A Weekend of Bushfires

OMGosh what a weekend it has been. One full of shattered dreams, smoke, tears and fear. Even we were touched by the horrific bushfires on Saturday. A day which is now known as the worst in Victorian history and much, much worse than the Ash Wednesday fires of February 1983. saturday was a day where temperatures reached at least 46C (114.8F) in most areas, including ours.

Our day started pretty much as anyone's did in preparation for another really hot day. I had made salads in the morning so I didn't have to cook that night. We put the air-conditioner on early to keep the house cool, well as cool as we could considering how hot it was going to be. The boys were in their bedroom watching DVD's on their laptops. Mark was resting on the couch and I went back to my computer for a bit of fun on facebook and to check my email.

I got an email aorund 1pm from a dear friend saying how she and hubby had been monitoring things with the CFA (hubby is very involved in the CFA) and that there were fires near us and she wanted to know if we were okay. I didn't notice anything and read the email to Mark. After I had read it aloud I swear I could smell smoke. I thought it was just because I had finished reading what was in my email. I sent an email back to my friend thanking her for letting us know and that we were okay for now. I decided to get up and look out the lounge window. The blinds were down to help keep the heat out so we didn't notice anything before. I was shocked by what I saw. Mark went outside to check and I followed him. The sky was full of smoke and the smell was horrible.

I told Mark that I was going inside to start packing. I wanted to be prepared to leave just in case. I truly didn't think that we would be in danger but I wanted to be ready. I said it was the Girl Guide in me that said be prepared. I checked the CFA website for alerts and updates.
I went back outside to speak with Mark. His brother (who lives next door) and our neighbour came outside too. We were seeing small bits of blackened leaves and ash landing in our front yard. I was glad that the boys were inside and oblivious to all that was happenening outside.

The boys eventually found out about the smoke and the fires. How could they not really. The smell of smoke was so strong. I made some phone calls to friends to check on them as they lived where the fires were. I didn't even think that they may have already evacuated. I worried about them of course and I have still not heard back from all of them. Nothing I have heard on the news indicated that they have been hurt so that's a good thing.

Of course Brodie starts to panic a bit. It must be the Aspergers. Angus was worried too. I tried so hard to keep my cool so that they would see I was not worried and I calmly asked them to get some clothing ready for our suitcase just in case we needed to leave. I explained to the boys not to panic that Mark would let us know when we would need to go and that if things got really bad for our street that the police would tell us to get out.

As the day progressed the smoke got worse, the sky darkened, the air felt thicker, the embers came more frequently. Mark kept checking outside for spot fires from the ember attack. Our neighbour bought a hose to use, cost him a fortune as it was the last one in the hardware store, and he began to water the near dead lawn and dampen the roof.
I continued preparing to get things ready to leave and talked to friends online to let them know what was going on and updating them on what we would do if we had to leave.

I am so glad that I did get things ready. We kept listening to the local radio station to find out what was going on. There were updates every 15 minutes. The roads were being closed all about us. People were on alert in the area where we used to live. The fires were around the Primary School the boys went to. The radio kept saying what we needed to do to 'survive' - to drink lots of water, to have a woollen blanket if we were stuck in the car, to check for spot fires from the embers.

Around 5 pm Mark decided that it was time the boys and I left. He was staying with our neighbour and his brother to defend the homes. That's when it hit me. This is real. Mark isn't coming with me. I hated the idea and it scared me to death. I burst into tears. I held it together but it hit me that this was it. We needed to go. More to keep the boys safe, Brodie wasn't listening to instrucions and kept going outdoors when he was told not to.
We phoned a family from Church, well Mark did I couldn't talk due to my crying. They said that we could stay with them. They were 40 km away in Moe, 25 minutes down the freeway.

I can't even remember when we arrived there. All I remember is driiving carefully and I didn't care that there were some cars flying past us on the freeway. I wanted to get there in one piece. It seemed surreal while we were travelling. The sky looked eerie and dark. The smoke was thick.
We stayed overnight and thanked theem profusely for allowing us to stay. We arrived home around 10:15 this morning. It seemed like it didn't happen. The freeway was closed and we had to travel the back way to get home from Warragul, the same way we travelled to get out of town yesterday.

My girlfriend that I had phoned earlier in the day managed tophone me last night. They had left their farm on Friday night taking their horses with them. They were safe in Cranbourne. Her Step-Dad stayed at the farm but sadly they had lost it. I don't know if her Dad was hurt. I am sure she would have told me if he was. I was so relieved to find out that she was safe and that was all that mattered to me.
Then I got thinking about the friends the boys made from school. How did they fare? Were they okay? Did they lose anything? I have no way of knowing as I don't know if they are home or not. I know one family lost their chicken farm. I can't even go for a drive to check as the roads are still closed. I'll definitely take my camera when I can eventually got for a drive.

66 people have now been confirmed dead. I keep watching the news in shock and then I realise that I have tears streaming down my face. Even now as I type this I get all teary thinking about all the people affeted by this. And I think how can there be people out there that deliberately start this .. why? I hope they catch them and give them life in prison.