I just had to go into the "back" of the website to check on something and noticed the stats counter for the site.
This Helidon Hills Smokespotters website has been online for just over 18 months (since September 2012). In that time there have been 4,509 hits on the site - not bad considering that this is a site serving a relatively small area - maybe 350 square kilometres - with a very low population level (due to the fact that around 9,000 ha is National Park and the remainder is largely rugged country with relatively large properties).
Clearly the site serves a need, but more than that, it shows that the Smokespotter Group serves a need within the larger community.
Personally I think that another statistic is worth mentioning. Over the last 12 months there have been very few reports of smoke in the Helidon Hills. This period includes one of the driest winters and early summers on record, with very high fire danger levels - and during that period there were only a few smoke sightings reported, and these were either outside our area or were of very short duration suggesting a permitted (or at least closely controlled) burn. I think there were probably two reasons for this - first, the community in general took the fire risk very seriously and, second, the presence and effectiveness of the Smokespotter Group have become more widely known and this may have deterred some who could previously have risked burning off on the assumption that they would never get caught.
