Catastrophic Day

Sydney - Kingsford             
          
On Tuesday 12 November, 2019 the Sydney Weather Bureau issued a catastrophic weather warning, advising all residents in the greater Sydney area of severe bushfire conditions.  We live in the Blue Mountains in the outer west of Sydney and the whole Mountains area is within a National park with bushland virtually on everyone's back door.  The Rural Fire Service Blue Mountains chief David Jones, urged Mountains residents to consider leaving their homes to avoid the predicted catastrophic fire conditions.   Our family was greatly concerned for our safety, so a scheme was hatched whereby our son and his partner would come and pick up a suitcase from our place containing clothes, important documents etc. and transport it down to their Unit at Wentworth Point, a much safer position located on Homebush Bay on the Parramatta River.

As I had a doctor's appointment that day in Kingsford, the plan was that we would go down to Sydney on the train, catch the bus out to Kingsford and then after my appointment, travel back to Central and if the trains were no longer running back to the Mountains, because of fires, then we would telephone our son who would pick us up from Strathfield and drive us back to his Unit at Wentworth Point where we could stay until it was safe to return.  This was an excellent plan and I was confidently able to inform our friends that we had an evacuation plan and would be safe.

It was an extremely hot day and we set off in our car to drive to Springwood Station where we would leave our car and catch a train down to Sydney.  There were plenty of car spaces in the car park, as most commuters had taken the day off, in order to protect their properties, or else carry out their own evacuation plans.  Our train was practically empty and we were the only people in our carriage for most of the journey, until it reached Parramatta.  

When we arrived at Central, we had morning tea at 2000 Acres the new cafe on the Central Grand Concourse.  The cafe inside was pleasantly air-conditioned, whereas outside on the Concourse it was very hot.

We saw many of the new Sydney trams doing trial runs along the tram tracks both in the city and in the Eastern suburbs.  They are being tested carrying sandbags as passengers, so the drivers can get used to driving the trams full of passengers. 



After our return to Sydney we noted that the trains were indeed still running up to the Mountains, so we decided to catch a train back to Springwood, pick up our car from the station and return home.  The weather was extremely hot and the air thick with smoke haze, but no fires had been reported near us. The Rural Fire Service had done an excellent job in keeping us safe and all the fires under control.  Maybe the catastrophic weather warning was a little bit extreme, but most people can remember the bushfires in Winmalee in 2013 when over 200 homes were lost, so I think the RFS did the right thing in keeping us safe, rather than sorry!