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Hodges Rd - Chum Creek We left, though in hindsight we should have left earlier. We had decided that at our age we were not capable of defending our home and I think we made the right decision. We would have been more of a hindrance to everyone if we had stayed. Thanks to our wonderful neighbours our house survived. On high risk days we always cancelled clients coming to our home where we run our business from, something they usually found hard to fathom. On Saturday we took the children to family early in the morning and returned home. We knew there were fires at Wallan but being quiet at our place one of us headed off to get them at about 4pm. Mistake! Ran into fire up our road & did a quick u-turn back to home and our stay and defend plan went into swing. We were prepared, we had our plan, water tanks, pumps etc but the fire was upon us so quick it didn‘t happen quite as we‘d always imagined it would. To be honest although we prepared I didn‘t really believe that a fire would ever come here to us. We had no time to feel panic, it was just into automatic mode. At one stage a lady in thongs and summer dress appeared and was just standing on the road, what are you doing I yelled, you are not dressed properly, go and stand on my verandah where it‘s protected. She just ran off.
Hilton Rd - Ferny Creek I have always been interested in the weather and climate change … I was aware of the dire predictions for Saturday 7th, I kept an eye on Weatherzone, a forum I had become involved in. I knew it would probably be the worst fire day in history, the statistics told it all, 46 degrees, wind 105 kph on Dunns Hill, less than 5% humidity. I started to warn my friends because being forewarned is forearmed. I‘m sure a lot of them thought I was panicking. My plan is to leave the night before a Total Fire Ban if high winds are forecast. I leave my scanner with another CFG member and carry my phone tree with me. Every year I take my photo albums and everything important off the hill. Before I left with my son on Friday night I started the phone tree with the message of how bad the weather looked and to leave early. After the 1997 fires I wanted to put something back into the community and thus decided to start a CFG group. In the 11 years since I have learnt much from CFA meetings. They are an invaluable source of information with their booklets, meetings, knowledge and commitment to the community in keeping them informed and safe. I would like to thank the CFA and all the volunteers for the amazing job they do, they are all heroes to me, the Weatherzone forum for invaluable information, the bureau of Meteorology, and also to the CFG program for their wonderful work. I also extend our deepest sympathies to all those people that lost family, friends, animals, homes, businesses - it could so easily been us in the hills.
Coombs Rd - Kinglake West We lost our home, but not our lives. Everyone who was involved in the CFG group still has their lives. We had activated our phone tree, I left and my husband stayed to defend. We didn‘t have much time once we realised the fire was coming. We were prepared - but not for that! The generator failed, the pump failed, the hoses melted, the sprinklers couldn‘t work. Our home burnt and with no options left my husband saved his life by lying in the mud in our dam. Many others also lost their homes, there are only 3 homes left, and tragically six in our road lost their lives.
Edenvale - Kinglake West No loss of life! Many of our group left early, between us we lost 8 homes. Those who stayed worked together with “our” water truck and saved a number of homes. It was unbelievable, unpredictable. We survived because of the knowledge we had through CFA education programs. Through our facilitators guidance we knew what we needed to do, I‘m sure a lot of that helped people through it. What CFG and our facilitator brought to that community - it all added up to no loss of life.
Many thanks to Helen Wositzky, Yarra Area Community Fireguard Coordinator, for compiling this selection of personal stories from Black Saturday. Many thanks also to the community members that have taken the time to let us know of their stories despite their ongoing hardships. We are grateful for their willingness to share their experiences to help us better prepare and respond to bushfire in the future.
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