More than 10 years ago, I was a witness to an emergency situation in Canberra. It was a siege situation. The man involved shot the boyfriend of his estranged wife at the Dickson pool. He then proceeded along Northbourne Ave (would have been a few cars behind us) until he reached the building where his wife worked inside the shop that was used to sell train tickets to the public. On the floor above the shops was the radio station 2CA. The man moved across the road in his vehicle and slammed through the shop window. He then got out of the vehicle, turned the taps of the gas cylinders on, and then he shot at the gas that escaped, causing an explosion and fire. This happened as I got out of the car and then headed towards the office where I worked at the time, in a building on the opposite side of the road. By the time I got to the first floor the fire brigade was on site, a ride on mower had been abandoned, and there was a policeman running around the building moving from column to colum with his gun drawn (I am not kidding the whole scene was surreal). The first thing I did was get on the phone to the opposite station 2CC and gave them the information. (my call was on the TV 
).
This morning when we woke up the radio station sounded rather strange. The announcer was talking about something happening at Mitchell. What is amazing is that 2CC was in Bellenden Street Mitchell during that earlier time. Mark is doing a great job on the radio this morning, and this is the best broadcast that I have ever heard. I live in a suburb that was given the warning to stay indoors – we were in the exclusion zone!! We did not hear the explosions during the early hours of the morning. Amazing because we are both quite restless. The radio station 2CA had moved out of the Civic area and has premised in Mitchell. Both radio stations are in the middle of the area most affected, but they have via modern technology been able to hook up something and have this one broadcast.
When we heard the news I actually looked out of the window and then looked out the front door. I saw the black plume of smoke. I saw more than that and I actually saw the flames leaping in the air from my place. Our house is situated on a hill so we have a good view of the surrounding area. We can see the black smoke from the front balconey. Whilst looking at the plume that is coming from the fire in Mitchell, yes it is true that before 7.00 am I did see flames leaping from the site from my place.
Aussie
