SUMMARY: WE ARE SAFE AND BACK HOME.Yesterday afternoon I was watching cricket, stitching on Rosanne's Round Robin piece* and keeping an eye on the bushfire to the North. Every now and then I caught a whiff of smoke but only rarely. Then came the knock on the door.
The fire was still out of control and becoming very erratic. Anyone who's visited me knows we get gale force winds regularly. And these were whipping around in such different directions that the course of the fire was unpredictable. So anyone within 1km of its location was asked to fight or flight** Within 10 minutes the roads were full of horse floats as all the neighbours evacuated livestock.
I decided to be sensible about my fire-fighting abilities; I grabbed the cats, their food and bowls, a change of clothes for me, my laptop and skedaddled.*** There was a Police car at the end of my road, letting people out, but no-one was allowed in.
I drove past the larger more threatening fire at Roleystone on the way to Armadale, and spent the evening with Janine, her husband and their cats. Janine looked after us very well and I thank her so much for opening up her home at such short notice. I also thank her very much for a lovely dinner and a dessert that my diet will be rebuking me for for a while :)
Janine has five cats so we had fun after dinner watching Abby meet the new cats and the her cats meet someone new. It was fascinating watching Abby explore the house nervously, then find her comfort zone (my lap) and begin to actively defend her turf with hissing and growling. Abby is not the alpha cat at home; she is the submissive. And she never sits on my lap. But as the above photo shows, the rules change when you are in a new situation.
Trubs spent the evening in the bedroom we were given quite happy that all the other cats were locked out of her area :)
This morning I got an all clear to return home. During the night the fire had moved in a westerly, north westerly direction (I'm at the southern end of the affected area). So we are now home. It looks like all the neighbours and their pets are home, but all the livestock are still away. I presume they will return when the fire has been completely extinguished. The fire is still raging out of control, with over 1170 hectares (2900 acres been burnt out). Its just raging off in a different direction :)
Everything is fine at home, not even any spot fires, but we lost the contents of the fridge and freezer due to the loss of electricity and the extreme temperatures due to the proximity of the fire. So it was bacon for brunch and some thawed out but still cold steak for dinner tonight.
The experience was a wake up call not to be blase about fires and to prepare an emergency kit. In hindsight there were things I left behind that I should have taken, such as identity documents, phone charger etc.
As I live rurally, we haven't lost any homes to this fire, mostly outbuildings, sheds etc. The other major fire, down at Roleystone/Kelmscott has destroyed over 40 homes. So far no loss of human life.
* I now know why she called it the Big Blue beast, it's because I swore a blue streak trying to make the last motif fit in with those that had already been stitched!
** OK so I think the actual words were "be prepared to leave or actively defend your home".
*** Well I got parked in by a couple of horse floats so I went back into the house for toiletries, my roll of finished stitched pieces and a couple of works in progress. I also grabbed everything that I had borrowed from the library. No I don't know why either.
19 comments:
I was rather worried when I saw your tweet that you were evacuating, so I'm very glad to hear you back home and all safe and well. We just saw pictures of the fire on the evening news and it looked pretty scary.
It was such a pleasure to have you stay overnight even though the house looks like a bomb has hit.
I have just re-homed my last 2 sons. I am packing and have stash from my shop that I sold everywhere. Also my DH is trying to paint so we can get the house on the market as we are moving out into the country some 2 odd hours south from here.
Thought I would add that bit so your friends would know. Although not sure they would want too. LOL
I meant to add that Roseanne's RR is just stunning and Roseanne if you don't like it when it gets back to you or you can't get it framed or have no-where to hang it if you do get it framed I would gladly take it off your hands. I love your colour choices.
Janine
1km away is quite close enough for the fire. It's the one thing I don't miss from living in the hills. So glad you're OK. As for emergency kit...less is more. You took exactly the right things, those that can't be replaced. I often say to friend in the hills who insists on "staying & fighting"....We'd rather you claim on your house insurance than your life insurance.
Just been informed by neighbours that I've left my car door open all day. God I wish for a brain that works ..... hope car starts tomorrow.
I'll get back to you on that one Janine!
Beast is what it has been for all of us so far! I put it down early on because I was struggling so badly with it. None of the motifs are truly symmetrical so that throws you to begin with.
I hereby solemnly promise that if I am ever invited on a RR again, I'll pick something smaller and simpler!
Forgot to add that I was cracked up laughing to realise that apart from the cats that one of the things you took on the evacuation was my RR! Glad you are all OK and that the girls have not been too traumatised by the events. Abby looks very comfy in her strange perch.
i'm glad to hear that you were sensible in evacuating.. I don't have to put my public safety hat on, shake my finger and stomp my feet this way :). But yes, identity documents would be an excellent idea to include in your evac pack.
glad to hear that you are ok. I'm suretaking just your important things is the thing to do. Fires spread so quickly you really dont have time to waste. If this type of thing is going to be the norm, then an evac pack ready during that critical time would be a good idea
I'd sweated and sworn over the piece for the better part of a fortnight forcing myself to just "get it done". You don't think I was going to leave that to be burned do you?
Yep - that's what I hear now from experienced evac preparation people. You can get on woth replacing stuff, accessing emergency funding etc if you have proof of who you are :)
Oh please don't! I loved the design - I just wasn't in the right headspace to do the work this time through. I like challenging projects - and hey wait to see what I've sent around! Talk about huge and complicated ....
And that is why I truly thank you from the bottom of my heart for taking us in for that 24 hours even with all of this going on at the same time!
I'm not macho :) I will fight for my cats, I will fight for my employees. I will not fight Mother Nature :)
I'm so glad you are back home, safe and sound.
Riiight...thanks for that :-(
Don't fret we only ask for 10 or so hours progress on each piece. A few people didn't get to finish a motif last time, so they are working on the same secion each this time :) I figure all progress (no matter how small) is good progress!
All our identity documents are in a small fire-safe. I doubt it would survive a total burn-out but at least stands a chance if we can not get to the house before roadblocks go up, and it is light enough to carry in one hand if I did have to go. And I keep it on the floor because the floor is the last thing to burn.
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