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Bushfire: My Story of the Fire That Burned Our Australian Land
How our little house survived and why we are still there
The beginning- Sunday 4th
It begins on a Sunday in early October, long before we would usually start closing the fire shutters on our house, deep in the bush. Reports of a bushfire at Lancefield. A controlled burn that has got out of control and is burning towards the township. Burning away from our property.
I go to the Country Fire Authority emergency website, find the fire on the map, the triangle with the flame and the fire description. 3 vehicles attending. Now 6 vehicles attending. Then a list of roads. Three Chain Road. Bridies Lane. Three Chain Road again. Watch and Act warning for Lancefield.
On the news that evening, reports of the fire moving south-east. Pictures of smoke, fire trucks. It doesn’t look too big. Surely they will put it out.
I start checking the website every hour or so, watching where the fire is going, what road it has crossed, how many fire vehicles are there. The helicopter is now dropping water. They can’t seem to get on top of it. The hot wind from the north increases. So unseasonably hot for October. What idiots started a burn when the forecast showed a clear risk? I click on the site, grip the…
