Jan Harris

Bushfire Survivor, Reedy Swamp, NSW

Our son Evan came into the house saying he could smell smoke. My husband John and Evan went to check outside and they could see a tiny wisp of smoke coming from the direction of Bega. John suggested that Evan put some belongings in his car as we might need to leave in a couple of hours. Within the space of about two minutes we both went outside to look and a wall of smoke was pluming towards us.

John said we are going now, I started to argue, but he was adamant. I went into the house to get Evan’s insulin, mine and John’s phone, my handbag and ipad. We left in our car and Evan in his car. I rang neighbours to alert them of the danger. We evacuated towards Tathra via a back road. We now know our home and all we owned was gone shortly after we left. In a day of catastrophic weather our completely off grid home was turned to rubble by the grid and weather conditions.