By Kyra Gillespie
Tynong North resident Bruce Weatherhead, still cleaning up from being narrowly missed by the Bunyip State Park fires, said the firefighting efforts were akin to being “in a war zone.”
Sharing his photographs and experiences with the Gazette, Mr Weatherhead – who also stayed to defend his property during Black Saturday and Ash Wednesday – had nothing but praise for the authorities involved in the battle.
“All the homes in Tynong North were saved, and I believe that’s a combination of the CFA and the locals who stayed and defended their properties,” Mr Weatherhead said.
“At our place we’ve got a lot of fire pumps, mobile tankers and fire carts, as well as a thousand-litre tank that we put on the back of a four-wheel drive.
“On the Friday night the fire got away from us; there were water bombers going all night. On the Saturday, a big front came over. The calm weather was the saving factor.
“When the south-westerly came over the range I remember standing on the hill thinking it was about to come on top of us. The fire was sucking all the air – it felt like a strong southerly but it was just air being sucked into the fire.
“The bombers came and dropped on the fire – there was a Boeing 737, and Hercules, along with smaller jets and helicopters, it was amazing – but also quite scary. It sounded like World War III with all the air traffic.”
While no houses were lost on Tynong North Road, Mr Weatherhead said a number of properties had significant damage, including his son’s – who lost fences, a hay shed and expensive equipment.
“We’re on the south of Tynong North Road, while it went down Cannibal Creek quite a distance is didn’t cross north of the road.
“We took a lot of equipment to Mill Valley Ranch and put it in open space and out of harm’s way.”
Mr Weatherhead was blown away by the camaraderie shown by all involved in the fires.
“There’s been a lot of neighbours helping each other out, and the CFA were absolutely fantastic, as well as the police.
“Some fireys came round to my son’s place and said they’d joined five hoses together to get down to the fire on the side of his place. They don’t normally do that, but they were determined to fight it. It was amazing.
“There were also two water tank drivers who were real heroes; they had huge tankers here topping people like us who have thousand-litre tanks up. They went up to properties where the fire was and risked their lives.”
He said that while the fire has died down, the effects will be long lasting.
“The fire was absolutely roaring, and it was really glowing – at night it was this huge red glow coming over the hill against really dense, black cloud,” he said.
“It was like a war zone; I think some of our neighbours are really traumatised by the whole thing. It’s a really unnerving experience. I think it would be well worth authorities coming and checking on people.”
