stephan schütze
  • Home
    • Contact
  • Stephan Schütze
    • Biography
    • Scores
    • Music
    • Professional Services
  • Listen-Blog
  • Reel

Good sounds from a Bad Situation

10/6/2008

0 Comments

 
Location
Noosa Queensland
Equipment
Zoom F4
Sennheiser MKH 60
Boom pole array

Today was the kind of recording opportunity I wish I hadn’t had. Late last night several bushfires started in the area. For anyone who does not know Australia very well, bushfires are probably the biggest threat to life and property over the summer months in Australia. They can be very serious and very dangerous. In this case they were also close enough that it only took me 10 minutes to walk to where they were being dealt with by the fire and rescue services.

I watched for nearly two hours as, initially two and then later three, helicopters water bombed the flames constantly. Even with the combined effort of the helicopters the fire front advanced over about half a kilometre in that time. The area was such that fire trucks couldn’t access it and so were waiting on a nearby road to intercept it. During this time I recorded a lot of material as the helicopters made numerous passes dumping water. The helicopters would then fly over to the river and hover and reload via a hose that dangled below the vehicle. They were able to reload and return to the fire front in under five minutes which was quite impressive.

Picture
Helicopter Water Drop
As much as I would have loved to record the flames more closely I have far too good an understanding of how bloody dangerous a fire front is, especially when it’s a hot dry day and in this case we also had a very strong wind. A single wind change in these conditions can send the fire off in a totally new direction in seconds. I waited on the road with the fire crews for the front to get closer and managed to sample a bit of the sound of the flames before they asked non fire personnel to move back.. At this stage myself and the news crews on the scene withdrew.
 
The amount of damage caused in one morning as the fire moved through the national park areas was quite depressing, what was more depressing was that apparently it had been deliberately lit by some school kids. I wonder if I can get a recording of them being strung up by their toes!
Picture
Firefighters backburning
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Author

    Stephan Schütze has been recording sounds for over twenty years. This journal logs his thoughts and experiences


    Categories

    All
    Aircraft
    Animals
    Aomori
    Articles
    Audio Production
    Augmented Reality
    Canberra
    Creative Industry
    Equipment
    Firearms
    Fmod
    Foley
    Game Development
    Hachinohe
    Historical
    Industrial
    Japan
    Korea
    Melbourne
    Military
    Musical
    Nsw
    Queensland
    Sannohe
    Sound Effects
    South Australia
    Sport
    Trains
    Updates
    Vehicle
    Vehicles
    Victoria
    Virtual Reality
    Work Life Balance
    Work-Life Balance

    Archives

    April 2019
    August 2018
    June 2011
    June 2010
    May 2010
    April 2010
    March 2010
    February 2010
    January 2010
    December 2009
    November 2009
    October 2009
    September 2009
    August 2009
    July 2009
    June 2009
    May 2009
    April 2009
    March 2009
    February 2009
    January 2009
    December 2008
    November 2008
    October 2008
    September 2008
    August 2008
    July 2008
    June 2008
    May 2008
    April 2008
    February 2008
    January 2008
    August 2007
    March 2007
    December 2006
    August 2006

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
  • Home
    • Contact
  • Stephan Schütze
    • Biography
    • Scores
    • Music
    • Professional Services
  • Listen-Blog
  • Reel