. Ingleman; Secretary / Treasurer – G. J. Nicholson
Brigade purchases a Land Rover as a fast strike appliance
29th October — Robert Augustus Otton, after 30 years of service as the Brigade Captain, announces his retirement from the position. The meeting accepts this decision by acclamation. Tathra Bush Fire Brigade - AGM - elected officers: Captain – Ian Stafford; Vice Captains – Mike Huggett, Ron Keft; Deputy Captains – Jake Englemann, Ken Collins, John Thompson; Chairman – Bob Otton, Secretary / Treasurer – John Coman
September - Tathra Bush Fire Brigade - AGM - elected officers: Captain – Ian Stafford; Vice Captains –Mike Huggett, Ron Keft; Deputy Captains – Jake Englemann, John Thompson, Bob Britton, Graham Brittliff; Chairman – Bob Otton, Secretary / Treasurer – John ComanBrigade members attend fires at Bega
15 September - Tathra Bush Fire Brigade - AGM - elected officers: Captain – Ian Stafford; Vice Captains – Mike Huggett (Snr), Bob Barker; Deputy Captains – Jake Englemann, John Thompson; Chairman –Bob Otton, Secretary / Treasurer – B. Britton
Brigade accepts the delivery of a new "International" tanker - ex-army?
September - Tathra Bush Fire Brigade - AGM - elected officers: Captain – Ian Stafford; Vice Captains –Bob Barker, G. Gregson
... On the South Coast, rapid river rises were reported in streams south from the Shoalhaven, and evacuations were necessary at Bombala and Eden, with Tathra also isolated. Flood waters across the Princes Highway gave travellers problems. On the South Coast, Imlay Shire Bush Fire Brigade members and SES members combined to rescue a seriously ill man at Rocky Hall in the flooded Towamba Valley. Imlay Shire FCO Phil Collins radioed the base station... SITREP: Vol 3 No. 4 Spring 1978
