Serena Kirby, Denmark Bulletin

Steve Birkbeck’s 20 million-litre dam at Wentworth Road became a watery asset during the recent bushfire.

A constant stream of helicopters and fire trucks drew many millions of litres from the dam.

Once a controversial feature, the dam is said to have enabled dozens of properties to be saved.

Steve, who is also a volunteer firefighter with the William Bay brigade, said that as soon as he saw smoke on Friday morning he knew the dam would be needed.

“The main dam was originally built to help us create carbon-conscious products but it was also designed to be an easily accessible, large body of water for fighting fires,” Steve said.

“The choppers used water from a number of nearby dams and were mindful of not taking too much valuable water from each landholder.

“I’ve been told they would have taken more water from us had they known our dam is fed by a natural spring so it is self-replenishing.

“Those choppers can suck up 5000l in 46 seconds and they were darting back and forth for nearly three days.”

Infrastructure at the Birkbeck family’s Raintree Farm includes an emergency vehicle access road right up to the side of the dam, allowing direct access to the water by trucks.

Steve had installed an underground pipe network running from a second dam, located further into the property and higher on the hill that linked up to the main dam.

The pipes were also connected to two hydrants, one of which is a DFES-approved hose coupling.

“We had trucks from seven brigades filling up at the hydrants.

“We can fill three trucks and three choppers at a time and even after the power went out we still had brilliant water pressure, as the hydrants are gravity fed.

“It took less than nine minutes to fill each truck with a flow rate of about 1000l every 50 seconds.”

With Raintree Farm being on the fire’s South Coast Highway boundary, the speed in which the water could reach the fire is believed to have saved many homes and, potentially, lives.

Steve had several ember attacks on his own property and said it was a chopper, carrying water from his own dam, that put them out.

“No doubt about it, that chopper saved us,” he said.

“I want to not only thank all the firefighters, support crews, plane and chopper pilots, but also the property owners who worked so hard to stop the fire’s spread.

“Climate change is real and this will not be the last big bushfire here.”

To document the events of the bushfire, Steve calls on members of the community who have footage or photos of any aspect of the fire.

Once collected he plans to create a short documentary as an archival record. Videos and photos can be sent to raintree@westnet.com.au

This article appeared in the Denmark Bulletin, 24 February 2022.

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