Bushfire Victim – Offers Candid Insight
I took my 14 yo son Zak and two of his friends to the Gumeracha Fire Ground to experience the damage, and also challenge them to capture the ‘essence’ of the bushfire and the subsequent destruction in photographs. We reached the entrance to the State Forest and straight away were confronted by rows of charred pine trees, and a strong smell of smoke. The trees were up to 80 ft high and were stripped of their foliage and bark and replaced with black charcoal. The boys really reacted to the sombre environment and talked to each other about the devastation. They explored the area on foot trying to capture the perfect shot, and getting deeper and deeper into the forest. They walked for kilometres as they kept finding an area more burnt than the last.
It was quite evident that this fire was out of control and had mowed down everything in it’s path. We shot the area in both colour and black & white, with the latter being the more appropriate. The forest still smelt of stale smoke and it felt like every living animal was destroyed. This was our belief until 3 kangaroos bounded across our path. We spent almost 2 hours capturing pics of the burnt area and almost tasting the ashes of the fire. On the way home I spotted a destroyed house next to the road. It was the very same house that was beamed all over Australia on all the news services covering the fire 3 weeks earlier. We were amazed at the bins that had melted and spotted an untouched fire hose reel that was obviously of no use this time round.
As we were taking pictures the only neighbour of this destroyed residence ambled up the dirt track to put out his bins for collection. It was an awkward situation as I felt like a voyeur photographing someone else’s pain. We had good intentions and tried to communicate this very quickly to the resident, and reassure him we were not looting any remains or being disrespectful. I felt honoured to be able to discuss the fire with someone who had just lost their shed, and came within 10 metres of losing every possession he owns. The following is a rough transcript of our conversation together:
Brett: G’day mate , How are you?
Resident: Not too bad, just getting on with life
Brett: I am here with the lads showing them the destruction of the bushfire, and trying to capture it on film. Were you here when the fire went through?
Resident: No, I received a call from the CFS at 8.30am that morning, and I was gone within half an hour. I wasn’t prepared enough. I should have cleared more vegetation.The fire cut my power, this meant my bore would not operate. I had no water to fight the fire whatsoever. I needed a spare generator setup to run the bore.There was also other things I could have done.
Brett: Did you lose any property?
Resident: Yes my shed. But was nothing compared to my neighbour who lost the lot as you can see
Brett:Where is he now, was he insured?
Resident: He is renting a unit in a retirement village for now, and have no idea if he was insured, hopefully he was.I can’t believe only the inner shell of his house is remaining. You can see his oven, the entire front of the house and surrounding verandahs have been destroyed. Look at the vegetation that has been destroyed. It is a completely different place.
Brett:Have you considered selling up after such a close call? I have heard many homes are now up for sale.
Resident: Not at all. This guy is ready to bulldoze the house and start to rebuild his home again and I am currently preparing my place better just in case.
Brett: Do many people come here to take photos etc?
Resident: Yes all the time. It is bloody annoying sometimes.
Brett: Am really sorry you had to go through this mate, and I wish you all the best in the future. (feeling really guilty)
Resident: This fire started up on the hill and ripped through here and the dense vegetation actually buffered my house from the fire, that is why it is still standing.
Brett: Could the CFS help you out at all?
Resident: No we had no help at all, they had no safe access for their vehicles. The fire was so fast it roared past here and they had no time to help us. I can’t tell you how long it took to go through after I evacuated.
Brett: So what happens now with this home? When can he get back in and rebuild?
Resident: I guess he is waiting for building and council approvals, plus insurance etc…
Brett: Does your home smell inside from the smoke?
Resident: It certainly did smell. The CFS put a machine called an ionizer in the house for 3-4 days . This machine completely gets rid of the smoke smell.
Brett: Wow. I had no idea..I have learnt something. Thanks for sharing your experience with us – It must be really hard to deal with.
Resident: Yeah, Just look up that hill – it is going to take years to have those trees grow back. The bush was so thick around our properties we found an uninhabited dwelling (small 2m x 2m stone hut) only 8o metres from our homes, that we never knew existed until everything was burnt away. We just weren’t prepared.
Brett: Wow. That is incredible. I noticed a fire hose reel near that house.
Resident: It was of no use. My neighbour cleared out as well.
Brett: Ok I better let you go about your business. Thanks again for giving us an insight into what you have just been through. The boys won’t forget this.
*We took a few more photos before taking off in the van. We had a group debrief and all of us thought the resident was going to have a go at us when he approached. We talked about being respectful to people and they will usually respond in a friendly manner. This was indeed another example of why we chose to live in the hills, where people will chat with complete strangers and maintain that down to earth country hospitality. It was a great learning experience once again, and a rare chance to learn firsthand how people cope with tragedy. Another unexpected life lesson learnt on the run.
