2009APR011915
Kangaroo
Black Saturday, Saturday the 7th of February was by any measure a shocker. It was hot, the winds gusting. Later in the afternoon a fire at Kilmore many kilometers to the West of the Kinglake range changed direction creating a fire front many tens of kilometers wide. It's difficult to put times to places. After Four O'clock I know my Dad in Kinglake West was in trouble and his house was under attack. Not long after I know of people in Strathewen who stood no chance as the fire raged through this area. Just after Five O'Clock I've spoken to people also escaping St. Andrews and others who missed the fire front by only hundreds of meters. By Six O'clock friends in Kinglake witnessed firestorms that razed the Kinglake township to the ground and watched as neigbours houses burned to the ground. All this happened in a matter of hours. Friends, family from Kinglake West, Kinglake, St.Andrews, Strathewen all caught up in the same mess at once.
So in the space of two hours, many of the people who I've spent my youth at school, sport and socially either survived or perished. Over the past 55 days I've been slowly catching up with those who survived. Speaking with them, writing letters or catching snippets of how they escaped. Now I'm having to deal with friends, people that I've known for a long time who did not.
Last Saturday I attended Trampoline to talk. I chose a topic close to home: How we organised a rapid response to supply essentials for my Dad. But I've found out just today in doing that talk, I missed the service of a couple of people I really liked. So while I was spending the day talking and listening, I should have been at Monsalvat in Eltham at their service. I've faced this dilema before. Go to a service for a mate or do something else? In reality I did't know the service was on. I had no real way of finding out other than scanning the newspapers.
So instead I'll write something up to let others know who these people are and why they mattered to me.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bootload/3403398993/
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2009APR011915
Kangaroo
Black Saturday, Saturday the 7th of February was by any measure a shocker. It was hot, the winds gusting. Later in the afternoon a fire at Kilmore many kilometers to the West of the Kinglake range changed direction creating a fire front many tens of kilometers wide. It's difficult to put times to places. After Four O'clock I know my Dad in Kinglake West was in trouble and his house was under attack. Not long after I know of people in Strathewen who stood no chance as the fire raged through this area. Just after Five O'Clock I've spoken to people also escaping St. Andrews and others who missed the fire front by only hundreds of meters. By Six O'clock friends in Kinglake witnessed firestorms that razed the Kinglake township to the ground and watched as neigbours houses burned to the ground. All this happened in a matter of hours. Friends, family from Kinglake West, Kinglake, St.Andrews, Strathewen all caught up in the same mess at once.
So in the space of two hours, many of the people who I've spent my youth at school, sport and socially either survived or perished. Over the past 55 days I've been slowly catching up with those who survived. Speaking with them, writing letters or catching snippets of how they escaped. Now I'm having to deal with friends, people that I've known for a long time who did not.
Last Saturday I attended Trampoline to talk. I chose a topic close to home: How we organised a rapid response to supply essentials for my Dad. But I've found out just today in doing that talk, I missed the service of a couple of people I really liked. So while I was spending the day talking and listening, I should have been at Monsalvat in Eltham at their service. I've faced this dilema before. Go to a service for a mate or do something else? In reality I did't know the service was on. I had no real way of finding out other than scanning the newspapers.
So instead I'll write something up to let others know who these people are and why they mattered to me.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bootload/3403398993/
next >>>