Victorian Bushfires

Diary Entry 1

February 6th 2009

Dear Diary,

Finally Friday night!! No more school for 2 days! YES!! It has been so hot lately I have been dying at school; the temperatures are hitting the highest on record on some days. I can’t wait for this weekend. I’m playing sport on Saturday and going to my friend’s house on Sunday. It’s going to be so much fun! I will report to you tomorrow night about my game!

Talk then J

Heatwave

Diary Entry 2

February 7th 2009

Dear Diary

I woke up to the sound of my mum barging into my room. I was in a sweat from overnight; I could have sworn the temperature had jumped to 100 degrees when I woke up.  Mum had a look panic spread across her face. She frantically shook me awake yelling at me to get up and find the emergency pack. We always had a pre packed bag of clothes, food and essentials that we would need in the event an emergency. That way we could grab our packs and leave ASAP, but I never thought I was going to need to use mine. I jumped out of bed immediately searching for my pack. Once retrieved I desperately ran into the living room where my mum was packing anything she ccould into bags. I yell at mum asking her what is going on but I get no reply. I see dad outside on the lawn turning on the sprinklers. I suddenly see a black smoke in the distance out the window. That’s when I hear the warning sign on the television.

“Anyone in the St Andrews area to evacuate and brace for what is supposed to be the worst fire day on record in Victoria. Weather forecasts of record temperatures of 46 degrees as well as gale force winds of up to 90km/hr. The fires and the winds are becoming too big and powerful to keep under control. I have just been told there are numerous fires now starting up in different areas such as Kinglake, Marysville and Humevale.”

That’s when the whole situation hit me there was a fire and this fire was heading for us. This was REAL not one of mum and dads practice tests it was all real. My younger brother at that moment walked into the room still unaware of what was going on. As he tried to ask mum she shrugged him off still running around packing things. I pulled my brother aside and explained what was going on. He understood what he had to do and that he needed to help. He went out to help dad with the sprinklers, clean the gutters on the roof and most importantly help with the farm animals as I stayed with mum to help get inside ready.

Diary Entry 3

We ran around the house like headless chooks getting everything done. We put wet cloths around every window and door. Just as we were finishing up dad and James came back inside to help us. Dad, James and I ran the rest of our stuff over to the bunker in the back yard. As I sprinted back to help mum with some bags she was struggling with. All of a sudden she stopped in her tracks and stared into the distance. I stood wondering what she was looking at until I saw it for myself. It was like a giant see of red smoke. You could see how far the fire stretched across and there was no mistaking it was coming towards us. I ran straight for mum grabbing the bags of her and pushing her towards the bunker. It was so hot it was burning. We ran for what seemed like an eternity. I could hear dad screaming at us to hurry. We reached the bunker in a matter of seconds as dad slammed the bunker door shut. We had made it just in time.

Diary Entry 4

Dear Diary

It is around midday and we haven’t been giving the all clear to come out yet. The temperature is outrageously hot and I can barely breathe. My brother on the other hand is worse. He has asthma and is taking puffs every 4 minutes to help his breathing. We have eaten a bit of food but I don’t think any of us have the appetite to eat anything. All four of us are sitting in silence hoping to hear something on the tiny radio we have. Mum sits there asking herself how this happened and going on about how she doesn’t understand. When I know exactly how it happened. You learn about it all in school natural disaster and hazards but you never think one will actually occur where you are. It makes sense though, we have experienced the worst drought on record this last month, the temperatures have been extremely high and the wind this last few days must have just given it that last kick to start a fire.

Areas Affected

The photo above shows all the fires occured in Victoria since 2000.

The red coloured areas is where Black Saturday occured.