this is not reality

February 9, 2009

Statewide Bushfires - February 2009

This weekend just gone is one of those that will be etched into memory. History book stuff.
Saturday was the hottest day in Melbourne on record, the hottest temperature I’ve ever experienced at 46.4deg Celsius (115.5deg F). The hot wind hit you in the face like a hot iron. Clothes on the washing line smelt like clothes straight out of the tumble drier. When Dean and I walked to the shop, it was like a ghost town.

News of the fires made me uneasy, and then more and more and more uneasy. The fire in the Bunyip State Forest was getting bigger, and the expected cool change was bringing a change in wind direction. As such, Mum and Dad in Neerim East were under a CFA Urgent Threat Message: “…may be directly impacted upon by this fire”. I felt like I was going to be sick when their road was mentioned on the incident updates. Later we found it out it wasn’t their road at all, but this wasn’t until Sunday after they’d spoken to the neighbours. They had the sprinklers going on the roof and bags packed ready to go. Heavy smoke and ash and embers - bits of burnt bark falling from the sky 20cm and longer. They lost power and the landline phone.

Other towns were obliterated in separate fires. It seemed the entire state was on fire, east to west and north to south. So many lives lost and they’re still counting. The fire is still consuming public and private property and everything in its wake, despite the best efforts of the emergency services and volunteers. I don’t know anyone personally affected by the death toll yet, though I know people whose relatives have lost everything.

I’m my father’s daughter. Although the farm is now relatively safe (dependent on wind changes and the like, of course), thoughts of what could’ve been haunted me all last night. The wind is a fickle creature and if that southerly had kept itself up… When my parents ventured out on Sunday, to check on neighbours and their property in Drouin, they discovered if they’d wanted to leave during the night it would have been practically impossible with the number of trees over the road. What if…? I feel sick seeing pictures of burnt out cars, knowing many of them were not deserted. Dad felt the same, I know, when I left New Orleans 24hrs before Hurricane Katrina hit. I thank my lucky stars that they’re safe, and grieve for those who were far less fortunate.
Worse than Ash Wednesday? Worse than Black Friday? What will Saturday 7 February 2009 become known as?

jen at 3:13 pm

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