Its Beautiful But it Burns

I have lived in some amazing places in this great country I call home.  From places that look like the quaint English country side, to the tropical heat of the far north.

One place holds a special place in my heart.  That is the temperate eucalypt forests of south eastern Australia.  They are an amazing place, immensely beautiful with the Victorian High country some of the most untouched places on earth.  This beauty draws people to want to live withing the living forest.  They build their homes amongst the peace and tranquility that is the Australian Bush.

There is a problem a lurking killer.  The forest is highly flammable during the dry and hot summer months.  The oil from the trees saturates the air, and the leaf litter etc on the ground become tinder dry.  It takes one spark from dry lightening or a criminal act to start a fire, and when they get going they are truly unstoppable.

My old local CFA Unit, Brave boys every one of them.

Black Saturday was a horrible day, I felt isolated from my family when I realized they were in danger, two family members lost their homes, and one nearly lost his life.  The places I loved that I had spent my youth driving through was burning. Places like King Lake and Narbathong all but destroyed.  Even today I feel the pain of loss.  My aunt an uncle were burnt out by a deliberately lit fire, their neighbor who was packing her car as they left lost her life, they lost their house and animals.  Any person who lights a fire with intent of causing damage particularly on catastrophic fire danger days, should be themselves burnt alive.  After all its no different to them walking up to someone with a tin of petrol and pouring it over the victims.  Its murder but in a way more foul than most people could imagine.

Memorial Service for fallen CFA member Black Saturday

The Victorian bush is dangerous, and on days like Black Saturday there should be no choice to stay or go it should be enforced that people leave.  Property is replaceable people are not.  The CFA members are brave every one of them, they go into harms way to protect people and property but even they have limitations.  There are simply not enough units to cover everywhere, and in the perfect fire conditions experienced on that day they had no way of protecting everyone.  That is why it should be compulsory for people to evacuate.  Let the CFA defend refuges from the fires not individual homes.

So next time your in Victoria or in the southeast of NSW, look at what is really in front of you.  It may not burn this year or the next, but it will burn, history has shown us again and again anyone remember Ash Wednesday ?  Its still stunningly beautiful, and worth visiting, but like most things in this country it comes with a sting in the tail.

In memory of those lost on Black Saturday, you will never be forgotten.