Chapter 8
CHAPTER
Justin parked his four-wheel drive ute in one of the bays outside the plain, prefabricated building.
The brothers got out and approached the front door, next to which was a roller door with a painting that appeared to be a koala wearing an RFS uniform.
They’d seen the building when they were here for the recent fire, but hadn’t been inside.
The hall across the road had offered food and drink, and that was what they’d needed.
Justin had brought the keys from Tamworth and he opened the door.
‘So, brother, what do you think of our fancy new accommodations?’
Ben dropped his rucksack on the floor and looked around as they stepped inside.
Justin’s first thought was for the truck parked facing the closed roller door.
It was a standard RFS unit—designed to carry both water and firefighters and all the tools they might need.
They would easily fit four—maybe six—firefighters in the big dual cab.
The tanks would carry about three thousand litres of water.
The lockers along the side of the vehicle would hold chainsaws, a first aid kit, breathing apparatus and emergency supplies for the crew.
The two hoses on the reels at the back of the truck looked almost new.
This vehicle hadn’t seen a lot of fires.
Tomorrow, he and Ben would check everything was working and ready to go at a moment’s notice.
‘Nice truck,’ Justin said, then turned to survey the rest of their temporary home. ‘It’s not too bad.’
The building where they’d be spending the next couple of weeks had been built for practicality, not luxury.
Lockers lined the walls, and the kitchen was large and airy.
Big enough to prepare meals for a firefighting gang.
The living area had a good-sized table for eating those meals, three big, comfortable-looking sofas and, surprisingly, a flat-screen TV.
A door led to the ‘living’ quarters—two rooms that each held four bunk beds—and there was a shared bathroom at the end of the short hallway.
Ben immediately claimed one end of the table, and set up his laptop and assorted other technical bits. Justin shook his head. His brother was never offline for long. Justin was more interested in somewhere to sleep and claimed one of the bunk rooms for himself.
It didn’t take them long to get their things unpacked and the place in working order. They filled the kitchen with basics brought from home. Anything else they could get locally tomorrow. Justin emailed the commander from his phone to let him know they were in.
‘We should go to the pub for dinner,’ Ben suggested as he sat at the table, still doing things with his computer.
‘Makes sense. And it’s the best way to meet people and let them know what we’re here for.’
Ben shook his head in feigned disgust. ‘It’s also the best way to get a beer.’
‘Also true. We can stop by the police station on the way,’ said Justin.
‘No need, really. I thought I should drop by.’ The voice belonged to a man in uniform standing in the open doors at the front of the fire station. ‘I’m Ken Matthews. Local law.’
‘G’day.’ Justin held out his hand. ‘I’m Justin Turner. That’s my brother, Ben. I guess you were told we were coming.’
‘I was. Glad to see you, too. Last week’s fire isn’t going to be the last.’
‘We don’t think so either, that’s why we’re here. We’d appreciate your help. We want to identify places that need attention, get the residents to clear some firebreaks and train some volunteers.’
‘We have a few already, but I’m sure more will come forward.’
‘Good.’ Justin nodded. ‘The town has done a great job setting this place up. It looks like it hasn’t been used much.’
‘We’ve been lucky so far. But I suspect that won’t last much longer.’
‘It is shaping to be a busy season,’ Justin said. ‘I suspect we’ll need all the preparation and help we can get.’
At the table, Ben closed the lid of his laptop and stood up. ‘We were thinking that we should drop by the pub for a meal.’
‘Sure,’ Ken said. ‘I was going to suggest the same thing. I can introduce you to some of the townspeople.’
As they left the building, Justin had a good look around to get his bearings.
The set-up was much as he remembered from their last visit.
The fire service building, post office and police station were all in the same place, a side street that ran off the main road.
The town hall, a large corrugated iron and timber building, was opposite.
They’d used that as their base last time.
They’d use it again if the worst happened and they needed to manage a big team here.
Where the street joined the highway, a well-kept and welcoming pub stood on the opposite side of the main road.
As they approached the road, a red station wagon drove past. Justin recognised it.
He strained to see the driver, but she was just a dark shape behind the wheel.
He stopped walking to watch her drive past. Was she heading home?
Maybe she lived close to Wagtail Ridge? Maybe he and Ben might simply bump into her at the pub or the shop or somewhere?
He wasn’t sure how he would handle that.
He did want to see their mother. And talk to her, but Ben’s short temper might be a problem.
He’d have to figure out how to deal with that possibility … and soon.
‘Justin. Are you coming?’ his brother asked as he started to cross the road.
‘Yeah.’
The pub was busy when they entered. Justin looked around, hoping to see long blonde hair and a bright smile, but Anna wasn’t there. The three of them walked up to the bar.
‘Deb, these are the firefighters we were told to expect. Justin. Ben. This is Deb Fraser. She and her husband, Shane, run the pub.’
‘We may have met the other week. It’s good to have you here,’ Deb said. ‘What’ll you have? The first one is on the house.’
The brothers ordered beer.
The pub clientele were a friendly lot and Justin soon started to feel quite relaxed. He talked a bit about fire preparedness, and already several people had asked if he could come to their properties and give advice. And he also had a couple of prospective volunteers to train.
He was feeling pretty satisfied when a woman with bright orange hair appeared in front of him.
‘You must be our firefighters,’ she said. ‘I’m Val. I work at the post office. Let me know what you want to do with any mail that comes while you are here.’
‘Thanks. I will.’
‘Well. There are two of you.’ Val gave Justin and Ben a long look that left Ben, at least, looking like he was trying not to laugh.
‘You’ll soon figure out how to tell us apart,’ Justin said.
‘I don’t really believe you,’ Val said. ‘But then, I’m an old, married woman.’
Justin wasn’t sure how to take that comment.
‘I was wondering,’ Val continued. ‘We have a knitting club here in the Ridge. A group of women who meet regularly to stitch and bitch … Oops. Did I say that?’ Val tossed her head coquettishly, her neon hair bouncing as she did.
‘Anyway, if you’re here to help us all prepare for the bushfire season, we would be grateful if maybe one of you—or both, for that matter—could come and give us a bit of a talk.
I’m sure there’s a lot you could teach us. ’
Justin caught his brother’s eyes. Ben was still obviously trying hard not to laugh.
‘Of course,’ Justin replied, fighting back the urge to bow slightly. ‘One of us would be very happy to do that.’
‘And do you do home visits, too? To inspect the property and tell us what we need to do to be safe against fire?’
‘Yes, ma’am.’ The words slipped out before Justin could stop them and from the corner of his eye, he saw Ben cough to hide his laughter.
‘Excellent. Well, as you no doubt saw walking over, the post office is almost next door to what we grandly call the fire station. I’m there all the time. Drop in whenever you want. There’s usually tea and cake to be had.’
‘That’s very kind of you.’
‘And if there’s anything you want to know, just ask. You know I’ve been here for—well—quite a few years. I know everyone. I can remember other bushfires. The stories I could tell …’
Would the woman never stop talking?
‘Justin, there’s a table over there. We probably should order some food.’ At last Ben came to his rescue.
‘Yes. We should. It was nice to meet you, Mrs—’
‘Val. Call me Val, boys. Everyone does.’
Justin made his escape. Both his brother and the policeman were laughing as they sat down. Shane Fraser stopped to say hello as he walked past carrying a tray of empty glasses. The men ordered their dinner and the conversation moved to football.
Justin waited until Ben had gone to the gents before asking the question that had been on his lips all evening.
‘Ken, that red wagon we saw drive past on the way here. Do you know who that was?’
‘Sure. That was Carol. She lives a couple of kilometres outside town. Runs a rescue service for native wildlife.’
‘Carol Turner?’
Ken nodded. ‘Yes, it is, come to think of it. You’ve got the same last name. I guess she’s no relation, though.’
Justin ignored the question. ‘You saw that video of the woman rescuing the koala from the fire, like everyone else? She was the one in the video. With me.’
‘Was she?’ Ken raised his eyebrows. ‘Well, that’s no surprise.’
‘Don’t spread it around,’ Justin added. ‘I wanted to maybe talk to her about not doing that sort of thing any more. Could you direct me to where she lives?’
‘Sure.’ Ken’s directions were clear. The place would be easy to find.
‘But I don’t know how much luck you’ll have talking her out of it.
For as long as she’s been here, she’s been rescuing wildlife and taking stupid chances to do it.
She means well, of course, but …’ The policeman shrugged, then raised a hand to attract the eye of someone who’d just entered the room.
‘Jake, come over here. This is Justin. Firefighter. Jake is part-time cook, part-time library wrangler, full-time handyman and generally the bloke who gets stuff done around here. He helped get that fire station built. He’s a man you should talk to about recruitment. ’
Justin and Jake shook hands and the conversation moved in a different direction.
By the time Ben returned, all discussion of Carol was in the past, for which Justin was very glad.
Even after a couple of mellowing pints, his brother wasn’t in the right place to talk about their mother—yet. He could only hope that might change.