Normally you don’t fight a fire with eggs, but in Helensburgh we do. Graham Williams, aka Eggs, is the oldest active member of the Helensburgh Volunteer Rural Fire Brigade. At 74, he has been on call for 45 years.
WHY EGGS?
My brother gave me that nickname. I liked to eat a lot of eggs for breakfast when I was young. It was Egbert originally, after a comic book character.
HOW MANY FIRES?
I have lost count there. The fire in the Royal National Park in 1994 was a big one. We could not stop it at Wattamolla. It started to come into Otford and Helensburgh. Last season I fought the Green Wattle Creek Fire. I helped in Nowra as well. But only for 24 hours. I didn’t go up north. I’m just a little bit too old for that. I was on standby in Helensburgh on total fire ban days, ready to go.
OVERRUN
On Christmas Day [2001] in Darkes Forest, I didn’t think I was coming out. Our crews were protecting a greyhoundbreeding farm when the fire came roaring through. It just went over. It sounds like a steam train coming at you. The fires didn’t hit into our area until later, completely circled Helensburgh. It was just bedlam in town.
Our tanks emptied, the power went out and there was no water. We ended up putting big pumps into the swimming pool. I was on duty for 23 days. On the 19th day we got a bit of rain. That slowed the fire down. It was one of the worst days to have a fire, on Christmas Day at lunchtime. Most people were having a Christmas lunch and a beer.
They were all happy as Larry and some were even past happy as Larry. Some went to bed that night in town and didn’t even know there was a fire. I was here up on the station, early on Boxing Day and people walked down the street wondering: “What’s all this? What’s all the smoke for?” I asked where they had been. “We went to bed early,” they answered, having missed the whole thing.
The worst overrun was at Albert’s Point, during the Menai fires in 1997. It just hit us so quick. I had a hydrant and a hose. Our truck was down the road. That was the last thing I remember: seeing one of our members hosing the truck down in a big ball of flames. Then I collapsed. When I came to, he was still there. The heat had damaged the truck with melting and warping. I was soaking wet, still holding the hose. It had gone over the top of me. The house in front of me was on fire. So I just got up and started to put that out. I couldn’t save it.
FIRES THEN AND NOW
The fires seem to be going longer, but otherwise they are not different. In 1975 we didn’t lose a house, but we did get some damage. There were a lot less people here back then, lot less houses too. There was a lot more bush and a lot more bush got burnt out.
HUMPTY DOO
The Northern Territory flag on the wall at the station was presented to us in the 2001 fires from the Northern Territory people. They were from Humpty Doo, a small town south of Darwin. We had a going-away party at the station. All the firefighters that fought in the Helensburgh area during the Christmas Day fires were invited. We had over 400 people up here. The town put it on for us. There were people from Alice Springs, Howard Springs, Humpty Doo, all over the place. They put crews together to come and help us. We had a marvellous party, a lot of good memories.
OTHER MEMORABILIA ON THE WALL IN THE STATION
We have our old helmets at the top. All the different types of helmets we have had.
Up top hangs the old flame thrower. In the past it was used for lighting up fires to put in a backburn or a hazard reduction, to really get it to going. You put a mixture of drip-torch fuel in it, light the little nozzle at the end and pump out a flame. The flame was maybe about 10 feet. It would really roar. Back in 1965 one of our members was using that and he was killed. He fell over a log and he got covered in liquid. It hasn’t been used since.
EGGS’ TIP FOR LOCALS
The main thing is to not panic. You have to have a fire plan. Leave early. Listen to what’s going on. Don’t panic. There was enough of that on Christmas 2001.
EGG’S FIREPLAN
I’ll be up at the fire station.
