More than 200 people lost their lives in the terrible bushfires which swept parts of the Australian state of Victoria during February, entire towns were lost and thousands of homes destroyed. The sinister aspect is that at least some of the fires were deliberately lit, a circumstance that lead the country’s Prime Minister Kevin Rudd to label it, “nothing less than mass murder.” Amidst the horror and suffering emerges on bright story from expatriate American Kath McEntee, a former San Diego resident. Here’s the story in Kath’s own words.
“I was in the US visiting my mother during the fires and it was very stressful hearing about them from a distance. Especially when I got the news that the fire had swept through our farm at Gormandale. However, whilst sheds were lost and the fire got very close to our house, my husband Greg's Harley-Davidson, a 2003 Anniversary model Road King, was saved! The photos will give readers an idea of how things look. Two were taken in front of the huge shed that burnt to the ground (though you’d hardly know it had been a shed apart from the cars and the rubble) and the other shows just how close the fire got to our house. It was a combination of good planning, the right gear and fire fighting equipment, along with some luck that saved the house.
The fire came through our area on the afternoon of the 7th of February and my husband Greg and two neighbors, Scott Riley and a woman who is an environmentalist, together fought the fire. They managed to save Scott's unit and caravan, our house and Greg's work shed, as well as the shed with the Harley in it! They fought the fire right through the night and well into the next morning. Since then, we have been on and off “alert” as other fires have been close by.
The original fire that spread to us originated in Churchill, Victoria, and was deliberately lit. The fire got out of control and spread to neighbouring townships of Traralgon South and Calignee, then over the hill it came to us. Greg says he heard the fire before he saw it and that, ‘It sounded like the Philip Island raceway with the Super V-8 cars roaring around the track’.
The winds were very strong and gusty which made the fire hard to fight. Greg recalls that, ‘all of a sudden the whole farm was alight at once. I had to prioritize which assets we would try to save.' Overall, considering what has happened to many others, we are very lucky.”
What can we say but, “Onya Greg, damn good choice!”
