The following article was first published in the Official Journal of the Vietnam Veteran’s Federation of Australia, Issue: December 2020, with a different title.

 Black Summer Bushfire Survivor

 My wife Marian and I were awakened at 1 a.m. on New Year’s morning by Andrew, who lives on our property “Lemonthyme” near Cobargo, NSW. He banged on the front door shouting, “It’s on Ross!” Andrew’s wife Bec attached their caravan to the 4wheel drive and evacuated with their two sons and Marian to Bermagui, and then on to the emergency evacuation centre at Narooma.

At first Andrew and I could only see the fire as a massive red glow to the west accompanied by a very loud roaring sound. In the meantime we organized and checked our fire systems, including turning on the house sprinkler system, and waited for the fire to arrive. At around 2 a.m. a grass fire came across the neighbour’s open paddocks then ran up to the crowns of the eucalypt trees in the forest to our north-west with flames reaching what seemed enormous heights at one stage and lit up the place as if it was daylight. Eerie, and as spectacular as this was, the main forest fire wasn’t going to burn our house down but the spot fires coming off it were our biggest danger.

Sadly we lost our forty sheep to the fire. We had brought them up into the house yard, but during the height of the fire they ran back into the paddocks and were burnt to death. The few that had survived were so badly burnt that we had to put them down. We had two vehicles, a box trailer and diesel log splitter burnt. The engine blocks on the vehicles melted leaving a silver trail of aluminium streaming from under them.

Of the six properties immediately around us four were burnt to the ground as no one was in attendance to fight the fire. The general statistic for homes lost in bushfires says if you stay (mindful of being adequately prepared) and defend, there is an 80% chance of saving your house. However, if you leave there is only a 20% chance of the house surviving. It should not be underestimated how serious the decision to stay and defend is, and consequently the thought and preparedness that needs to go into that decision beforehand. Four people died in the fires around Cobargo.

It is no understatement to say that I had been anticipating a major fire for over 30 years, based on a conversation I had had with a local dairy farmer who had described the 1952 fire that had come off Murrabrine Mountain to our north west and how it had spotted fires right across the Dry River Valley.

As a result I had arranged metal shutters over the windows of our mudbrick house, fitted a sprinkler system to the eaves and under the roof of the verandah, a firefighting pump with two hoses at the back of the house, hose outlets by our cottage and sheds, as well as barrels of water and metal buckets on the verandahs as a back-up in case the pump failed. Andrew organized a firefighting pump between his house and the forest 75 feet to his west.

Despite all our preparations, waiting for the fire to arrive was a very tense time. It took me back to when I had to go out on patrol in Vietnam where my fear was converted to hyper alertness. So when the fire did arrive in earnest I was able to handle the chaotic outbreaks as the fire first came from the west then northwest off Murrabrine Mountain then swept around to the northeast and southeast until we were surrounded by fires. I had not anticipated that the fire would come from the back and east of the house in waves depending on the ever-changing winds. This meant that I ended up fighting the worst of the fire coming from the spotted gums only 30 feet from the eastern side of the house. To make things even worse, we had a great big pile of woodchips about 30 feet from the back of the house which caught fire and blew embers towards the house.

However by continuing to run almost to the point of exhaustion from one outbreak to the next and using the hoses by the cottage and sheds I was able to suppress all the fires that would have taken out these buildings and the house if I had not been there. (The woodchip pile continued to smolder for days until we spread it out using the tractor.) My safety gear was very basic: white cotton overalls, leather boots and gloves, safety helmet, paper mask and basic plastic safety glasses. The latter caused me the most grief because they did not seal around my eyes. I found the smoke quickly began to irritate my eyes to the point of distraction. The cotton overalls gave me good insulation against the heat.

Unfortunately, we were about one hour too late to save our friend Ray’s house 2km up the road. The following morning Andrew drove up the road with our tractor to push the fallen trees off the road to clear a path to the local town of Quaama. On the way he came across Ray’s house still intact but with a wisp of smoke coming out of the roof. With no way to access the 5000 gallon water tank beside the house (main power went off about 2 a.m. and was not restored until one month later) Andrew drove back to our farm and we attached our portable water tanker and pump to the tractor and drove back to Ray’s place only to find the house roof well alight. All we could do was watch it burn.

What have I learned from this experience?

1.    My overall fire plan worked.

2.    Use sealed eye protection.

3.    However I totally underestimated that the fire would completely encircle us with the biggest threat coming from the southeast, which I had assumed was not a fire risk direction.

4.    Don’t have woodchips, especially in a pile near your house, as they catch fire easily and blow embers all over the place.

5.    My hyper alertness from Vietnam was put to good use for once.

PS: We have had wonderful help from both Team Rubicon (now known as Disaster Relief Australia) and Blaze Aid in clearing the burnt trees etcetera, and rebuilding our burnt fences.

Ross Riddett

(2RAR 2nd Tour)

Bushfire Survivors for Climate Action endorses the view that under catastrophic conditions, leaving well in advance of approaching fires is the safest option.

Ross would also like to add the following:

 We were well supported after the fire. There were road blocks all around, keeping people out of the fire zone and making it difficult for us to leave the farm – we may not have been able to get back in. Yet there were people who came in immediately after the fires with fresh food, fruit and vegetables, just going around giving food to people who were still isolated. The insurance company were great. They paid for a generator as power was not restored for a month.

The generosity shown towards us was touching and humbling. Pallet loads of food, clothing and household goods started to arrive daily from all over Australia at the Cobargo and Quaama Emergency Relief Centres. Blaze Aid stayed in the area for twelve months, helping people with their recovery.

There were many different groups helping. For a couple of months I used the on-line psychologist service that was available for fire-affected people. There was also a counsellor who would come out and talk to isolated people in their homes. The local church still has a freelance Minister who visits people, listening to and sometimes counselling them.

Official government systems made support available to the community and were generous in what they did to help. The Salvos and Vinnies gave material and financial support. Meanwhile local communities organized many different things to support each other. I know the Cobargo community hub still has High Tea once a month, as well as other forms of assistance. 

My community really wasn’t at all ready when the fires came through, but overall there is much more awareness now. Although I did not attend, there have been public meetings to discuss being prepared for the next fire. The system is now more alert and organized; communications have been improved. Plans have been made to protect historic buildings and some public facilities have installed extensive sprinkler systems.

Anyone who wants to remain and save their home needs to put time and thought into their preparation. You must be well-equipped and able to focus on what must be done. If you do evacuate, please leave water and a pump behind, just in case someone turns up to try and save your home. 

The fires have had an impact on my health. The smoke affected my lungs for several months afterwards. Since the Black Summer fires I am hyper alert for signs of fire and find high fire danger days triggering. I don’t sleep as well as I used to and I worry when I’m away from home. It concerns me that I may not be able to get back home if there is a fire.

But I still want to be able to protect my home from fire. I deal with my anxiety by focusing on being properly prepared for the next fire.

The fire I faced in the early hours of New Year’s Day 2020 was a confirmation of the impact climate change is having. The weather is more extreme than it was, with the increasing dryness affecting us in different ways. The fire season has extended into April and May, after beginning in August; that’s eight months or more of the year!

The impact is really clear when you look at Cobargo. The town had survived for 150 years, with fires regularly in nearby areas, but never in the town itself. The destruction in December 2019 was because of the extreme fires we are now having. I, along with my community, had never before experienced fires as severe.

Climate change is changing the world we live in.