The devastation left behind in Labertouche.
By Melissa Meehan
IN THE days leading up to Black Saturday, Nar Nar Goon CFA captain Phil Craig was busy planning how to take on the Bunyip Ridge bushfire if it broke through the national park towards nearby towns.
Mr Craig, also the Cardinia Group Officer, said crews aware of the imminent extreme weather on the way planned what they would do if the fire broke containment lines.
“In the week leading up to Black Saturday DSE was running the firefighting efforts from Monday or Tuesday, but we got reasonably serious at the Pakenham Incident Control Centre (ICC) on the Wednesday,” he said.
“Decisions were made about where we would position our crews and strike teams, look at the likelihood of what the fire would do, the impact of wind changes and similar things.”
In his role as Cardinia Group Officer, Mr Craig also held the role of division commander for the eastern side of the Bunyip Ridge fire, which was the Labertouche – Drouin side.
Crews worked long hours on Black Saturday, Mr Craig himself working a 17-hour day.
He said conditions on the fire ground were quite bad despite the day starting off “fairly calmly”.
“I arrived at the Drouin staging area at about 9am and while it was warm there wasn’t much wind,” Mr Craig said.
“Three strike teams were deployed into the area and told to familiarise themselves and identify assets that could be protected.
“They were on the fire ground well before the fires reached the areas.”
While trained to deal with harsh and often horrifying conditions, Mr Craig said Black Saturday wasn’t like any other fire.
“Crews were confronted with a very significant fire that was very hot, with very windy conditions and quite dangerous,” he said.
“They did a brilliant job considering the result – no loss of life and no injuries to our crews.”
From the beginning of the day, the role of firefighting crews on the ground was asset protection.
“We knew it would be almost impossible to stop the forward run of the fire anyway, due to the ferocity and size,” he said.
“So our guys were instructed that their role was to protect from the word go.”
He said crews not only faced tough conditions, but were hampered by changing wind conditions that brought down trees in areas before the fire even hit.
“Once the fire broke out and started to run it (the fire) created its own weather, it was that intense,” he said.
“This meant our crews were hampered by the lack of access so they concentrated on assets they could get to – we lost 13 houses and it could have been a lot worse.”
Firefighting efforts in the area were also helped by helicopter water bombing, Mr Craig said.
“One reason we had the sort of result we did, was the help of the helicopter bombers – they bought us an hour and half longer that what we thought we had,” he said.
“It slowed spot fires down and worked longer than they should have in those conditions.”
Counselling was available to all members of the CFA who fought against the Black Saturday blazes.
Mr Craig said some crew members were affected by the ferocity of the fires and things they’d seen.
“Some of our guys went into areas like Kinglake in the weeks after the fire, ones that were more badly hit than Labertouche,” he said.
“It wasn’t just February 7, we worked for many weeks before and after.”
After the Bunyip Ridge fire was controlled, Mr Craig then worked in another ICC in Woori Yallock, which controlled all areas in the Yarra Valley affected by fires.
