STORIES FROM COMMUNITY FIREGUARD BUSHFIRE SURVIVORS |
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Whelans Rd / Long Gully Rd - Healesville Saturday 7th February at around 4pm is when it struck our area and threatened to take our home and potentially our lives. Long Gully in Healesville is—was—a beautiful tucked away piece of paradise. Generally our area stays green longer than other places but on this Saturday it was crisp and dry and very vulnerable. I had taken a gamble and had not cut hay this year, resting the paddocks. It was a gamble that did not pay off. We got up early that morning, getting our fire hoses out, checking the pumps, clearing gutters and debris from the house, putting out buckets and mops. We then went inside, out of the heat and watched videos. We felt secure because a neighbour has a scanner and we knew he would let us know of any fire activity we needed to be aware of. WRONG! The first we knew of the fire was when a neighbour rang to say fire was on a neighbouring property about 3km away and travelling in our direction. We leapt into action. We have lived in this area for 9 years. The previous owner had been instrumental in setting up a Fireguard group and we carried it on - thank God! Over the 9 years we have organised Fireguard meetings involving the neighbours. Someone from CFA attended those meetings and provided us with information and reading materials to help us prepare workable fire plans and equip ourselves. Most importantly the information was often about what to expect and how to behave. This was such an important factor on the night. I can remember not being terrified (well perhaps a bit) but remembering a lot of what we had been told meant we could be proactive. We had our first line of defence, we knew that we had fall back positions: we were well equipped and clothed. We knew we could lose power and we were prepared for that. We knew we would lose phone and mobile communication. We knew we would be on our own and not expect to be “saved”. We live in a timber 1960‘s house that should have burnt in seconds but it didn‘t because we were prepared. My husband, 14 year old daughter and I defended our property, saved our home paddock, home, stables and our lives. Every member of the Fireguard group saved their homes and lives. We all put our survival down to a large extent to our participation in the Fireguard movement. I am telling everybody I know who decides to live out in these beautiful areas that they need to get involved in Fireguard. I know it is not the total solution and there may be Fireguard members who didn‘t fare as well, but I‘m not sure we would be here today but for Fireguard. Thank you Helen and CFA. (Helen Wositzky is the Yarra Area Community Fireguard Coordinator)
Kings Rd - Kinglake West I alerted our group via phone tree to the Wallan Kilmore fires at about 3pm on Sat 7th Feb, the message was to consider the fact that fires may well head this way and to be prepared with their fire plans. A lot of the women and children had left early. Soon after our phone lines died and the fires were approaching. The majority of our group stayed for the fires and thanks to Fireguard getting us organised we all pulled together and wonderfully through this horrifying time. My mum’s home the most clear was the safe house in the street where all the mothers, children and those not physically or emotionally fit to tackle the fire held up for the entire night whilst the rest of us kept close eyes on our homes and tackled the embers and spot fires. I, though saddened by the fires and it‘s wrath, am happy to tell you that Kings Rd did not lose one resident or one home. Since the fires a lot of our group members have thanked me for starting the group, having come together to get to know each other and therefore making it easy for us to pull together and support each other during this time. We the Kings Rd CFG thank you and your organisation for your support and preparing us with the knowledge to face this situation as best we could. Without having CFA and CFG we would not have been prepared, known when to take cover and when to go back out, clothing, all the little things that helped get through this, we knew something rather than nothing.
Moore Court - Castella Our fire plans worked, our phone tree worked, those that were there stayed and defended, and everyone survived. The only homes lost were 3 undefended, one of them left because they considered their home un-defendable. One family with young ones left on Thursday knowing the weather that was coming up, for them they considered that their safest option. We felt well prepared, we were all geared up in the correct clothing, the pumps and sprinklers were set, we had independent bore water. The CFG group allowed us to know each other, and now as we get back as a community we share equipment and help each other out. It taught us the right thing, we knew what to do & that made a huge difference in how we responded to this fire. |
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