This past weekend, a lost hiker, while awaiting rescue inadvertantly sparked a brushfire in Australia’s Alpine National Park over. The hiker, from Melbourne, Australia, was on an overnight hike on Mt Bogong when he became turned around.
According to police, the hiker then climbed to high point while his wife notified emergency services. What he may have thought were good intentions, did not turn out so well. He lit a small fire to signal authorities, but when the rescue helicopter arrived, the down draft caused the fire to flare up and spread. Fortunately, the small blaze was able to be contained within a few hours by a seven-man crew before it got out of hand.
While the fire never got too out of hand, the story could have ended much worse, but even better yet, it could have been prevented in the first place with a little preparation and the right equipment, like a GPS or emergency beacon. Both items would have made an impact in the prevention in getting lost, and the prevention of the brushfire.
Of course, conditions are considerable different in Australia than here in the Pacific Northwest. While we’re getting our first real snow of the season in Seattle, it’s quite the opposite in Melbourne. During the dry, hot summer months, lighting fires in the brush may not be the smartest idea for notifying rescue teams of your location. Police gave this sage advice: “The advice for anyone lighting a fire on bush land is always to exercise extreme caution – but obviously there are circumstances when people are lost and need to draw the attention of emergency services.”
Read more in the Herald Sun.
And that man’s name is Ian Nesbitt…
Another item that would have been handy to have is a signal mirror. Relatively lightweight, and can be seen for miles.
The Pilot I think is also to blame on this one, Glad all turned out for the best