How we cheated flames of death - This is a journalist's true account of getting out of the bushfire. I cried reading this story, because this is what is happening in my city right now.
750 homes have been destroyed, 130 + people have died, including a newsreader from one of our network stations -
Brian Naylor
To put into perspective exactly how close I am to the fire,
here is a map , I live about 40 minutes away, from the B300 fires, with a smell of smoke in the air. It's very scary.
More than 20 people are in a critical condition
9 are on life support or in intensive care.
4 young children are receiving specialist burn care
750 homes destroyed.
330,000 hectares burnt out
31 fires continue to rage on
75 people died - 1983 Ash Wednesday fires (our worst bushfire since before this)
My husband and I donated a bunch of our clothes and etc. to assist with the cause. Tomorrow we will be donating some towels, bedding, food and bowls to the
RSPCA to assist with the animals that have been rescued.
My brother, his wife and their three children live in a bushfire region and were evacuated out. My brother stayed back to assist the fire fighters and try and save some houses. We didn't hear from him for a few hours and it gave us a nasty fright. He is okay (luckily), but he is absolutely distraught at what he has witnessed.
A friend of mine, who is a fire fighter, was fighting a fire in Kinglake (a badly affected area), and he says that he was fighting the fire with his colleagues, in front of him. Then - he looked around and realized it had surrounded him. He thought he was going to die. Elvis (the helicopter that carries the water), dumped water on them and an emergency drill tanker was sent in. He says that without those actions happening - he would be dead. It saved his life.
Family friends had the fire come up on their property line and change direction. They are lucky to have their house standing, in a street where their neighbours have lost everything.
So far, I have one person unaccounted for. I fear for her safety, and have no ways of contacting her.
I hope that the people that deliberately lit these fires, get charged with murder and go to jail forever.
I will keep you posted - and will let you know if we get moved. I can't even put into words how terrifying it is here. It's even more devastating to see friends and family lose their homes and livelihood.