By Kyra Gillespie
Mill Valley Ranch is still standing thanks to the courageous efforts of CFA volunteers, who fended off the ferocious Bunyip State Park bushfire licking at the doorstep of the establishment.
The Tynong North Road horse riding ranch narrowly escaped the flames, which came right to the edge of the property.
“We’re feeling pretty safe now – there are spot fires still, but it feels like the main threat is over,” Manager Sue Ellis said.
“It got pretty scary there, the fire came right to the edge of our property; we’re feeling so grateful and blessed that the ranch survived.
“We know there are a lot of people doing it really tough and that there’s been a lot of damage, and we feel really sad for them.”
Mill Valley Ranch is historic in its own right; first established in 1967, it is one of the area’s oldest developments and still runs its western horse riding programs and Christian youth camps.
The Chapel, formerly the Montrose Methodist Church, was built in the 1880s, and the camp’s centre, designed like a western village, comprises of various historic structures.
Ms Ellis said she was blown away by the generosity of volunteers – many of them complete strangers – in helping them move their 35 horses to safer grounds.
“We made the call very late on Friday to evacuate the herd. We decided to take only the riding horses, because we knew we could float them out.
“We moved about 35 to Chairo Christian School, who opened their gates to us.
“We had a convoy of cars and floats, as well as a big horse truck that came in. By 3am and three trips later, we had all the horses off the property.
Horse handlers came from far and wide to help transport the horses against a smoke-filled sky.
“It’s not easy to get horses on a float at night, there’s noise and commotion which is very scary for the horses.
“It’s amazing how everyone handled it; we had all these people volunteering to help them get away safely and to come at that time of the night and into the morning was just incredible.
“The sense of Aussie mateship was just amazing; I was very moved by that.”
The Ranch also hosted the CFA crew changeovers before conditions worsened.
“Our staff were just amazing; our cook Cassie went to work and fed over 300 firefighters over course of Friday and Saturday.
“We also had a queue of trucks from our lake through to the front gate with pumps set up. They’d fill the tanks with water and off they’d go. Using our lake meant that they could stay close to the fires.
“All the CFA volunteers were out there risking their lives to keep us and the properties around safe. A lot of properties were burnt, but they managed to save every house on our road.
“They drove through fire to protect them, and they’re all volunteers. It’s just extraordinary.
“It’s a privilege to be shoulder to shoulder with them.”
