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Five years ago today Victoria had the Black Saturday fires. This afternoon we were reminded how quickly these fires can get away.
We picked our grand daughter up from school at 3:15pm and as we drove away from the school we had to pull over to let a Fire Truck past. The truck was headed to a small grass fire at Hernes Oak, about 7 km away. We detoured a couple of kms to drop off another child and then headed down the highway to Traralgon and toward where the fire was burning. As we passed the area we could not see the fire due the hill but could see from the smoke that the fire was already becoming quite large.
Looking at the CFA Fire App we could see that there were five fire units in attendance. As this part of the highway was where our daughter needed to travel on her way home we kept a close eye on the situation via the fire app. During the afternoon we observed the increase of resources applied to this fire. At one point there was 17 airborne units and 35 vehicles on the ground.
It is now just over six hours since we saw that first fire truck. The fire has closed the highway and railway line and has alerts on Hernes Oak, Yallourn and Newborough. The description now is that firefighters have stopped the spread of the fire but it is not yet under control and there are still 35 vehicles in attendance.
At the same time there have been quite a few other smaller fires in the area this afternoon. The weather today was hot but not as severe as what is expected tomorrow.
This got me thinking and I looked up and have included below Karen’s account of her experience with the 2009 Black Saturday fire. It is chilling reading but in writing this I must acknowledge that Karen and Cameron were extremely lucky with their outcome and that another AFFer lost close family members in the fires.
I have also included a copy of the front page of the local newspaper from the time of the fires which shows Karen and Cam’s house in the lower right hand corner.
GIPPSLAND FIRES - 7TH FEBRUARY 2009
At the time of writing this, over 100 lives have been lost and 700+ houses burnt to the ground, on what has been Australia's worst fires ever...
We were one of many, many families directly affected by these fires... luckily, we have very little to complain about... we are safe and our house is still standing...
This is our story... (Well, Karen's version for now)
Mum, Dad and a family friend, Julie, decided to come up for lunch... I spent about 2 hours preparing a "Subway" style lunch, and we were all really hungry...
Just as I was putting lunch on the table, Cam rushed inside to tell us there was smoke coming up the hill behind our house... we all rushed outside and the amount of smoke was pretty scary - we knew that it was pretty serious and that we had to put our fire plan into action immediately.
As we were outside watching the fire, Brody had taken Julie into the Cinema to show her a new DVD he had - so we asked her to stay in there with him... luckily he was quite happy to stay in there and was pretty much oblivious to the frantic pace we were all moving in through the rest of the house
We piled all of our valuables into the cars - Mum was fantastic... every photo, Brody's favourite toys and books... everything that was important to us.
Cam told me to go with Brody, but there was no way I could leave knowing he was still out there, so we told Brody he was going for a holiday at Nan and Pops house, packed him and Pepsi (our dog) into the car and off they all went... Saying goodbye to Brody at that stage was one of the hardest things I've ever done...
Once they were gone, we prepared our house as well as we could - filled every sink with water, bucket after bucket of water placed around the outside of the house, hoses layed out on the ground ready to go... wet blankets and towels on the ready, Brody's little pool full of water...
Once we were ready we headed over to Dave and Lorraine's, our Neighbours, whose house was between the fire and our place...
Once we all knew that everything that could be done was - we headed up on top of the hill to just watch - there wasn't much else we could do...
We watched the fire sweep across the pine plantation, in front of us - it was heading in a South Easterly direction which was great for us - but a change was expected around 6, which scared us - at this stage, only 30 min after the fire started the fire was already 30-50km long - and if it turned, that would be the fire front heading towards us...
So, we waited... all very nervous - nervous chatter, jokes about what a great day it was to be all rugged up (48 degrees where we were)... we just filled in time whilst we waited.
We watch the CFA working on the property below us... the fire crept up to their house and was put out... crept up again and was put out, and then all of a sudden it came up from around the side, and went straight through... moving from right to left as we were looking at it... to the left was the start of more pine plantation, on the front of the hill, which was only 500ish meters from us...
We watched it start in the new section of the pine plantation... and waited for it to take off... it happened a lot slower that I expected... but when it went, it went quickly... one thing I didn't know is that pine trees explode... you can see from the photos the result of some of the explosions...
Have you ever heard a fire? It sounds like a jumbo jet standing next to you... it was INCREDIBLY loud.
As it edged towards us, we all got more and more nervous... but still, we just had to wait it out...
After ducking back to our house to check our gutters and fill them with water, we headed back to the Neighbours to find the fire had come up the valley and was only around 100mtrs from their house... at that stage it was still headed S/E - the house was North of the fire...
Then it happened... 6pm... as I walked back down to the house to grab a towel to fight embers , I remember thinking "thank god the wind hasn't changed"... and then my hair flew in front of my face... the wind had changed...
I looked behind me and saw a MASSIVE wall of flame come up over the valley... (I have chills as I write this)... I ran as fast as I could and all I could think was that there was no way the Neighbours house would survive... I just wanted to get back to my brick house...
But I couldn't find Cam in the smoke and confusion - so i grabbed the Neighbours kids who were hiding behind the end of the house and screamed "get inside NOW"... all I could see was us frying... literally - it was SOOO hot and we just had no idea where it was going - embers were flying everywhere, and I seriously expected one to hit me and catch alight...
You learn a lot about yourself in something like this - I learnt that when there's a fire, I run inside and hide... three of the Neighbours and Cam stayed out with the hoses to fight it, but despite trying 5 or 6 times, I simply could not keep my eyes open for the smoke...
The fire seemed to move so quickly, but we had absolutely no bearing on time... in reality it was probably a good 10-15 minutes before we could safely be outside... but the smoke was so thick and it was pitch black outside...
The boys and I listened to the radio... "the wind is heading in a south-easterly direction" - NO IT'S NOT... IT'S HEADED NORTH.... And then the radio went dead...
I looked around and saw the three Neighbours... but couldn't find Cam... I have to say that was the worst part of the whole day... the 15 minutes it took me to find him... I knew he'd been out there... but he wasn't anywhere to be seen...
A neighbour told me he had gone back to our place... so he and i jumped in the ute and headed back... despite the fact the fire front had passed, I truly understand now what they mean when they say it's hazardous to try and drive... we couldn't see 20cm in front of us...
The site I will never forget... and it brings me to tears thinking of it - as we drove from the Neighbours to our house, we looked out to the left at another Neighbours house.... and it was fully alight... nothing was going to be spared... i had no idea what my house looked like, and feared I would see the same image as we drove around the bend.... thank god it was all still standing.
We got back to our house - threw the front doors open - smoke detectors ringing, ash EVERYWHERE.... smoke as thick inside as out... and Cam was no where to be seen.... I ran around the house screaming for him... and found him as he came back inside to get water... our fence was on fire, the chipbark in the garden and back yard was on fire... we needed water to fight the ember attack that was still in full force.
Another 40 odd minutes passed and we felt like we were in a much better position - Dave came over with his water tank and hit the fires in the garden and back yard... but chip bark smoulders... and it just wouldn't give up....
The fire seemed to go as quickly as it came... and Cam and I stood in our lounge room looking out over our view... it just looked like the whole valley was on fire....
We realised the power was out - we had no access to any more water and there just wasn't much else we could do...
So... once safe... we grabbed the bottle of champagne and the melting icecream and sat and took a well deserved break...
By 10 o'clock we were soooo hungry.... but realised in packing, all of our food had gone with Mum... my "Subway" style restaurant that was much needed right then, was in Sale!!!
We sat back at the Neighbours and joked about how nice it would be to have some alcohol!!! But with all of the bush below us on fire... we weren't going anywhere...
Luckily, Dave and Lorraine had a generator, so they hooked up so we could all shower - and it was the best shower I've ever had...
Looking back now at the photos... I cannot believe we went through it... it all seems so surreal...
We feared for our other Neighbour who had fleed on his Quad Bike... we found him safe the next day and when we spoke to him he said he watched it come over the hill as it hit us - a massive fireball - and he feared he would never see any of us again... He spent the night worried about us, we spent the night worried about him.
There was three points at which I was really scared - 1) when the wind changed and I saw the fire front 40 mtrs behind me, 2) outside, trying to get the kids inside and 3) when I couldn't find Cam... and they are not things I will ever forget...
Today (Monday) we are heading back up to check the damage and work out where to start the clean up... smoke damage is about the worst of it... we have been very, very lucky...
After all is said and done... all that matters is that we are all safe... we have been very lucky...
Karen
(Written 9th Feb 2009 12pm.)
We picked our grand daughter up from school at 3:15pm and as we drove away from the school we had to pull over to let a Fire Truck past. The truck was headed to a small grass fire at Hernes Oak, about 7 km away. We detoured a couple of kms to drop off another child and then headed down the highway to Traralgon and toward where the fire was burning. As we passed the area we could not see the fire due the hill but could see from the smoke that the fire was already becoming quite large.
Looking at the CFA Fire App we could see that there were five fire units in attendance. As this part of the highway was where our daughter needed to travel on her way home we kept a close eye on the situation via the fire app. During the afternoon we observed the increase of resources applied to this fire. At one point there was 17 airborne units and 35 vehicles on the ground.
It is now just over six hours since we saw that first fire truck. The fire has closed the highway and railway line and has alerts on Hernes Oak, Yallourn and Newborough. The description now is that firefighters have stopped the spread of the fire but it is not yet under control and there are still 35 vehicles in attendance.
At the same time there have been quite a few other smaller fires in the area this afternoon. The weather today was hot but not as severe as what is expected tomorrow.
This got me thinking and I looked up and have included below Karen’s account of her experience with the 2009 Black Saturday fire. It is chilling reading but in writing this I must acknowledge that Karen and Cameron were extremely lucky with their outcome and that another AFFer lost close family members in the fires.
I have also included a copy of the front page of the local newspaper from the time of the fires which shows Karen and Cam’s house in the lower right hand corner.
GIPPSLAND FIRES - 7TH FEBRUARY 2009
At the time of writing this, over 100 lives have been lost and 700+ houses burnt to the ground, on what has been Australia's worst fires ever...
We were one of many, many families directly affected by these fires... luckily, we have very little to complain about... we are safe and our house is still standing...
This is our story... (Well, Karen's version for now)
Mum, Dad and a family friend, Julie, decided to come up for lunch... I spent about 2 hours preparing a "Subway" style lunch, and we were all really hungry...
Just as I was putting lunch on the table, Cam rushed inside to tell us there was smoke coming up the hill behind our house... we all rushed outside and the amount of smoke was pretty scary - we knew that it was pretty serious and that we had to put our fire plan into action immediately.
As we were outside watching the fire, Brody had taken Julie into the Cinema to show her a new DVD he had - so we asked her to stay in there with him... luckily he was quite happy to stay in there and was pretty much oblivious to the frantic pace we were all moving in through the rest of the house
We piled all of our valuables into the cars - Mum was fantastic... every photo, Brody's favourite toys and books... everything that was important to us.
Cam told me to go with Brody, but there was no way I could leave knowing he was still out there, so we told Brody he was going for a holiday at Nan and Pops house, packed him and Pepsi (our dog) into the car and off they all went... Saying goodbye to Brody at that stage was one of the hardest things I've ever done...
Once they were gone, we prepared our house as well as we could - filled every sink with water, bucket after bucket of water placed around the outside of the house, hoses layed out on the ground ready to go... wet blankets and towels on the ready, Brody's little pool full of water...
Once we were ready we headed over to Dave and Lorraine's, our Neighbours, whose house was between the fire and our place...
Once we all knew that everything that could be done was - we headed up on top of the hill to just watch - there wasn't much else we could do...
We watched the fire sweep across the pine plantation, in front of us - it was heading in a South Easterly direction which was great for us - but a change was expected around 6, which scared us - at this stage, only 30 min after the fire started the fire was already 30-50km long - and if it turned, that would be the fire front heading towards us...
So, we waited... all very nervous - nervous chatter, jokes about what a great day it was to be all rugged up (48 degrees where we were)... we just filled in time whilst we waited.
We watch the CFA working on the property below us... the fire crept up to their house and was put out... crept up again and was put out, and then all of a sudden it came up from around the side, and went straight through... moving from right to left as we were looking at it... to the left was the start of more pine plantation, on the front of the hill, which was only 500ish meters from us...
We watched it start in the new section of the pine plantation... and waited for it to take off... it happened a lot slower that I expected... but when it went, it went quickly... one thing I didn't know is that pine trees explode... you can see from the photos the result of some of the explosions...
Have you ever heard a fire? It sounds like a jumbo jet standing next to you... it was INCREDIBLY loud.
As it edged towards us, we all got more and more nervous... but still, we just had to wait it out...
After ducking back to our house to check our gutters and fill them with water, we headed back to the Neighbours to find the fire had come up the valley and was only around 100mtrs from their house... at that stage it was still headed S/E - the house was North of the fire...
Then it happened... 6pm... as I walked back down to the house to grab a towel to fight embers , I remember thinking "thank god the wind hasn't changed"... and then my hair flew in front of my face... the wind had changed...
I looked behind me and saw a MASSIVE wall of flame come up over the valley... (I have chills as I write this)... I ran as fast as I could and all I could think was that there was no way the Neighbours house would survive... I just wanted to get back to my brick house...
But I couldn't find Cam in the smoke and confusion - so i grabbed the Neighbours kids who were hiding behind the end of the house and screamed "get inside NOW"... all I could see was us frying... literally - it was SOOO hot and we just had no idea where it was going - embers were flying everywhere, and I seriously expected one to hit me and catch alight...
You learn a lot about yourself in something like this - I learnt that when there's a fire, I run inside and hide... three of the Neighbours and Cam stayed out with the hoses to fight it, but despite trying 5 or 6 times, I simply could not keep my eyes open for the smoke...
The fire seemed to move so quickly, but we had absolutely no bearing on time... in reality it was probably a good 10-15 minutes before we could safely be outside... but the smoke was so thick and it was pitch black outside...
The boys and I listened to the radio... "the wind is heading in a south-easterly direction" - NO IT'S NOT... IT'S HEADED NORTH.... And then the radio went dead...
I looked around and saw the three Neighbours... but couldn't find Cam... I have to say that was the worst part of the whole day... the 15 minutes it took me to find him... I knew he'd been out there... but he wasn't anywhere to be seen...
A neighbour told me he had gone back to our place... so he and i jumped in the ute and headed back... despite the fact the fire front had passed, I truly understand now what they mean when they say it's hazardous to try and drive... we couldn't see 20cm in front of us...
The site I will never forget... and it brings me to tears thinking of it - as we drove from the Neighbours to our house, we looked out to the left at another Neighbours house.... and it was fully alight... nothing was going to be spared... i had no idea what my house looked like, and feared I would see the same image as we drove around the bend.... thank god it was all still standing.
We got back to our house - threw the front doors open - smoke detectors ringing, ash EVERYWHERE.... smoke as thick inside as out... and Cam was no where to be seen.... I ran around the house screaming for him... and found him as he came back inside to get water... our fence was on fire, the chipbark in the garden and back yard was on fire... we needed water to fight the ember attack that was still in full force.
Another 40 odd minutes passed and we felt like we were in a much better position - Dave came over with his water tank and hit the fires in the garden and back yard... but chip bark smoulders... and it just wouldn't give up....
The fire seemed to go as quickly as it came... and Cam and I stood in our lounge room looking out over our view... it just looked like the whole valley was on fire....
We realised the power was out - we had no access to any more water and there just wasn't much else we could do...
So... once safe... we grabbed the bottle of champagne and the melting icecream and sat and took a well deserved break...
By 10 o'clock we were soooo hungry.... but realised in packing, all of our food had gone with Mum... my "Subway" style restaurant that was much needed right then, was in Sale!!!
We sat back at the Neighbours and joked about how nice it would be to have some alcohol!!! But with all of the bush below us on fire... we weren't going anywhere...
Luckily, Dave and Lorraine had a generator, so they hooked up so we could all shower - and it was the best shower I've ever had...
Looking back now at the photos... I cannot believe we went through it... it all seems so surreal...
We feared for our other Neighbour who had fleed on his Quad Bike... we found him safe the next day and when we spoke to him he said he watched it come over the hill as it hit us - a massive fireball - and he feared he would never see any of us again... He spent the night worried about us, we spent the night worried about him.
There was three points at which I was really scared - 1) when the wind changed and I saw the fire front 40 mtrs behind me, 2) outside, trying to get the kids inside and 3) when I couldn't find Cam... and they are not things I will ever forget...
Today (Monday) we are heading back up to check the damage and work out where to start the clean up... smoke damage is about the worst of it... we have been very, very lucky...
After all is said and done... all that matters is that we are all safe... we have been very lucky...
Karen
(Written 9th Feb 2009 12pm.)
