Behind the scenes of a Photography Exhibition

Midway through last year our daughter Sally, was invited to exhibit some of her photography in the gallery at Yering Station Winery. Sally is quite an accomplished nature photographer and has worked in the field as a hobby for around 10 years. As you would know, cameras, tripods, mounting equipment, and other accessories soon add up to a substantial investment. To recoup some of this money Sally has sold many of her images as photo gift cards at local markets.

This exposure (no pun intended) lead to her work being published in local newspapers and one small exhibition. An invitation to mount a major exhibition at a well known gallery was quite a thrill. With some trepidation she accepted and assumed, with many months to prepare, everything would run smoothly.

Of course there was no rush, Sally already had most of the images needed in her portfolio, and all that was required was arranging for them to be printed, getting frames organised and typing up background notes about herself and each work. The gallery had asked that the photos be mounted in rustic recycled timber frames as they fitted the exhibition’s theme (events during and after Black Saturday) and would sit beautifully with the old barn type decor of the hanging space. Heather and I were happy to get to work and build and stain the frames. So the weeks went by, life’s events occupied time and then suddenly there was the realisation that there were only 5 weeks to the installation date.

We had built timber frames before, but had always had trouble with our old mitre saw- its angles were never accurate. As there were around 40 frames needed, we decided to upgrade our equipment. After a search we settled on a very impressive Bosch Mitre Saw which would also be very helpful with all the timber work we needed in the house and our other building projects.

We had plenty of old timber scavenged when people were cleaning out their properties, so we carefully picked our way through the collection, choosing bits with suitably attractive grain & knot holes. (Bits that had “character” as Heather would say.). A week later 40 frames were ready for the next stage.

While this was going on Sally went through her portfolio selecting around 40 images that were suitable. It took several trips to the photographic shop to get them printed. Some had to be printed more than once to get the most suitable size and others had to be repeated because of faulty processing. Of these Sally chose 37 photos to include in the exhibition. They were all given suitable titles and priced. If only that was all that was required, but of course the real work was just about to begin.

Although Sally usually does her own mat board (the background card around the photo) we talked her into getting them professionally done. This would not only be quicker, but it would take some of the pressure off her shoulders (or so we thought at the time). The frame shop were very good in that they went through each image and made helpful suggestions as to the best colour for the mat board and because of the quantity, were prepared to give Sally a substantial discount on the cost. However, that was when we learned an important lesson in making frames. Our frames all differed slightly in size, due to the varying length of each piece of recycled timber. As a result, each mat board had to be individually measured and cut, hence no bulk discount available. We will know better next time.

We usually get our glass cut by a local glazier. We left the frames with them (in the knowledge that all frames were different) and picked up the glass the next day. Things were going well (or so it seemed).

When we had all the glass and mat board at home, we did a match up exercise to make sure every frame had mat board and glass that fitted. That was when we discovered that 7 mat boards had been cut wrongly and 3 glass sheets were too long. Back we went to the frame shop and the glazier. Both businesses were very good. They happily replaced the faulty material and did a few extra jobs free of charge. Still the delays were raising stress levels somewhat.

The staining process took some time to get going. We started using some old stains we had used before, but these were not dark enough. We bought some black stain to mix up our own colour and started experimenting on off-cuts. Eventually we hit on a mix that seemed to work well on the various timbers used for the frames. Whilst Sally cut the foam board backing that held the mat board in place we did the final sanding and staining of each frame.

Our lounge room was starting to resemble a small factory with piles of empty frames and glass sheets, folders of photos, piles of mat board and tools and equipment spread around. The next tasks were cleaning the glass (removing every single fingerprint and mark), attaching the photos to the mat board, fitting them into the frames with the foam backing board and screwing on the turnbuckles which held everything in place. We soon learned that black mat was very “unforgiving” in that it immediately showed up the tiniest mark or stray piece of sawdust. Each frame had to be meticulously vacuumed and checked.

Then Sally taped up the backs giving each frame a very professional finish. Finally ‘D’ screws were inserted in each side, the hanging wire was attached and an individual i.d. sticker attached. Of course these last few tasks did not go completely smoothly; largely as a result of the irregular sized frames. As a particular piece of glass and a particular mat board would fit an individual frame, each had an identification number. Occasionally numbers would disappear leading to cries of “I cannot find the glass for this frame” etc. Another problem that sometimes occurred was the discovery of a stray fingerprint on the glass (on the inside of course) after everything had been put together.

The final step was to transport the 37 works over our rough dirt road to the highway and then to Yering Station. Unlike our usual driving manner we took this trip with great care at every pothole to limit the chance of a potential disaster. We arrived at the gallery with everything intact and helped Savaad (the gallery manager) sort out and hang the work. Everything was now ready for the official opening on Friday.

The Opening

We were expecting around 40 guests for Sal’s official opening of the exhibition, but the numbers were a bit rubbery as not everyone RSVP’d. In addition people moved between the three exhibitions that occupied the gallery spaces so around 100 people would have come through on the night. Although the weather turned out a bit stormy, the night went off without a hitch and a great time was had by all.

It was only on the night that we realised that the arrangement of Sal’s work on the walls, told the story of Black Saturday. As visitors ascended the stairwell they were confronted by the dramatic images of the fire and the burnt landscape. Once they circulated around the upper floor they would have been heartened by the photos of regeneration and return of life. The positive comments and feedback was overwhelming and Sally was thrilled with the support of so many people.

 Media

The exhibition is to be well publicised in the local media. The Lilydale Leader took photos on the installation day and interviewed Sally. Healesville Mountain Views paper did an interview on the morning of the opening. Remarkably, during the photo shoot, two of the fire fighters featured in one of the exhibition photos arrived to see the exhibition. There was quite a bit of emotion as Sally was reunited with these two brave ladies for the first time since the fires.

And then Celeste from Yarra Ranges & Valley Magazine came to the opening to write up an article about the three exhibitions. Hopefully the two newspaper articles should be in print next week and the magazine article will appear in the autumn edition (out in March).

We have learned a lot from this experience- mainly related to frame size and setting up more efficient processes for getting everything done. If we are involved in helping with another exhibition we will certainly be doing things differently. We have also learned that putting on an exhibition is much more than just selecting a few photographs and mounting them (especially if you are making the frames yourself). It is a huge undertaking with many complexities, but after seeing the final stunning result it is certainly worth the effort. Your work is brilliant Sally and what a fantastic journey it has been for you!

If you are interested in catching a glimpse of the exhibition, it is in Matt’s Bar at Yering Station Winery, Yarra Glen, is free and runs from Feb 4 to March 20, 2011.

All our family made it to the exhibition

Fires Aftermath

It’s now 5 months since Black Saturday, but it still seems like a bad dream. It is hard getting used to the blackened trunks, bare branches and a cooked landscape. Every time we return home, a sense of sadness arises within us when the burnt forest comes into view. This feeling is only partially offset by the gradual rebirth of our environment.

Recovery of bush/animals
The tenacity of Australia’s forests is amazing. The tree ferns and grass trees were sending out new shoots within a couple of weeks and the green really stands out against the black backdrop. Many of the eucalypts are now sending out side-shoots, with some clothed in green shoots from top to bottom. Of course there are many that will never recover and will stand for years like black sentinels reminding us of Black Saturday. The forest floor is gradually turning green with a carpet of mosses and young shoots starting to hide the ash.

Amazingly some of the wildlife managed to survive, but they are not out of the woods yet (pun intended). They survived the fire, but can they survive the loss of habitat and food source? We are doing our best to help by doing regular food drops of approved food around our place – hopefully it will get them through. So far we have seen a few wombats, a couple of echidnas, one baby snake, a small mob of kangaroos, a handful of wallabies and two lyrebirds.

Odd stuff
Many people have commented that at least we now have tons of firewood. Strangely this is true for next year and into the future, but the bulk of blackened wood on the ground is green- that’s why it didn’t burn during the fires. Any dry wood (including a few piles we were saving for future firewood) burnt very well when the fires arrived. Fortunately we managed to locate enough seasoned wood to get us through this winter, but many other people may have found it more difficult.

Flue Cleaning
One consequence of using wood stoves/heaters is the need to keep the flue clean. We have aimed to do this annually, but for various reasons have left this messy job for two years. So in May we donned our overalls, dragged out the flue brush, climbed onto the roof and gave the flue a brushing. We were pleasantly surprised by the relatively small amount of soot that dropped down. Our guess is that due to the very dry nature of the wood we use (usually it’s been seasoned for 2 years or more), it burns very cleanly leaving little residue behind. From now on we’ll clean out the flues before winter every odd numbered year.

Wood Fired Appliances
Winter has well and truly arrived and with that, the need for heating. Over recent years wood has received much “bad press” as a use for fuel. In the suburbs a poorly operated system or one not using dry fuel can cause discomfort for neighbours, but in rural areas there are many advantages over other fuels.
The Australian Greenhouse Office, in their brochure "Global Warming Cool It!" lists the following Greenhouse gases (pollution) per unit of heat
• “Natural gas produces 0.31 kg.
• LPG gas produces 0.34 kg.
• Electricity Aust. Average 1.00 kg...
• Wood produces 0.00 kg.”

The article continues: "Carbon dioxide from burning wood is not counted, as wood is a renewable resource: a natural cycle exists in which carbon is captured by growing trees, then released by burning or decaying and again captured by growing trees." Our energy utilities would have us believe that are at the forefront of environmental protection. The truth is fossil fuels are ruining the environment and our health........ This site also outlines some serious health dangers related to the use of gas fuelled heaters. See www.woodstoves.com.au for more information.

Wood is the perfect fuel if you are replanting trees to replace the wood you use.

More Thoughts for the Royal Commission

As we explained in our last post, we are being dogged by questions and thoughts about the fires. There is no way we can prevent wildfire events. They are integral to this part of the world and will continue to occur, possibly more frequently and with even more ferocity.

In our submission to the Royal Commission we painted a picture of a potential scenario that could easily occur if the circumstances of Black Saturday were just a bit different. What if it had happened on a week day, and spot fires (or arsonists) had lit fires closer to outer suburban areas like Lilydale, Wonga Park or towns around the Dandenong Ranges. The fires in Canberra a few years ago set a terrible example. If the fire had taken hold in a suburban area it would have spread from house to house with dire consequences. Apart from the flames, residents would have to cope with massive amounts of dense smoke. The roads would be clogged with panicking people trying to get home, others trying to flee, parents collecting school children and all this happening during peak homeward bound traffic. Fires in industrial areas could add explosions and poisonous fumes to the mix. Power outages would cause traffic lights to fail, gas lines could ignite and water pressure would drop dramatically. Would people know what to do and where to go? Emergency services would be stretched to the limit.

Some people may think we are being over the top, but we believe this scenario needs to be carefully thought through. If we do not develop strategies in readiness for such extreme situations, the results would be too terrible to contemplate.

One strategy that would allow communities to be better prepared is for the government to declare extreme days (like 7th February) an “Emergency Situation Day” on the prior evening. Like an advanced level fire ban day, this would trigger certain behaviours in fire prone areas and suburbs. Schools would be closed, businesses would be asked to consider closing, companies would be asked to provide leave to employees who live or work in the affected areas or who are CFA members. All this would happen early in the day. Residents could follow a generic fire plan which lists steps and precautions they need to take and the location of the nearest safe haven.

An emergency declaration would enable people to arrange their day without panic. Those leaving could leave early. Those staying to defend could stay home and prepare. Volunteer fire fighting personnel could ready themselves. The fact that this would happen only occasionally and normal daily life is disrupted would be a clear signal, that that particular day is considered extremely dangerous. It would force people to at least seriously consider their situation and hopefully make some sensible decisions early in the day.

In our society we have lost touch with the environment and its warning signals- cocooned in our homes with air conditioning and electrical entertainment and connected to the world via a computer. We need to regain the ability to be aware of times when nature is setting up a disaster scenario and to take action to protect our loved ones and our communities before it occurs.

EVACUATIONS.
Some people have called for forced evacuations in times of extreme crisis. We object most strongly to this idea. There are a myriad of problems with this approach. Forcing people onto roads in a continually changing wildfire event is far too dangerous. Often the people organising the evacuation are not familiar with the local area. Lack of local knowledge can lead to dangerous advice.

In these highly emotionally charged disasters the last thing anyone needs is conflict, which is what would result if police tried to evacuate residents who were determined to stay. In the days after Black Saturday, Heather was told she could not pass a police roadblock on the Melba Hwy to return home. She was 5 km from home, had travelled out along our access road an hour earlier and knew it was safe. The police officer did not know the area and did not fully understand the intent of his orders which was to prevent people travelling up the highway. Our side road was perfectly safe at that stage. His obstinacy caused her much distress and she was at the point of driving through his roadblock. Fortunately he listened to reason in the end. By all means give warnings to people, but in a free society we must retain the right to make our own decisions.

We Can't Stop the Fires, But We Can Be Better Prepared

One of our delayed reactions to Black Saturday, has been that we constantly relive what happened in our minds and conversation. Not from the ‘wasn’t it terrible” viewpoint, but more in a questioning way. We are trying to understand exactly what happened and why. We were too busy on the night and in the days after, to do anything but deal with the emergency.

The sorts of questions that are preying on our minds are:-
· How are the many people who lost houses, precious possessions, pets, and worst of all their loved ones, coping? We are reminded of their loss every time we go past the wreckage that was once somebody’s home. This brings tears to our eyes as we feel a small part of their pain.
· Will the bush and its inhabitants return to something resembling what it was before the fires, in our lifetime?
· Why have we no recollection of radiant heat or the sound of the fire?
· How could so much lovely bush (whole forests) be transformed in such a short time?
· How fast did the fire spread? It seemed to arrive and the next thing we knew, it was all around us. How long did this process take?
· How much luck was involved in our fire fighting efforts?
· Would a fire driven by a north wind be worse than this fire that came from the south?
· How is it that the legs of the wooden stands that support our beehives started burning, but the fire fizzled out and the hives survived without our intervention?
· Where did the lyrebird go to survive? Did more survive?
· Did any goannas survive? These massive (2m+ long) ancient looking reptiles always gave us a thrill as they stomped their way through the forest.
· Why did a particular tree or small area of bush not burn?
· Why did the fire come to our place? It travelled 10 km over undulating grasslands burning much of the Pauls Creek Valley, but missed some areas altogether. Was this chance, or were there reasons for the path it followed?
· Was there more that we could have done on the night? This question haunts me (Andrew) in particular. Understandably I was preoccupied with fighting the fire and continually checking out everything, but if only I had spent 10 minutes letting a substantial amount of water out of the dam outlet. This may have created a less intense fire in the gully below our dam.
· What can we do to be better prepared in the future?
· What strategies would be valuable in future events?
· How do you get the message about really basic preparations and behaviours through to everyone in fire prone areas? Some people appeared to be completely unprepared, were not alert on the day and when the fires came many made some really dangerous decisions.

These last three questions have prompted us to put in a submission to the Royal Commission. We don’t expect much attention to be paid to our thoughts (amongst the thousands of pages of expert comment), but we are doing it because we would like to do what we can to help avoid such a massive loss of life in the future. Victoria is certain to have more fires- possibly even worse ones, but we must develop strategies to keep people safe. We are also hoping that by doing this, all the questions that keep popping up in our heads will be put to rest.

Here are two of the ideas we have come up with:-

CLOSURE OF FORESTS
There is a need for the introduction of a state wide “Closure of Forests” on total fire ban days. That is all National Parks, State Forests and Forest reserves where possible should be closed to public access on fire ban days. The benefits include:-
· Closing forests would make it more difficult for arsonists to access isolated bushland roadsides.
· Apprehension/identification would be easier because forest staff and the general public would know that those entering the forests are doing it illegally.
· Less people in the forest means less chance of fires being accidentally started from cigarettes, bbq’s etc
· Forest closures would reduce the need to rescue people who get trapped in the forest by fire.

DEMONSTRATION SITES
A way of helping residents improve their fire defences would be to run demonstration days. Selected properties could be used to provide real life examples of fire defence strategies. Many people cannot /will not read the very useful material put out by the CFA, however they may be prepared to spend a couple of hours looking at what others are doing. This works for open gardens and farm demonstration days- why not for fire defence education?
Most of our ideas are “concepts” that would need a lot more work to make them feasible. Some may be impractical and financially unviable. The thing is, we need every idea on the table, even ‘way out ones’, so that the best can be selected for follow up. We welcome your comments-perhaps you would like to make a submission yourself. The Royal Commission website has all the details on how to make a submission. See http://www.royalcommission.vic.gov.au/Submissions
In the next post we will describe a couple of other thoughts we have had.

Preparing for Wildfire

This post focuses on the factors that we believe helped save our place and includes aspects of our permaculture design intended to reduce the threat, as well as what we learned from our recent experience. Comments relate specifically to our location and personal observations, and may not apply under different conditions.

House designOur house is mudbrick with small amounts of exposed timber and built on a slab. Embers blown up against the exposed slab are easily spotted and extinguished. Exposed timber surfaces are smooth so embers blow off. We kept the house profile low so that a firestorm’s embers and radiant heat would largely pass overhead. Before and during the fire we continually wetted down external surfaces-especially vulnerable parts of the roof structure. The eastern wall is earth covered, giving that wall more protection and allowing us to gain quick access to the roof.
On the northern side (the most likely direction of a firestorm) the bulk of the forest is 80m away. We located our dam and vegetable patch between us and the forest to create a low risk buffer. As fires tend to race up slopes we built our house on an area with a low gradient. Our orchard is located to the northeast of the house providing another green buffer and a wide driveway with cleared sides provides a firebreak to the west and south. This photo is taken from our roof looking north. The burnt forest can be seen on the other side of the dam.

Breaks in vegetationWe do have extensive areas of native plants including some eucalypts close to the house. However these plants are broken into groups with breaks between them and we have generally focused on low risk plants like grevilleas, wattles etc. We mow under the bigger trees and remove potential fuel such as sticks. These areas are thoroughly wet down during risky periods.

The Bush
We gather fallen timber for our wood stove and wood heater and burn fallen timber in areas close to the house, to reduce potential fuel levels.. In our experience trees were not a major problem. The fire raced along at ground level with an intensity related to the amount of fuel available on the ground. It did tend to race up trees with fibrous bark (stringybarks), but if there was not a lot of heat generated from fuel at the base it tended to fizzle out once it reach 8-10 metres without igniting the canopy (see photo). We put a lot of effort into hosing or bucketing water onto tree trunks, because most wind-blown embers came from up higher up the tree trunks.

Many native plants did not readily burn. These included wattles, tea tree and smooth trunked eucalypts. These plants were only vulnerable where there was a build up of fuel on the ground. This photo shows how the fire burnt all around a patch of titree without igniting it.
Some people advocate the removal of all trees in the vicinity of the house. This may have several detrimental effects which should be taken into consideration:-
· The fire travelled fast across the open grasslands, but seemed to slow down once it arrived at our heavily treed block. Perhaps the trees and thick undergrowth slowed the wind.
· Trees may provide a shield against radiant heat and deflect that heat upwards.
· The foliage of trees can catch embers, perhaps reducing the amount being blown at the house.
· Trees have many benefits for humans and the environment, unrelated to fire.

The other point we would like to make in regard to people who wish to remove all trees from their land is, why are they buying bushland properties in the first place? Surely if they have a desire to live in a cleared area that’s the sort of block they should be buying. They should also be aware that many houses located in paddocks burned to the ground.
Bare earth, paths and tracksThese proved to be very valuable in stopping the spread of the fire. Our drive sweeps around the edge of the bush providing some protection on the west, south and east of the house. As our soil is very poor, there are various areas where there is no vegetation at all. (Poor soils have their benefits.) One of these areas is where we built our solar array. Of course it is wise to ensure grass is mown short in critical areas such as around tanks, pumps, sheds, the house etc. Surprisingly a sawdust path was enough to stop the fire creeping along. (see photo).

Water supply
Adequate water and a guaranteed supply are essential to defend a property. In a firestorm, town water is likely to be unavailable so an independent supply is required and preferably from two or more independent sources. Mains power is likely to go off so pressure pumps may not work. All pipes must be safely buried and protected where they come to the surface.
We have two independent water reticulation systems with multiple water sources supplying each system. Our large dam feeds into our garden watering system via fire pump. Above the house a small header dam feeds into the same system. In all, the two dams hold 5 megalitres of water when full, and we used only a fraction of this to fight the fire.
Our other water system is 80,000l of drinking water held in four tanks. An electric transfer pump (powered by our independent system) is used to shift water to a header tank giving us good pressure in our house taps. If the pump should fail, we still have a low pressure supply from 2 tanks that are positioned higher than the house giving us a head of about 5 metres.
We saved the header tank in the bush by keeping fuel loads around it low and by pumping till it overflowed dampening the area around it.
Taps
Thirty taps are located strategically around our infrastructure. One set is close to the house, another set is about 15m away and a third set provides water to edges of the area we intend defending. Most of our taps are fed by 50mm pipes with 25mm rises, reducing friction and maximising flow rates.
Hoses
We have a mix of hoses that we have collected over the years. We are gradually switching to 20mm diameter hoses and standardising fittings to make it easy to switch hoses between various taps. We do have 2 fire fighting hoses which are very useful for delivering large quantities of water or throwing over a distance. Having at least one very long hose (30-50m) allows the fire to be attacked well before it gets close to the house (if it is safe to do so). Having plenty of hoses is useful because shifting them around is time consuming, risks damage and is hard work.

Power supplyIn an emergency, mains power is likely to be lost, so this should be taken into consideration. Having our own solar supply was useful, but it meant we had an extra asset to protect. We also used our petrol generator because we were running our electric transfer pump for extensive periods. As this photo shows, the fire came to within 10m of our solar panels and generator.

Fighting the fire
Fortunately there were four of us fighting the fire. This allowed for two to protect the house and two to focus on further out areas and to look after anything else that cropped up or needed doing (eg supplying drinking water to people on hoses). Less than four would have made it a more difficult job.
Speed of ApproachFires can move quickly. Even though we had an hour's warning, we did not have enough time to fully prepare. Everywhere we looked, there were jobs that needed doing. Jobs that we had been intending to do, but never got round to doing. Some that come to mind are raking up leaves in vulnerable areas (leaf build up occurs every few days in dry conditions), fixing a broken hose, weeding around taps, buying extra smoke masks and having standardised hose fixings.
Prevailing windAlthough it was the wind (southerly change) that brought the fire to our place, in some respects the wind proved helpful. Once the fire had passed the house, the wind pushed the fire front northwards. It kept expanding on the sides but at slower pace, that was easier to fight. The other advantage of the southerly change was the fact that it was cooler. In fact, none of us have a clear recollection of overbearing heat- although it must have been hot at times.
In southern Australia the hot blustery northern winds are usually the cause of destructive fires, and this was the direction we expected the fire to come from. However our plan also considered fire coming from other directions, as was the case this time.
Broad Scale CalamityThe speed of the fire combined with the fact that dozens of fires were erupting concurrently, meant that no matter how efficient the emergency services and media were, there was no way they could provide 100% accurate local information in real time, nor could they help every property owner. Do not expect emergency services to help you- of course if they do that’s a bonus.
Protective clothingWe had the following in our “Fire Fighting Box”.
· Several pairs of cotton overalls and hats
· Masks designed to filter out smoke particles (P2 paper masks with valves). Have enough spares in case they break or get clogged.
· Goggles- smoke in the eyes is blinding and particles become painful
Boots- strong lace up leather boots are also desirable. Gum boots can melt on hot coals.
Preparation
The CFA have excellent guides listing jobs that need doing. As well as the obvious stuff, a regular inspection of infrastructure is wise. Check out all pipes, taps and dam stop valves, clear around tanks, pumps and other critical infrastructure. Have generators, chainsaws, pumps etc all fuelled up and test run them on high danger days. Plenty of fuel and spare spark plugs are a good investment.
Wet down and keep wetting down critical areas but take steps to stop dam water contaminating drinking water. Have a plan of what you are going to do about animals and do it early. We brought our dog, corella, guinea pig and some chooks into the house. Apart from the dog they were safely shut up in suitable boxes with feed and water.
Fire PlanWe had a carefully thought out fire plan. Each year we revised it, to take into account new factors. The plan details what needed to be done and when. Although we hadn’t completed 100% of our tasks, once the fires started we knew exactly what needed to be done.
Stay and fight or Evacuate?The key question in a fire plan is whether to go or stay. We had always planned to stay, but as it turned out, we had no choice on the day because the fire came from the south- the only escape route we had. This highlights the importance of leaving early if that is the chosen option, and early means the night before a dangerous day or early morning at the latest. We know neighbours who had intended leaving, but the speed and ferocity of the fire prevented them. Although they lost their house they were able to shelter in a wetted down area and were eventually rescued by the police.
The choice to stay should not be taken lightly, and only if adequate preparations have been made and the property is defendable. See other notes for our ideas on what we believe is necessary to defend a property. We are still horrified by talk back radio callers saying that they intend leaving early - "as soon as they see smoke". This is far too late. There are numerous instances of people being caught on the roads. Even a distant fire can reduce visibility to dangerous levels.
GardensGardens were part of our defence plan. Our large well mulched veggie patch is to the north. This was kept wet during the whole ordeal and the dampness caused any embers that landed here to quickly extinguish.
The house itself is mostly surrounded by areas of mown grass and our gravelled drive so there was very little fuel near the house.
Property designWe were fortunate in that we had completed a Permaculture Design Certificate Course in 1995. Although this is fundamentally aimed at developing a property plan for sustainable and energy efficient living, it also covers consideration of defence against wildfire. As we developed our property plan, fire defence was a significant factor in our decision making. Improving our PreparednessNow that the fire has passed through, fuel load in our area has been massively reduced and the risk of wildfire should be low for a few years. However each year after that, the risk will increase. We have already started planning on how we can make this property even safer. Our ideas include:-
· Extra taps in some areas, and a sprinkler system on the house
· Expand the clearing around our solar system
· Replace 12mm hoses with large diameter hoses and position at least one extra long hose on each side of the property
· Remove all sticks and sapling growth within 30 metres of areas we wish to protect, before summer and maintain this during the fire danger period.
The CommunityAs the saying goes “no man is an island”. We are all part of a community and if our community is better protected, then our risk is also reduced. Our local fireguard group under the guidance of Serafina (CFA representative) helped us develop awareness of fire behaviour and helpful strategies. We also gained a better understanding of the broader risks and Serafina (just a few weeks before) took us through what happens in a wildfire situation, which meant we were much more prepared mentally for such an event.
Another aspect of community, is the risk posed from neighbouring properties. Our fire came via the surrounding farmland. Perhaps strategically ploughed firebreaks may have slowed its progress. In built up areas, if one house catches fire it would be very hard to protect other houses close by. Hopefully when communities are rebuilt, communal strategies will be developed that protect groups of houses (eg a large communal store of water with a reliable fire pump)

In summary, we consider these factors to be critical before staying and defending property
· Ensure children and others who are not capable of actively fighting the fire evacuate before any risk arises. (eg day before)
· Adequate independent, fail proof water supply available on all sides of area to be defended
· Develop fire breaks and green buffers around each side of the house
· Independent power supply, if power is critical
· Protective clothing for everyone
· Prepare the property before the fire season, keep it prepared and be on guard on high risk days
· Have a carefully thought through fire plan with back-up plan for a worst case scenario
· Join a local fireguard group and/or liaise with the local CFA. Knowledge is power.
· Minimise fuel loads at ground level in areas to be protected.
· Protect vulnerable parts of the house- eg build on a slab and close up points of entry to the roof space.
FOOTNOTE We run regular small group tours of Tenderbreak Permaculture Farm. See our Blog post dated Jan 9, 2009 for more details. After the fire danger period is over (hopefully very soon) we will start running these tours again. On the tour we normally explain our bushfire preparations, but this year there will be an added dimension- detailing what worked and what could be done better. If you would like to be kept informed about dates for these tours or would like more information, email us at tenderbreak@bigpond.com.

Victoria Burns

This is the blog entry I hoped I would never have to write. The one that tells you, that our lovely piece of paradise came face to face with Victoria’s worst wildfire. Along with thousands of acres in the Yarra Valley and elsewhere, our bush block was turned to charcoal. Still we consider ourselves very lucky. With the help of our family we were able to save our house, outbuildings, solar system and infrastructure as well as a small area of bush. The smoke was the first indication of what was brewing.

Saturday, February 7th, 2009 will forever remain seared in our memories. It started ominously with warnings that this was to be the most dangerous day ever for wildfire. Virtually no rain had fallen for over 2 months, temperatures were going to be the highest on record (47 degrees in parts of Melbourne), and these combined with strong winds would make up the perfect conditions for a firestorm. The day was hot and windy but went well to mid-afternoon. Then we received news that fire had broken out in Coldstream (20 km away). We sprang into action, making preparations to defend our place, still believing that it wouldn’t actually happen. However, within the hour, a strong cool change (normally good news) had caused the fires to spread across farmland to our local town- Yarra Glen. Now we could see huge billowing clouds rising into the sky.

Soon after, we had a telephone call from Heather’s brother Graham, who had been following the news reports, telling us that fires had started along our road. Greg and I ran through the bush to our fence line to see how close it was. Across our neighbour’s paddock we could see flames rising up tall gum trees licking the sky. We ran back to warn Heather and Sally that the fire was nearly upon us.

We had already spent the last two hours putting the final pieces of our fire plan into action. We had all put on protective clothing, started up the fire pump, put pets inside the house, pulled things away from windows and thoroughly wet down the house along with a 20-30m radius around it. Sally manned the hose at the rear of the house and watched for flying embers which were landing like a meteorite shower. Greg did the same at the front of the house. Heather and I double checked everything and then grabbed our hoses in readiness.


Our first view of flames on our property was 100m down our drive – entering like an unwelcome monstrous visitor. Initially the wind drove the fire across the drive where it stormed up the wall of our dam into a huge fireball. The dam water temporarily stopped it in its tracks- but not for long. The flames worked their way around the edge on the far side and then took off to the north away from the house.















The two photos above show the view over our dam.

Just as we were thinking the worst may be over, another front developed behind us on the southern side threatening our solar power system. See photo at left. We raced over and started hosing down the approaching flames and bucketing water around the array.


By the time we had reduced this threat, the fire had continued expanding until it had completely encircled us forming a ring of fire with us in the centre. Fortunately our driveway runs around the outside of the clearing containing our house, outbuildings and orchard and this formed a valuable firebreak. The fire ran out of fuel once it reached the drive giving us time to catch our breath.

We spent the next 10 hours fighting back flare-ups, and checking for spot fires started by flying embers. During this period a fire fighting helicopter appeared and flew low over our neighbour’s place. We later learned that it had dropped loads of water, but had been unable to save their house. On the left I am placing buckets of water on the drive ready for dousing spot fires

By 4am, the edge of the fire had been beaten down to a smouldering line. Individual tree trunks, stumps and logs were still burning fiercely but the wind had died down and danger had temporarily reduced. Our adrenaline had run out and our limp bodies were numb with exhaustion. We were sick with worry for dozens of beautiful friends who lived within the danger zone and had no idea how they had fared. As there was nothing we could do, we decided to get some sleep while we could.

An hour later we were woken by the sound of a fire truck coming up the drive. The Dixons Creek brigade had found our neighbour’s house destroyed, and wanted to know whether the family escaped. We didn’t know and feared the worst. Later we discovered that they had been rescued by police in the early morning. Still it was good to know someone in the outside world knew that we were still alive.

We cannot tell you about the heat and noise of the fire because we have very little recollection of these. What we can describe is the dense smoke and its acrid smell. The smoke is deadly. Breathing becomes impossible and lack of visibility leaves you blindly stumbling about. Smoke masks and goggles are an absolute necessity for fire survival.

Sunday was a day of respite. There were hundreds of trees still on fire and logs smouldering. Moving about the forest was very dangerous, as huge trees would suddenly topple over and others would drop branches without warning and without a sound. We spent the day putting out small spot fires and smouldering patches that we could reach. However our ordeal was not over yet - it will have to wait for the next post.