Cover Contest 9/28 Thru 10/4- Firefighters

[babyblob]

Great Job Cat Lady. it was a great cover. And thanks for the votes.

Also thanks to MRP and WPP for their votes.

Have we ever had a 4 way tie before? It was pretty intense

[Shalla Bal]

Congrats Catlady and thank you for the honorable mention

[Iron Maiden]

Congratulations to Catlady!

[Tami]

Congrats Catlady.

[Riv86672]

Stress, what stress?

Congratulations, Catlady in training!

^^^All SORTS of stress!
Life is good now though. Catlady in training has claimed her win, a new contest is up, I posted a cover.

Nothing to stress over.

Till next week.

AAAAAHHHHH!!!!!

[Nschornhorst]

Congratulations, Catlady in Training!

[foxley]

Congrats to Catlady in training. And a big thank you to everyone who voted for my entry.

That cover has some special significance for me. It was charity book brought out after the devastating 'Black Summer' bushfires of 2020. Australian writers and artists provided their services for free, and all proceeds went to aiding bushfire recovery. I bought a copy of it as a Christmas present for my eldest sister, who is captain of her local volunteer fire brigade and who (along with her husband and eldest son) had been involved in fighting the fires. Our late father had previously served several terms as captain on that brigade, and had campaigned for women to be allowed to serve on fire crews.

For those unfamiliar with Australia's emergency services, the cities and major towns have professional firefighters, but in small towns and rural areas, distance and sparsity of population means firefighting falls to local volunteer fire brigades. These are administered at a state/territory level, with professional senior officers being in overall command, and are extremely well-trained and organised (if, sadly, not always well-funded). The brigades handle local fires and emergencies, but during major fire events will travel across the state to wherever they are needed. In events like the Black Summer, crews will travel from interstate to assist. In 2020, crews came from as far as north Queensland and Western Australia to fires in New South Wales and Victoria. To put that in context for American readers, that is the equivalent of crews travelling from Maine and California to Florida.

And these people are volunteers, meaning they are putting their lives on hold for the length of the crisis. Following the 1983 Ash Wednesday fires, all government agencies and many businesses have instituted emergency service leave so people are still getting paid while they are risking their lives (and state governments have payments for self-employed people so they are not unduly disadvantaged).

My father was a volunteer firefighter for more than 30 years. This meant that when I was growing up, it was simply a fact of life that most summers my father might be away for days or even weeks fighting fires. And in those days before cell phones, it meant my mother had little idea where he was as she kept the farm running.

And it is not just Australians. We have reciprocal arrangements with New Zealand, Canada and parts of the US meaning their firefighters are often fighting alongside ours, and ours alongside theirs during their fire seasons. Tragically, an American firebombing crew lost their lives during the 2020 fires when their plane crashed.

Sorry for the long and rambling screed, but I wanted to say something about that cover and the long and proud history of service it represents.

[Jack Dracula]

Congratulations Catlady.
Thanks for doing the count WPP.
Thank you all for playing this week.

[nx01a]

Yay, Kittygirl!

[Catlady in training]

Congrats to Catlady in training. And a big thank you to everyone who voted for my entry.

That cover has some special significance for me. It was charity book brought out after the devastating 'Black Summer' bushfires of 2020. Australian writers and artists provided their services for free, and all proceeds went to aiding bushfire recovery. I bought a copy of it as a Christmas present for my eldest sister, who is captain of her local volunteer fire brigade and who (along with her husband and eldest son) had been involved in fighting the fires. Our late father had previously served several terms as captain on that brigade, and had campaigned for women to be allowed to serve on fire crews.

For those unfamiliar with Australia's emergency services, the cities and major towns have professional firefighters, but in small towns and rural areas, distance and sparsity of population means firefighting falls to local volunteer fire brigades. These are administered at a state/territory level, with professional senior officers being in overall command, and are extremely well-trained and organised (if, sadly, not always well-funded). The brigades handle local fires and emergencies, but during major fire events will travel across the state to wherever they are needed. In events like the Black Summer, crews will travel from interstate to assist. In 2020, crews came from as far as north Queensland and Western Australia to fires in New South Wales and Victoria. To put that in context for American readers, that is the equivalent of crews travelling from Maine and California to Florida.

And these people are volunteers, meaning they are putting their lives on hold for the length of the crisis. Following the 1983 Ash Wednesday fires, all government agencies and many businesses have instituted emergency service leave so people are still getting paid while they are risking their lives (and state governments have payments for self-employed people so they are not unduly disadvantaged).

My father was a volunteer firefighter for more than 30 years. This meant that when I was growing up, it was simply a fact of life that most summers my father might be away for days or even weeks fighting fires. And in those days before cell phones, it meant my mother had little idea where he was as she kept the farm running.

And it is not just Australians. We have reciprocal arrangements with New Zealand, Canada and parts of the US meaning their firefighters are often fighting alongside ours, and ours alongside theirs during their fire seasons. Tragically, an American firebombing crew lost their lives during the 2020 fires when their plane crashed.

Sorry for the long and rambling screed, but I wanted to say something about that cover and the long and proud history of service it represents.

That is so cool! Kudos to your dad and sister for the very honorable work.