By Melissa Grant
There were warnings of extreme fire conditions, but nobody could have ever predicted or imagined the horror and devastation many Victorians were about to experience.
I was working as a reporter on the Pakenham-Berwick Gazette when I learned the Bunyip State Park fire, which had been burning for days, had jumped containment lines.
So when my editor, Garry Howe, asked if I was available to go for a drive on the morning that would later become known as Black Saturday I wasn’t sure what to expect.
How big was the fire? How fast was it spreading? Were homes at risk? Would it threaten lives?
As we drove down the highway, aerial water bombers worked furiously in the sweltering heat to put out fires burning close to the road.
I remember the sky being a vivid colour I’d never seen before. In some areas, the smoke was so thick I couldn’t wait to finish taking photos and wind up the car windows.
Later, I would enter the fire ravaged area at Labertouche where a number of homes burnt to the ground.
Although the fire threat had passed, the area was still hazardous (mainly due to the risk of falling tree branches), so I donned my fire safety gear and was escorted around by CFA Brigade Administration Support Officer Lisa Hicks.
In some places, little more than tree stumps remained. I later discovered residents had seen huge fire balls burst as they hit trees.
I saw one property where a brick chimney and piles of corrugated iron were the only reminders that a house stood there a day or so earlier.
Many cattle yards and sheds completely destroyed.
The Bunyip State Park blaze burnt out some 24,500 hectares at public and private land. It was staggering to think that authorities were treating it as deliberately lit.
Lisa said it was fortunate no lives were lost considering how ferocious the fire was.
“I went through Ash Wednesday and it was a mirror image,” Lisa told me.
“We were very lucky we didn’t lose anyone – if there’s one aim for the day that’s it.”
It was horrible to learn how many lives had been lost in fires in other parts of the state.
The scale of the devastation was truly unbelievable.
The bravery of the CFA personnel – many who risked their own lives to help others – was incredible.
Ten years on, I can only think how lucky it was that the Bunyip State Park fire didn’t claim any lives.
I can’t even imagine how difficult this anniversary will be for the Victorians who lost their loved ones.
