anatomy of a burnt out blitz

[Tony Wheeler]

Amongst the many CMPs photographed by Keith and I as kids in the early 1970's was this C60L sawmill crane. 40 years later it's still there, albeit in a rather sorry state after the 2008 Black Saturday bushfires. I dropped in recently to inspect the burnt out wreck, and found the damage it had sustained quite interesting. Although parked in a cleared area some distance from the treeline, it was nonetheless subjected to intense radiant heat - sufficient to melt the carby, cause windscreen glass to soften and droop, and solder to flow down the radiator. Steel parts absorbed tremendous radiant heat - the springs becoming soft enough to sag under vehicle weight, and even the LH windscreen frame to sag under its own weight - suggesting the entire vehicle was literally red hot! Interestingly though, some non-metal materials inside the cab, including sections of wiring insulation and fuel hose, were barely even charred. Presumably these were shielded from direct radiant heat from the treeline.