with the end of National Team Meeting in Sydney was a fruitful weekend. Many week days were spent preparing for UNI to start in a few weeks and also getting up some driving hours so I can go for my P's (Provisional License). Friday was spent at a fire out at Invergowrie known as the Eureka Fire. It was a long and busy day with a bit of blacking out, some backburning, and some carting water. started around 8:30 and returned home around the same time that night off memory.The next day (7th Feb) I jumped on a plane to Sydney where I attended BRC (Branch Rover Council) where my Crew's proposal on BP approval was Voted on and
approved :). That evening I attended Branch Ball - 
Lords and Ladies theme - at Hornsby RSL it was an amazing night. An early morning the next day (and I must say that I didn't get to bed till the early hours of the morning for that matter) I was back at the airport on my way home. Not much more then an hour later I was off to RFS monthly training where not long after arriving at the station we were responded to the Eureka fire. It had broken its containment lines we got half way out there and were turned around to head to the airport to set up an airbase which involved willing planes with water to drop on the fire. We were there for a few hours before returning to the station on dusk. A few people were asked to assist the catering unit in feeding crews at another fire and not long after they left we were just about to shut the station up and head home when we were responded to a Grass fire... a few hours later and smelling of smoke I finally got home around 9:30pm to have a late dinner and catch some z's. It was a stressfull day as Victoria was struck by what is now referred to as the Black Saturday Bushfires on Saturday the 7th(more on this to follow).Next day was you betchya my 20th Birthday... didn't do anything special to celebrate it. Drove to the coast to get a few hours up and to take a friend of mum's home.
This week was a very tense week with news reports from Victoria of victims being found and fires burning uncontrolled. Saturday the 14th I was deployed along with many other Region North crews to Victoria. We were tasked to the Murrindindi South Complex fire and operated out of the Healsville Staging area. The destruction was devistating and something i will never forget. We completed 5 days service (1 day travel 3 days on the line and 1 day travel home) as per RFS rules.Sat 21st saw me jumping on yet another plane for a day trip heading to Sydney for NYC selection committee. After lots of discussion we settled on our 9 new members.
Monday saw my first day of UNI for the year and the workload piled on from there.
Thursday 26th saw me heading back down to Vic for a second deployment, we were sent to the same fire and this time the staging area was set up fully as a base camp so we were in a mini tent city reminded me of a Jamboree except didn't have scouts there were fire fighters, Ambos, ses, National Parks and Wildlife, State forest and many other interstate and local crews camped out instead. This deployment was a much quieter one compared to my first deployment and the only fire my crew saw was a grass fire the first day. But we did allot of patrolling and got to talk to the locals. As it was so quiet and the bad 
weather that was forcast hadn't come through our whole region was sent home on the sunday a day earlier then our zone was scheduled.A few days later all NSW RFS Crews were stood down and sent home as the fires were slowly brought under control.
And thus February came to a conclusion and the year was already flying by.
