Those who farm in the country east and west of Barraba are dry like everyone else, but they had been blessed with some timely falls earlier in the year which had enabled them to build up a bank of feed.

Imagine the frustration – even despair – felt by those who are feeling the pinch to be woken with the news that lightning has started a fire and it was turning the standing dry feed that was left into ash.

Alan Jones was said to have penned the words, “Life wasn’t meant to be easy”, which were uttered by then-prime minister Malcolm Fraser.

Jones could have easily drawn on his earlier experiences teaching at Quirindi High School to add “on the land” to the phrase.

Life on the land may have been romanticised by some, but others with an eye for harsh reality like Henry Lawson penned lines like: “It’s grand to be a squatter sitting on a post/while all your ewes and lambs are giving up the ghost.”

Those farmers, their families, friends and staff who fight these fires in more remote parts of our region get stuck in with little kudos but with a ton of guts and courage.

A farmer and his son at Bathurst are in hospital with serious burns (one to 70 per cent of his body) trying to stop a blaze in that part of the world.

The two police officers who were able to rescue them shrugged off praise of bravery by simply saying they were just doing their job.

So anyone with a good link with someone who can organise a good drop of rain might spare a thought for those who’ve lost their grass.

Every drop will count.