Tonight was CFS (Country Fire Service) training & so I took the opportunity to pick a few of the old firies brains.

fire alarm 

at training tonight
there’s the usual banter
& the familar stories 
the old hands tell
about wild jobs  
they’ve been on

dead end gullies
their captains tried 
to order them into

walls of flame leapfrogging
roads  rivers  almost bare 
dirt to resume again
in forest canopies 
impossible distances away 

sitting in the truck
reflectors down
breathing apparatus on
under blankets 
waiting for the fire 
to burn over
hoping like hell
the halo holds up*
likewise hoping 
their sphincters do

i don’t know if climate 
change is the cause
but i do know fire 
season is starting earlier
lasting longer
& each one 
feels more of a bitch
than the one before

*a waterfall-like system which rings the cab