While there are normally a few days that are too hot, almost oppressive, an Australian Summer is a special thing. Summer to me means beaches, holidays, Christmas, tennis (yay for the Australian Open!) and a general happiness.
But this summer I am a little apprehensive. A few things are on my mind regarding this Summer. The first is keeping my little girl cool, and protecting her from sunburn. But really I guess what is really causing my reservations about Summer this year is bushfires. The horror and devastation that occurred on February 7 2009 is still all too vivid in my mind.
My family who lived in Kinglake - one of the worst hit areas - are still recovering emotionally. All of them experienced some level of post traumatic stress disorder. They have all relocated and found new homes in other areas, too traumatised to return to the town they had called home for almost 30 years. I will never forget where I was when I got the call from my mother. My Aunt had called her screaming, they had lost the house and were trying to escape. . .then the phone cut out. Nobody was able to contact her or her husband for 12 hours. We didn't know if she had made it out. Miraculously she did, but sadly many others didn't.
Here is what is left of her house:
My father had made it to a sports oval where many others sheltered for days. He lost his home too. The fire came within 2km's of the oval that was supposed to be safe. Embers rained down on them throughout the night. Now just the smell of smoke triggers the horrific memories of bushfire survivors. And there will be bushfires. I hope and pray they will not reach the catastrophic levels that the Black Saturday bushfires did, but bushfires are a fact of life in an Australian summer. In fact officially, bushfire season started several weeks ago.
This is Kinglake one week after the fires:
So when the hot dry winds from the desert blow across from Adelaide and reach Melbourne, sending temperatures soaring this summer - as they inevitably will, I will be a little anxious. Anxious and concerned for those in high fire danger areas, anxious for the survivors, who will re-live the trauma all over again, and anxious about friends who have a holiday home surrounded by bush.
For information regarding Victorian Bushfires please got to:
http://www.cfa.vic.gov.au/index.htm
The ABC have compiled an excellent report about Black Saturday:
http://www.abc.net.au/innovation/blacksaturday/#/stories/mosaic
