Grandfather’s desperate call for aid in face of ferocious firefront
A desperate call for help from a property ringed in by fire last week had Country Fire Service crews fearing the worst as they rushed to the scene.
SA News
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As the heroic firefighters sped up to the Adelaide Hills property surrounded by a wall of ferocious flames, they feared the worst.
Minutes earlier, as the catastrophic Cudlee Creek fire front tore through the area, authorities had received a frantic emergency call from a trapped resident pleading for help.
The desperate grandfather had watched as his two-storey home of more than 25 years, between Woodside and Lobethal, was engulfed by the powerful bushfire amid thick smoke.
But in a stroke of good fortune, Ashbourne and Milang Country Fire Service brigades, along with a command car, were nearby. They answered his call, racing towards the inferno to rescue him from certain death, a fate which claimed the man’s pet cat.
“It all came about pretty quickly, he was a very lucky fella,” said Milang captain, farmer Alistair McInnes, 33, a CFS volunteer for more than 17 years.
“I would say if we weren’t there within five to 10 minutes, smoke inhalation would have definitely got him. And when you become unconscious, it is the beginning of the end.
“The flames were through the roof. The house was fully engulfed. The driveway was blocked by burning trees.
“He didn’t have a whole lot of time. He had sucked in lot of smoke and his house was fully involved. It gives you some idea what we faced.”
The rescued father, aged in his 60s, is now recovering from his ordeal with his wife and relatives in Adelaide but was too traumatised to speak publicly.
His family told the Sunday Mail how the proud Lions Club member was coming to grips with the blaze that destroyed his home. The man, a Hills resident for more than 50 years, had rung triple-0 on Friday afternoon as the CFS crews followed the fire from Woodside, a few kilometres away.
On arriving, they found the driveway blocked, forcing them to cut a hole in the fence.
Insurance broker and grandfather Rob Crase, 63, an Ashbourne volunteer of seven years, found the disorientated man under his back pergola wrapped in a blanket.
“The fire had got fully involved at this stage,” he said.
“I just said to him ‘You’re coming with me’ and we raced to the truck.
“Fire was coming out of the windows at the top. You could see the flames inside the door. There was a fair bit of heat but it hadn’t burst out the windows at that stage and, if it had, I’m not sure how the gentleman would have ended up.
“It (the house) was in the process of being consumed. I must admit I didn’t look back at it afterwards.
“It wasn’t until later that night, when I got home late, that I thought that one sort of scared me a little bit.”
“I have never seen a fire like that.”
After the rescue ordeal, the crews later joined strike team colleagues from Strathalbyn and Langhorne Creek to save the nearby town of Harrogate.
BlazeAid Army on the way
A small army of bushfire relief volunteers will co-ordinate an emergency operation from Lobethal to help property owners rebuild as the devastating Cudlee Creek fire continues to burn.
BlazeAid helpers will descend on the Adelaide Hills fireground from January 10 to rebuild fences, structures and offer help to those affected by the raging inferno.
BlazeAid is a non-profit organisation that supports local communities hit by bushfires and other natural disasters. Victorian farmer Kevin Butler, 65, founded the group after his Kilmore East property was hit by the Black Saturday fires in February 2009.
He said a humble $10 advertisement in a local newspaper, asking for help to fix fences, has morphed into a “well oiled machine” that has supported more than 6500 properties across the country in the past 10 years.
“We had 25 volunteers and they came out and worked at my home for a week,” Mr Butler said.
“What should’ve taken me six months took seven days and that’s where the idea came from.
“One of the first offers of help came from a person living in Angaston – in the Barossa Valley – and our first donation from South Australia was a post hole digger in 2009.
“We have a real connection with SA.”
BlazeAid will set up its camp base at Lobethal Football Club on January 6 before asking volunteers to join the cause.
Camp co-ordinator Wendy Cope, 73, who has run similar operations for the Sampson Flat and Pinery fires, said she expects a team of up to 50 people to tackle the destruction.
“It’s a small army and it’s a pleasure to watch it happen, everyone wants to help, everyone wants to be out in the field,” she said.
“When BlazeAid comes to town it just brings hope, the farmers know we’re coming and we’re already getting heaps of calls for help.”
So far, the Cudlee Creek fire has destroyed 87 homes and gutted almost 500 other buildings. The blaze, which has been declared an emergency disaster, ignited on December 20 and is not yet controlled.
Country Fire Service crews continue to battle flare-ups ahead of tomorrow’s concerning 40C forecast, with thunderstorms and strong winds expected ahead of a cool change.
Mr Butler said anyone can volunteer because “every bit of help counts” as the state faces “one hell of a fire season” this summer.
To volunteer or register for help, visit blazeaid.com.au
— Ben Harvy
Beekeepers swarm to help war veteran Marc
A WAR veteran using bees to soothe traumatised troops on a farm that was completely gutted by the Cudlee Creek fire has been “overwhelmed” by the kindness of the beekeeping community helping him to keep helping others.
Marc Webb and his family lost everything when fire ripped through his 4ha property outside Cudlee Creek on December 20.
“There is nothing left – it is total loss – nothing is salvageable,” said Mr Webb, 39.
The house and all its contents are gone, as is all the beekeeping equipment – suits, frames, smokers, hive tools – needed to run beekeeping workshops for beginners, including veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Three hives have been destroyed and the remaining 12 seem to have miraculously survived in a patch of green grass by the property’s dry creek bed.
Within 48 hours of the firefront sweeping through the Adelaide Hills, beekeepers began offering their help so that Mr Webb would not need to cancel beekeeping workshops planned for January.
The SA Apiarists Association has issued a statewide call to its members willing to donate small colonies of bees for delivery to those who’ve lost hives in the fires.
“The buzzing sound of the bees can drown out the noise in your head,” said Mr Webb.
He spent 18 years in the Air Force, including working as a counterintelligence operator in the war in Afghanistan in 2015 – a high pressured, volatile role involving gathering on the ground intelligence to pre-empt and counter-attack Taliban threats.
He was discharged from the Air Force in June due to injury, including a diagnosis of PTSD, and in August settled in the Adelaide Hills to focus on beekeeping.
Mr Webb said he’s since learnt, through social media, of US programs using beekeeping to assist veterans affected with PTSD.
If you or anyone you know needs help call Beyond Blue on 1300 22 4636 or
Lifeline on 13 11 14
— Rebecca DiGirolamo