Great Australian Bushfire Stories'the biggest cleared area was my vegetable patch ... I ran and lay down and made a little tent over myself. I thought it would preserve the last of the oxygen. Under the blanket I could hear explosions - the gas bottles from the houses further up, and I could just imagine all my neighbours dead up the road. the wind was roaring, the trees cracking: an awful lot of noise ... I thought I wasn't going to survive.' Peter Luke, Gaffneys Creek, Victoria 'the sky got darker again ... I started to think about the next day's newspaper headlines: "Stupid thirty-eight-weeks pregnant woman drives into fire with toddler."' Sonia Stanton, Canberra 'I looked down into where the houses were totally surrounded by a sea of flame and thought, well, that's it, she's all over. Everybody will be killed down there.' John Hyles, Namadgi Ranges GREAt AUStRALIAN BUSHFIRE StORIES is a collection of remarkable tales from all around Australia that tell of our country's fiercest natural phenomenon: the bushfire. Farmers, landowners, firefighters and city dwellers share with ABC journalist Ian Mannix their experiences of fires: preparing for them, fighting them, and the heartbreak task of mopping up when even their best efforts failed. Some stories are funny, some tragic, many courageous, but all are a testimony to the ingenuity and grit of human beings as they fight to save their homes, their towns and, in some cases, their lives. |
Contents
FOUR THE VOLUNTEER | |
SIX SCHOOLS | |
SMALL TOWN BIG HEARTS | |
EIGHT THE PERFECT STORM | |
TEN ESCAPE ROCK | |
TWELVE PREPARING FOR THE INEVITABLE | |
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS | |
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Common terms and phrases
Aaron ABC Local Radio alight angophoras arrived Booroomba buckets burning bushfire Canberra Causons Charles Colin Country Fire Authority Country Fire Service Cowwarr door doused drive drove ember attack embers eucalypts evacuate everything fence Fire Authority fire brigade fire plan Fire Service fire truck firefighters firefront firestorm flames forest Four Mile Creek front Gaffneys Creek garden gutters head helicopters hill hoses inside Jane John Sligo Judy Kath Kathie kids kilometres knew leave lived looked McCallums metres Mick minutes neighbours paddock panic Phegans Bay Port Lincoln prepared pump quickly radio realised residents Richard Rick road roaring Robert roof says shed sheep shrubs smoke Snake Valley Sonia spot fires started stay street tank Tharwa things thought threat timber Tish told Toongabbie towels town trees veranda volunteers wanted Weddy wind changed worried