Following the awful bushfires that swept through Canberra
on January 18, 2003 and the ensuing days, we wrote these
Bush Fire Stories
I Lost Everything by Meredith
It was Saturday the 18th of January 2003, the day after my Dad's birthday. We had a really late night the night before so we all slept in till about noon. My Grandma called and invited me to sleep at her place so I got all my stuff ready to take and then Mum drove me. By then it was about 12:10 so Mum thought she might have another sleep. After about an hour she hopped in the shower while my brother and Dad were upstairs watching TV. They were about two minutes away from falling asleep but Mum ran upstairs as fast as she could and shouted,
"The house is full of smoke!" Dad jumped up, ran downstairs, flew out the door, climbed up onto the roof and started to clean the gutters with is bare hand. He asked my brother to pass him the hose so he could fill the gutters up with water but he didn’t really have success with that task.
While dad was doing that mum was filling the bath tub and wetting towels. Then she quickly collected some photos and it was time to go. Before my brother left he stuck his hands in his wardrobe and grabbed some clothes, then he just ran outside and hopped in the car. They drove to my Grandma’s house but Grandma and I weren’t there so then they drove to my Nana’s house where we all were. Grandma and I got a phone call from my Aunty Yvette, who was at the Eastlake Football club. She was speaking so fast and crying at the same time and saying Duffy (our suburb) has half burnt down and it is being evacuated.
We were so upset that we didn’t even buy our groceries. We just left to Nana’s and picked up Mum, Dad and my brother and took them to my Grandma’s. Mum and Dad were just bawling their eyes out full of shock, anger and fright. Mum was screaming and not breathing properly.
We stayed up all night and then we finally went to look at the house and it was GONE!! All I could find was my burnt trumpet and mum found 20 cents.
What a Horrible Experience by Lena
On the day of the fire I was dropping my best friend off after a sleepover. When we got home embers were swirling around and the sky was blood-red. By three o’clock it was pitch black and my dog was panicking Dad had the ABC radio station on and it said that everyone in our area had to start watering down their houses. Dad was up on the roof and mum and I were hosing down the garden. I started pouring water in the gutter to prevent some of the fire coming into the garden. When I had almost got up to the power pole, sparks shot out and one hit me on the arm. I went inside and listened to the radio. There was going to be a wind change, which was good for us. Later on, when the fires had stopped, my eyes were sore and my Dad wasn’t feeling well from smoke inhalation. Now I can see all the burnt houses every day with people making a new start. For many people in Canberra, the date January the 18th is like September the 11th.
As I recall the 18.01.03 by Miles
I think back to that fateful Saturday when four people lost their lives and others lost their homes and memories to the ferocity of the fire. I remember watching the sky haze redden, then the darkness fell.
Dad sprayed the roof while we filled buckets and put them all over the house. Not knowing the fire was just over the hill we slept soundly until the next day. Then we learned we were lucky to have our new home in one piece. We sent clothes to the evacuation centres so less lucky people could be clothed.
I remember vividly when were huddled in the living room -red sky like fire over blood, smoke choking our lungs and impairing our vision blowing from the centre of the flames in Duffy.
After the first couple of days the cleaning began. Filtering the pool, clearing up the garden, sweeping ash off the driveway and making sure that the people around us were OK. Then we drove to see the damage. Desolate land covered the landscape - empty charred and uninviting. I realised then that this horrific scene could have been caused by people - a simple cigarette butt or someone with a match could destroy homes and wildlife. If so - I condemn their actions.
Bushfire sweeps through Canberra by Yong-Shen
On the 18th of January 2003 a terrible bushfire swept through most southern suburbs of Canberra. 4 people died and over 530 homes were lost, Duffy being the worst affected suburb. Up in the north, a separate fire also damaged Holt.
It all started in Namadgi National Park when a fire sprang up. Fireman fought and controlled it until that dreadful Saturday, when winds picked up and changed for the worst. I was not in Canberra at the time, but I watched the news. The sky was so smoke filled that at 3pm it looked as pitch black as midnight. A family I know went to check on their quails and they were sleeping.
Soon afterwards, the fire swept past containment lines and into Canberra. I watched the television in horror as I saw footage of the fire, with sparks and ashes flying everywhere. I also saw a policeman just narrowly escaping as a tree literally exploded into flames behind him.
That night I slept fearing that the worst was yet to come, but finally conditions eased and the fires were put out.
My Worst Birthday by Ralphie
On my birthday party, 18th of January, (my birthday is on the 15th) the sky was absolutely black with grey and blood red patches. It was very dark and there was a constant rain of burnt eucalyptus and other leaves. After the food and presents we went outside to throw water bombs. It was so eerie because there were nearly no sounds and you could almost touch the silence. The air was also very heavy and you could feel it pressing on you from all sides.
After the fires one of mum’s friends rang us and told us that her daughter’s house got burnt to the ground. She said it was horrible because her daughter could see the roof collapsing as they evacuated. They only managed to grab a couple of clothes.
THE TERRIBLE FIRES IN CANBERRA by Emma
The sky was black then scarlet then red but it was only in the afternoon. I felt as if a cold hand was about to grab my heart. I was scared, worried and interested. It was the day of the Canberra bushfires, Saturday 18th January. The day of the Canberra was in a state of shock houses were lost and wildlife and nature were also lost. I was lucky that my house wasn’t affected but still that didn’t stop my family listening to the radio and worrying. I kept thinking about what will happen to Canberra. Lots of questions were flying through my head.
At the time I was at old Parliament house, when a man came over the loud speaker saying a list of suburbs should go home and be on the alert. About ten minutes later the man came over the loud speaker again and now his list was twice as long. I was listening very carefully to the man because I didn’t want my suburb to be mentioned. I was very lucky that my suburb wasn’t mentioned. But that didn’t stop me worrying what if this happened and what about this.
When my family and I went to look at Duffy, I was shocked. I didn’t realize how terrible the fires were. I heard numbers but they didn’t really mean anything to me. I saw houses that had one or two walls standing with bricks sprayed everywhere. The houses had rubble everywhere and some bricks were broken in half. I sat there in the car with my mouth wide open, gasping with surprise. I was surprised that everyone was still loyal to their suburb even if their house was burnt. People were so kind to others who weren’t as fortunate. It shows that Canberra is always ready to help others.
On that Saturday I will never forget how I felt. All I hope is that nothing like this ever happens again.
My Fire Experience by Candie
That Saturday afternoon was the most frightening day of my life...
I had been watching TV for some time, and I wanted to go out and play, but when I went outside it was very, very hot and there were lots of flies everywhere. The sky was dark grey with red clouds and lots of smoke everywhere! It was very scary. At the same time my mum’s friend called and said that there was a fire alert in Canberra and that the Curtin area had already reached the maximum alert. All the family was very stressed and started panicking because Curtin is only about one kilometre from where we live. Then my mum told mum to close the windows so that the smoke would not get in our house. We filled up the bathtubs and filled up all the buckets that we had in the house. We also started packing the things that were the most valuable to us. My mum had to go to the office to go and get the important documents. My sister packed her photos and teddy bears and I packed photos, jewels and some clothes. All was read to put in the car in case we had to leave urgently. Luckily the fire did not come too close to our house, but lots of ashes flew around and the sky and air was smoky for a whole week. I heard on the radio that about 500 houses had been burned down by the bush fires, and that unfortunately five people died. This was very sad. I was very scared of the fires because we never saw any fires like that before in our country Mauritius.
IT RAINED BURNING LEAVES by Katelin
On the 18th of January the bushfire came and burnt many houses. The sky went black for about an hour then red then orange then yellow. Our neighbour came and put water in our gutters. We had a black out for about ten seconds then the power came back on. When all this was happening I was really scared because the hill near our house was on fire and it was raining burnt leaves which were still hot. I was listening to a radio station that had a siren go off every time there was an update on the bushfires. I also saw and heard fire engines diving past. I had to get my cat Charlie in because he was all hunched and his fur was standing up I went over to a friends house and jumped on their tamp to see the fires on the hill. After the fire my mum and I went over to another friends house and their road had been burnt. Some trees had fallen over, a brick wall had fallen over and I thought it was paving when I looked at the fallen down wall on the ground.
The Sky Turned Blood Red by Tabitha
On the 18th of January I was at dad’s house. I was watching TV and I went up stairs and saw my dad with his camera.
“What are you doing dad?” I asked.
“Tab, come and look at the sky,” he replied. I went outside and saw that the sky had gone black. A few hours later my mum came to pick me up. She said that my granny and grandad were on the roof hosing down their neighbour’s house. My mum and I drove home, listening to the radio, and every 15 mins there was a siren then the people on radio told us the suburbs that are on alert danger. When we came home, Noel (mum’s boyfriend) had filled the bath, put the door mats inside, and turned the radio on. I went outside and on the front lawn there were hundreds of black leaves. I went back inside and in from room I looked out my window, the sky turned blood red from depressing black. I called Izzy and she was in a black out and had to use candles for lights. About one and a half weeks later 3 horses came up my street because 19 horses got burnt down with whole stables and these survivors were still wandering around.
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