The images are very hard to shake. Cars, scorched to a ghostly greywhite, jumbled on the road. People clutching one another with the news of yet another death. That little koala, his paws badly burned, sucking water out of a bottle from the fireman’s hand. The photos of the victims in the paper – entire families of moms and dads and their young children, gone.
The risk of fire is something Australians, particularly those living in the “bush” of perfumed Eucalyptus trees in the drought-suffering south and east, is part of life. There are guidelines on building with fire-resistant materials, recommended vegetation for gardens, the options to buy fire hoses and pumps and to dig fire bunkers. People prune their trees and clear their land with the risk of fire in mind. This video offers guidance, and was made just a couple of weeks before the latest deadly fires. There is a now-criticized fire policy giving people the option to leave, or to stay and defend their properties.
The State of Victoria was incredibly dry and temperatures reached 46 degrees on Saturday the 7th of February, the day of the fires. The winds were blowing the wrong way, and fanned the fires to incredible speeds. Different fires joined into one mammoth inferno. Many people just didn’t have time to save themselves.
At least one fire was set on purpose. A 39-year old man has been charged with arson for starting a fire that killed at least 11 people. He chose not to appear in court today because a lot of people really do want to kill him. Vigilante groups are calling for him to “burn in hell” on a Facebook group, whose membership has grown by 100 people in the time it’s taken me to write this blog.
More than anything, people are pulling together to support one another. Australians have donated well over AUD 50 million to the Australian Red Cross. There are pledges to rebuild the communities. Even insurance companies are promising to work quickly on claims. There is government compensation. The Prime Minister has called for a National Day of Mourning next Sunday, 22 February. People will gather at the Rod Laver Arena, where just a week before the fires, people enjoyed the Australian Open, albeit one of the hottest ones on record.
Police continue to sift through the wreckage of towns like Marysville, a well-known weekend getaway with charming inns and restaurants, where the fire leveled almost every building. They have stopped updating the death toll. They say the remaining victims are now extremely hard to identify, undistinguishable from the tonnes of ash where they lay. It will take many more days to confirm their names.
This is the kind of tragedy where everyone in the Melbourne area, along with many Australians and people around the world, will know someone who has died, or been injured, or lost a home, or had a near escape. The Arena will be full, and terribly sad next Sunday.
