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.