Dry lightning sparks aquifer bushfire in Tea Gardens Myall Coast Myall Coast - popup ad by News Of The Area - Modern Media - January 10, 2024 A scoped image of the aquifer fire gives some indication of how difficult the fire was to access. Photo: Pindimar-Tea Gardens RFS. LIGHTNING struck close to home for Myall Coast residents, igniting scrub around the Tea Gardens Aquifer on Friday 29 December. As the typical summer weather cycle set in throughout December, the region saw several days of increasing heat, punctuated by summer storms, with a short but heavy deluge falling over the towns on the last Friday of the year. Advertise with News of The Area today. It’s worth it for your business. Message us. Phone us – (02) 4981 8882. Email us – media@newsofthearea.com.au However, not all regions were as saturated, so inevitably the characteristically brilliant lightning strikes could hit some dry ground. One such ‘dry lightning’ bolt struck the scrub near the Tea Gardens Aquifer, its thunder telling experienced Rural Fire Service (RFS) personnel, even before the official alert, that there was a problem. “A small strike hit some very inaccessible bushland near the aquifer, we could barely get the Tea Gardens-9 truck in to assist,” Pindimar-Tea Gardens RFS Captain David Bright told NOTA. “The property’s manager used an excavator to clear an earth containment line, dumping soil on the parts of the fire they could reach.” The following day, 30 December, an RFS-contracted helicopter at Salamander Bay successfully water-bombed the hard-to-reach fire, followed by merciful heavier rainfall a day later. “The chopper did a fantastic job, then refuelled and headed off to assist another fire at Wallis Lake,” Captain Bright explained. “While it was a relatively small fire, it was near the boundary of the National Park and Durness, so there was potential it could get away into the Park and then right in through Hawks Nest and Tea Gardens.” The towns’ water supply, the aquifer, is located underground, but the water-treatment plant that makes it potable for households sits upon the surface, so the burning scrub nearby was an imminent concern. According to the Bureau of Meteorology, ‘dry lightning’ occurs when high-forming rain falls over warm air in low quantities, evaporating before it hits the ground, then the electrical strike ignites the still-dry fuel below – and this is becoming more frequent with each season. By Thomas O’KEEFE Helicopter water-bombing proved the best way to attack the blaze before the rain set in again a few days later. Photo: Ralph Clark.
