NT fire fighting 101. Fight fire with fire. Back burn into the approaching fire and the heat will suck it in on itself. #GambaFire #TipperaryStation ⁦@AdamCoffeyNT⁩ ⁦@NtDrifter⁩ ⁦@SimonCotter62⁩ ⁦@tofar1⁩ ⁦⁦@bouta_nt⁩ pic.twitter.com/rxMoTUZlBF

— 🇦🇺 David Connolly (@sokitomi) June 15, 2024

A textbook example of back burning to fight an out-of-control fire was captured in a video filmed at Tipperary Station in the Northern Territory over the weekend.

Station manager David Connolly posted the video to Twitter with the simple explanation: “Back burn into the approaching fire and the heat will suck it in on itself”.

Mr Connolly told Beef Central the fire started from the heat of a quad bike’s engine in long grass.

Fuelled by high wind, it didn’t take long for the fire to develop into a significant and fast moving blaze with flames estimated to be as high as 30 feet (10 metres).

Producers in the NT spend a lot of time dealing with fires during the dry season months and this video shows just how adept they can be at quickly bringing a large and unmanaged fire under control.

When the fire broke out Mr Connolly said the Tipperary team swung quickly into gear, with crews in Land Cruiser utes equipped with fire fighting units on the ground and Mr Connolly directing the process in a chopper from the air.

“The wind was coming from the east and so we slipped around to the western side and lit the back of the paddock,” he explained.

“And then the heat of that fire coming towards it – it just takes a minute or two – and then suddenly it starts to draw in, and then woof!

“Off it went and started to suck that flame into itself and inevitably it feeds on itself and puts itself out.”

He said it was all about the wind and timing.

In this case the fire went from being out of control to being fought and then under control and then finally out within less than one hour.

But he added there was always potential for fires to jump.

“We have known gamba grass fires to jump 2km ahead of themselves,” he said. “You will get a tornado effect and they will spiral up into the air and drop balls of heat on a paddock 2km away and it can light a fire there, so you still have to be very aware.”

“But up here back burning is what puts fires out.

“You can’t fight a fire and put it out, fire has got to put a fire out.”

Mr Connolly said producers across the NT were bracing for another big fire season after a big wet season had brought fresh growth following last year’s fires.

“People have been backburning and management burning from very early, because we know it is going to be a very big fire season.”

“We spend heaps of time on fires and the guys in the Top End get very good at it, we spend a lot of time and effort and management dealing with fire”.