Blaze in Blue VII: Winds, Waiting and the Small Things

Today was predicted to have potentially catastrophic weather conditions for the Blue Mountains.

With all schools closed in the entire Mountains and Hawkesbury regions, community briefings about the fires attracting thousands of locals, with thousands of Fireys all based at various strategic locations across the Mountains (between Penrith and Lithgow) ready to be deployed at a moment's notice in response to
the random twists of the local weather conditions, and working as part of an invisible logistical network overseeing, deciding on and managing aggressive, high-risk back-burning strategies, it has felt like everyone in the Mountains was holding their collective breath, on a knife edge, looking down the barrel of a gun.

We've been waiting and watching - as we've been doing for the past few days. The winds have been swirling constantly, rattling rooves and shaking trees with gusto - and reminding us of their casual power and presence.

There are firespots all through the Mountains, but so far (touch wood) most containment lines are holding. And we hold our breath harder.

Fire has also flared in other parts of New South Wales, reminding us that the Blueys experience is just one example of our vulnerability in the face of forces we cannot ever fully imagine, never mind hope to control.

The day is not yet over. Even as the temperature starts to dip, the winds are still hanging gleefully around. But we wait for the moment when we can all take a cautious sigh of relief.

And in waiting, we can maybe start to notice the small things again:

ReeDaBee