It would be easy for us, in the current circumstances, to forget that this month, February 16, is the 20th anniversary of the 1983 Ash Wednesday fires. In comparison to 2003, the area burnt in 1983 was very small, but the losses, about 70 lives and 2000 houses, and the extreme fire intensities recorded, have made Ash Wednesday a benchmark for bushfires.
However, our response to the 2003 fires shows us that the lessons we learned from the Ash Wednesday fires, we learned well ! That we can successfully defend our houses from bushfire, without endangering our lives, is probably the most significant step Victorians have made in learning to live with bushfires.
Time and again during these 2003 fires, residents have successfully put their fireplans into action. Who, in the urban fringe and rural towns in 1983, had ever even dreamed of a "fireplan", or of staying to defend their property from ember attack? Ash Wednesday has indeed left us with a profound and positive legacy.
Christmas Hills' involvement in the Ash Wednesday fires is captured in the radio log, kept by Hilary Jackman. It begins with an amended weather forecast about 11am on February 16 1983, where a Priority Fire Weather Warning was issued. The new forecast was for 38C, 10% relative humidity, and winds from the north and north west of 45 km/hr gusting to 80 km/hr. Christmas Hills Tanker 1 (it was actually the Region 13 Spare, an Austin, complete with faulty radio and vapourizing fuel), turned out "to Berwick" at 6.40pm, and the rest is history !
The radio log pages show the planning for crews for both Thanker 1 and Tanker 2, and for local crew, until "no relief crews are needed" was logged at 5.14pm on Saturday 19 February.
During the four days, the Brigade fought fires throughout the Dandenong Ranges, at Warburton, and in the Kinglake National Park . Not bad for firefighters in overalls, threadbare hand-me-down MFB turnout coats, and little gray helmets! Not too long after that, the Tankers were fitted with heat shields, and now we even have seats on the back with seatbelts!