Fire Lit Skies

My last Blog entry was a bit of a 'low' one, but today I am feeling much improved. There are times when all you need is some Time Out to sit and think , without any distractions from the external world. I was able to settle my mind, and be able to think ahead again clearer than that day I wrote about. Time is change, and the Change has arrived. Change challenges us every day, every week, and every hour. Now I feel 'alive' again. Time to move ahead with open mind.

I was sitting in my Unit today, feeling the warm north wind blow into the room from the open door.
I could smell smoke!!
The sky had a smoky tinge, that orangy light that shines when smoke is around.
I felt a sudden surge of 'panic'............................BUSHFIRE!!

I always find the smell of Bushfire smoke somewhat unsettling. I discovered that this smoke was from the Bushfires in Eastern Victoria, that was drifting over Bass Strait to Northern Tasmania.
I feel for the communities there that are battling the daily threat of the Bushfires flaring out of control again. Then I heard on the News that a large Bushfire was burning in the Adelaide Hills, near Mt Bold. I know that area, and could picture the surrounding farmland and scrub up in flames.
I have had a few experiences with Bushfires in the Adelaide Hills when I lived in Adelaide. Living with the never ending threat of a Bushfire wrecking havoc on Hills Communities every Summer. It was life there, Summer meant hot dry days, the land so dry a single spark could set off a raging Bushfire at any minute.
This is Southern Australia in Summer, the threat of Bushfires a constant reminder on our vast dry Continent.
I was thinking today that when I heard of the Bushfire in the Adelaide Hills, I felt very unsettled!
What made me feel so unsettled when I am far across the Sea here in Tasmania?..........
.......and the same memory comes back!

ASH WEDNESDAY .. February 1983, SA & Victoria Bushfires!
It was one of the worst series of Bushfires to wreck havoc in 2 States on that day. Property, Livestock, People, Communities devastated. The Fires were angry Bushfires, roaring winds and huge flames some describe as Fire Tornadoes, moving so fast that Firetrucks could not outrun these flames. People died in 2 States, 76 in total, many more injured & burnt, countless people homeless. Was it going to end? The world where I lived seemed to be in turmoil.
I lived in rural SA at that time, on the Family Farm on the border region of SA & Victoria. We lived 32 kms from the nearest large Town.
I remember that day the Fires started, it was a nasty morning with extremely hot north winds blowing before sunrise. I was off to school on the school bus, it was a 32km trip into town, and already the Bus was hot.
Inside school, the lights and air con kept dimming and flickering most of the day. It was roaring a gale outside still, and it was getting dusty.
A duststorm! I wasn't surprised it was a duststorm, as the land was parched and grassless, all it would take was a puff of wind and soil would blow away.
Now it was very dusty outside, the air becoming gritty and heavy to breathe.
Then we noticed that the Police had arrived at school, staff would leave the rooms and come back looking nervous. We were told that school would close early and everyone was to go straight home. The thick duststorm was one reason given, but then we were told a bushfire was burning near Lucindale and out of control, then told of the bushfires burning out of control in the Adelaide Hills and around Melbourne. The Lucindale Fire was a concern as the wild winds had become erratic and could send the fire anywhere.
So school ended that day early, and staff & students headed home to the various places around the region. On the school bus home visibility had become worse with soil from paddocks blowing thickly across the road. The bus driver had to crawl along the road and when she felt the front wheel hit gravel knew she had gone off the road. this was the drive home that day on the school bus. Very white knuckle time.
When I arrived home, Mum & Dad were inside with the TV on and the radio on listening to the broadcasts of the Fires around SA & Victoria.
They looked very concerned at what they were watching on TV.
My Dad's Sister had taken the Train to Adelaide that day and this train was stuck in the Adelaide Hills surrounded by scrubland and trees going up in flames.
The Lucindale fire had now moved south rapidly and was burning out of control in Pine Plantations and Farmland. Townships in the region were evacuated, Large towns put on emergency evacuation warnings. Thick smoke and thick dust was absolutely horrendous. The Farm was covered in thick smoke and dust. Sudden wind changes kept everyone guessing what would happen next. Firefronts would suddenly change direction with a sudden wind change, and luckily bypass each major town in its path. Now the firefronts were heading north, and the smoke was terrible. The wild winds were knocking the trees around the House & garden badly. sticks and limbs landing anywhere. I could hear the Horses in the next paddock, so I decided to take a box of apples to them to help calm them. Dad did not want them to suddenly stampede and run into the fences. I wandered out into the paddock in near total smoke blindness, finally finding the horses huddled together. They seemed pleased to see me, walking near me and almost hugging me. I gave them their apples which seemed to keep them settled.

Then I went to go Home!!

............ I am lost!

......................I am disorientated out here in the smoke and dust and wild winds.
It is the worst feeling of being disorientated and unable to figure out where you are.
No sense of direction!
You almost feel as you are about to panic, as the wind was howling so you couldn't hear the Farm life, you couldn't see the Farm Buildings, the smoke & Dust was too thick and made you cough, and your eyes sting!
Where is Home??
........................................a moment of sheer fear comes!! Then I thought..NO!
Walk til you find the fence. I have walked this fence many times, I will know which way to go when I find it!!
That was my way Home. I followed the fence. I came to the Gate and felt this huge feeling of relief! Home at last!
There inside the House Mum had packed clothes and Blankets by the door for an immediate evacuate if called for. The radio had our area on standby as the fire front was down south and heading north.
It was a long day, and a longer night. The red glow that could be seen down south was an eerie and unsettling one!
Now I find myself wondering what happened next, but I cannot remember how the firefront was contained. We did not leave the Farm that day, instead listening to the radio, and watching TV for further updates.
I think by this time I had found the whole fire experience somewhat too overwhelming, and seem to have buried the final ending to the day in my memory cells somewhere. I do remember days afterwards everyone seemed to be in a state of shock, and subdued to the events that unfolded before us. The lingering smell of smoke lasted for weeks over the whole region.
My Family & I drove to Adelaide 2 weeks later for my Grandparents wedding Anniversary, and I remember seeing the devastation and melted highway poles and railings, then seeing burnt out housing areas on the trip into the City. I could not imagine how anyone could have coped in the Hills, or anywhere on that day!

The feeling of being completely at a loss in these situations, is what I think I felt when the Fires were at their peak, and wrecking havoc across the country!
Nature was in full fury, and humans were not in charge that day!!

So my nervousness when I smell smoke from a Bushfire stems from this period in my life. There have been many Bushfires since Ash Wednesday, some just as devastating to the area they were in. (Canberra, Sydney, etc). But to have lived through one of these powerful events, has left a memory imprint within my Soul. One that is still alive to this day!

I have to say, that this is the first time I have written about my experience from Ash Wednesday 1983. Most people don't seem to want to hear what I experienced that day. It was a long time ago, but still as clear as each day dawns for me. This is my way of expressing my inner thoughts, to let my inner feelings come forth to the outside world, flowing deep from within my Soul where they have been stored for 24 years.
This is why Bushfires today, from a single whiff of bushfire smoke, or news of a Fire in a region I know well, makes me falter on the inside.
I think this feeling makes me more alert to Bushfire smoke and the threat of Bushfire to our communities now. Many are complacent with Bushfires, never having lived through times where you think Life has become Hell on Earth!

It is almost a year, Jan 26th 2006 that A Fire on Mt Farrell in Tullah roared up the Mountain, sending smoke over the Township, and flames roaring way up the steep inclines, burning trees and scrub to ash. You could see the flames climb the mountainside from Lounge windows in Tullah. See smoke rise to the Sun. Flames coming close to dwellings yet not burning them down. It was a close call, and today you can still see the blackened scars of that fire on the hillside as you drive in from the North.

To all our readers, please spare a thought for all our Fire fighting people out there tonight, all the volunteers, their Families, the Communities who are giving all they have, and more, to see that we are kept safe, and our properties safe from these Bushfires that are still burning in SA, Victoria & NSW as I write this tonight. These people are truly worthy of all they do for us!!