Bushfire: Australia, Canberra 2003

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Victorian Bushfire Appeal 2009

Proceeds from this lens will be donated to the
Red Cross Victorian Bushfire Appeal 2009

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There had been a bushfire raging on the boundary of the ACT for a number of days. The thoughts were that the fire had been started by a lightning bolt and it was being monitored by our Emergency Services and we were somewhat complacent about it. After all, we face bushfires nearly every year.

For days, due to our geographical location - the South of Canberra in the Tuggeranong valley, we were surrounded by smoke and had ash and soot dumped on us regularly. We had stopped hanging our washing outside and were used to dusting the ash off our clothing when we got to work.

We were a little concerned, but really didn't think much of it. After all, this was Australia in Summertime.

This photo shows the smoke haze that we were living with for many days.

On the Saturday morning, January 18 2003, I headed out to a friends place to help her with her computer. The sky was full of smoke and there was a distinct orange tinge. We really didn't think anything about it, the atmosphere had been like that for the entire week previous.

At approximately, 12.30pm I received a phone call from Stuart, my husband saying "Come Home Now". The wind had changed and had whipped the fire up and it was headed towards the town. I left nearly immediately and listened to the radio on my home.

As I drove, 2 out of 3 of the ways to get home were blocked by the police because they were under imminent threat of fire. I was fortunate to have 'chosen' the right way to go (personally, I think my Guardian Angel rode with me that day).

By the time I got home at 1pm, the air was starting to darken perceptively and a distinctly ominous feeling was developing.

View From The House At 12pm

View To The West Of Our House At 1pm

Blackened Trunks and Verdant Growth After Bushfire, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, USA Photographic Print
McCormack, Gareth

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From the time I arrived home, it got progressively darker and the amount of soot and ash being dropped from the sky increased. At this time, the fires were close to the township, but they were close enough for us to be put on an evacuation alert.

My husband had dressed the children in jeans and long sleeved cotton shirts. Hot embers were being dropped from the sky and there was a probability of burns.

Stuart had already connected up our dog trailer and put all of the dogs in the trailer to make sure they were safe.

We packed - choosing what to take was almost heart breaking.

I found my photo albums and boxes for my favourite books (I figured if we were homeless, I would need some reading material). We packed toys and such for the kids, their playstation and some movies. We also packed very practical clothing that would wear well.

Our personal and legal documents were packed - thankfully we were organised enough to have them in one place.

Everything else we decided to leave.

As I was packing the car, Stuart was putting sprinklers and hoses on the roof and blocked the gutters so that he could fill them with water.

I touch down our curtains and soaked them in the bath tub.

By 2pm, it was getting darker....

The View At 2pm

2pm and it's getting darker

The 'specs' you see in these photo's is ash. Bear in mind that the fires are still many kilometers (or miles) away at this point... the ash is being carried in by the winds.

Victorian Bushfire Appeal 2009

Proceeds from this lens will be donated to the
Red Cross Victorian Bushfire Appeal 2009

Make a direct donation to the Red Cross

By 4pm, the fires had hit Canberra. We were receiving radio reports that suburbs like Holder, Duffy, Chapman, Weston and Kambah had lost houses.

The Veterinary surgery in Holder had been lost, as had the RSPCA.

My Parents-In-Law house was in Weston, just meters away from streets where several houses were burnt. We were very concerned about their safety and because of the fires, the mobile network was congested and the land lines were down.

As we had secured our house as well as we could, Stuart tried to get into Weston to assist his parents. All access to those suburbs was restricted by the police and Stuart was turned around.

Later, we found out that my Mother In Law had left the house and gone to stay with relatives in a safer suburb but my (then) 75 year old Father In Law had stayed to protect the house. He was on the roof, hosing the house down and putting out spot fires. If he hadn't stayed, they would have lost their house!

One house in their street was lost.

Out our way, it was eerie. It was pitch black and deadly silent.... We were still under an evacuation alert, but were being advised to wait.

These photos show how dark it got... you can see the glow from the fires over the hills.

By 5pm, the wind turned and pushed the fires back. We were thankful for that as it took our suburbs out of the direction of the fire.

We relaxed a little and started making plans to get the children to bed and make sure the dogs were safe. We did not unpack the car.

After spending several hours with soot and ash being dropped on us, we were very dirty. These pictures of the children show this:

Notice how dark it still is and the ash still in the air

Faces streaked with dirt and stuff

Victorian Bushfire Appeal 2009

Proceeds from this lens will be donated to the
Red Cross Victorian Bushfire Appeal 2009

Make a direct donation to the Red Cross

This is the suburb that my Parents In Law live in. This suburb was affected by the fires, but not as much as the neighboring suburbs.














This is the High School that my husband went to.

Bushfire Burning, Australia Photographic Print
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Even though the fires had been turned, there were not extinguished and we were on alert for several days. The smoke was still thick and embers, ash and soot were still being dropped on us.

The children slept on the floor in our bedroom for several nights - if the wind came up and pushed the fires back towards us, we could just go. The dogs slept in the trailer.

It took several weeks for our household to return to normal.

The next day, Stuart went for a drive and visited his Sister who lived in Kambah. As he approached their house, he was met by roof tiles, broken branches and uprooted trees. Even though the street they lived in wasn't under direct threat, the wind that was created by the fire was so strong, it had grabbed roof tiles and ripped them from rooves, ripped trees up by their roots and torn branches off.

The Dog Training Grounds, approximately 8 kms from our house were under threat - we were fortunate not to have lost any infrastructure....

Victorian Bushfire Appeal 2009

Proceeds from this lens will be donated to the
Red Cross Victorian Bushfire Appeal 2009

Make a direct donation to the Red Cross