aftermath of a disaster
As I sit here this evening the smell has finally hit the suburbs of burnt wood from the fires still smouldering around the State. Linda is escaping the turmoil seen here by returning to Norwich for a few months with her family. I finally was able to contact the friends I was worried over, on Monday, both families were neither harmed or had any property damaged throughout the fire storm. Barry, who lives in St. Andrews, was a forman for the company I originally worked with, when we arrived here in Australia, he explained to me how it was on Saturday.
"We heard that the fires were close to St. Andrews so we started the water pumps and waited in front of the house with the fire hoses in our hands. We could hear the cracking of the trees and noise of the wind high on the ridge. Then the sky became thick with smoke and we could see the flames in the trees, at the top of the hill. The next thing we saw was the flames roaring through the trees and racing down the ridge towards us. I honestly thought we were gonas. When the flames were only about 200 meters from the fence line the wind dropped and the fire stopped. I felt a cool blast of air on my neck, you beauty, I roared to my son, the change has come in. in a few seconds the fire had turned and roared up to the west and over toward Kinglake."
Andrew was just finishing his apprenticeship when we arrived here, so I've watched him mature marry and become a father. Andrew and his family live in Doreen only a few kilometers from us. He has been busy serving with the C.F.A. on his firetruck fighting the fires and both him and his family are safe, we are assured.
The fires were not selective at all, we have lost television personallities, doctors, professors children and adults of all ages. Its heartaching when we listen to the heros, victims and those families destroyed by this disaster. Stories of a father who evacuated his sons, 9 and 12 years of age, to his mothers home whilst he returned to his to try and save it from being burned to the ground. Once the fire had passed he returned to his mothers house to find that it had been destroyed after the change in weather and his sons died in their grandmothers house. Of the ones that tried to outrun the fires and died of radient heat in their cars. Of the fireman that returned to a koala bear that he had seen whilst fighting his fire. he layed beside her and let her take a drink from his waterbottle befor picking her up and taking her to the local vets.
The aftermath is now with us, the loss of life is reported today as 181 bodies found so far. We have seen footage of the forensic inspectors now sifting through the ash and chared remains of the houses, searching for the dead. When a body is found a blue and white ribbon is tied to anything high enough so it can be seen, if the house is clear of any remains it is marked with a red and white ribbon.
There was 1800 properties lost in the fire and a tent city has appeared up on the footy oval in Kinglake. The armed forces set this village up and are now prepareing barracks to be available for putting up our refugees.
Although we have lived with this threat and been aware of the harsh conditions that can be apparent with this continent, there is a saying here that one always use and shows the world the hardiness of the Aussie way, "She'll be right mate".
Robert and the boys,