Fire has crossed the road. Traffic is still trying to drive towards and through the smoke. Trucks and domestic traffic have been taking tremendous risks. Choppers have been filling up from water sources on the side of the freeway, Baldivis and Wellard. Take another road.
As I was leaving Wellard, a few metres away from me, a giant chopper was suspended over a tiny duck pond, dragging water up through it's hose. It rose slowly and flew towards Cockburn. My heart beat like thunder. Minutes later, another chopper was dropping down to take water from the side of the freeway. It took me a while to leave after pulling over on to the emergency lane. Cars were driving towards the fire, like moths to a flame. Later, when a police car stopped traffic from Wellard entering the freeway, I was able to reverse slowly down the road and exit. A fire truck was able to move down the freeway without obstruction. At 38 degrees Celsius, the moving shadows cast from the rotating wings of the helicopter were the coolest thing on the road. The sky filled with pelicans and egyptian ibises as one of the choppers rose from one of the bird wetlands on Mundajong. They seemed to float, suspended for what seemed like an eon, as the chopper left again with it's massive life-saving load of water borrowed from the wild birds.
