Cane Fires

• Daniel Braney, Grade 3
• Short Story
• 2016

Did you know that the Burdekin is the only place in Australia that still burns sugar cane? When I lived in Clare if there was a cane fire my brothers and I would jump on our bikes and ride to the fire.
We would know there’s a fire because the smoke fills the house as it floats over town. As we run outside we see the huge red and orange flames. As we get closer to the fire we can hear the crackling and roaring noise of the burning cane. It smells like a huge campfire burning sugar.
The big black cloud rises from the fire and covers the town like a giant storm cloud. This isn’t any ordinary storm cloud. This cloud drops snow and I mean BLACK snow! Black snow is the ashes of the fire floating away. There can be different types of black snow- some skinny, some fat, some long and some short. When the snow falls we try to catch it without it breaking into pieces. We hold our hands out like cups and let the ashes fall gently into our hands. Sometimes we have to run to them before they hit the ground.
Once the fire settles and the cloud has floated away the town is covered in black snow. When we walk outside our feet turn black from the black snow that has landed on the ground. Mum hates the black snow because when we go for a bath it makes the bath filthy.
After the fire and cloud have gone it leaves a disgusting smell of burnt sugar and smoke. We can smell it from inside the house because it sneaks under the doors and through the windows. Our clothes smell like we have been playing in a fire and the house is covered in dust from the black snow.
We love watching the fires because it is like a beautiful deadly flower but the down side is it brings out all the snakes and bugs. The fire gets rid of the trash so the farmers don’t have to clean it all up before they harvest. It is magnificent to see a paddock of sugar cane stalks set alit against the setting sun.