Mother tells of dramatic escape from Mosquito Hill fire
SURROUNDED by flames and huddled next to a small dam on her property, Ellie Cruttenden feared every smoke-filled breath may be her last.
SURROUNDED by flames and huddled next to a small dam on her property, Ellie Cruttenden feared every smoke-filled breath may be her last.
As the Mosquito Hill fire blazed through her now scorched property, out of the haze came her hero, her partner Warren Gosper, with a wet towel and soon after Country Fire Service volunteers came to their rescue.
“I found a bit of land that was already scorched and I sat by the water and thought I can’t die like this,” she said.
“I could see the flames but the smoke was just everywhere and I started to worry about smoke inhalation.”
“It was lucky, so lucky.”
Ms Cruttenden, 55, had tried to leave her property when the fire escalated but she quickly returned when layers of smoke infiltrated her car and made it nearly impossible to see the road ahead.
Terrified the flames would burn their way through her house, she went to the only other refuge possible — a small dam about 200m away.
Here she huddled as the flames and smoke ripped towards her, and around her, until her rescue.
“It happened so quick. I would not wish that experience on anybody — you can’t imagine what people go through in these situations until you are in one yourself.”
Mr Gosper, her long-term partner, had been helping neighbour, Susan Jeanes, save her house when he realised his Ms Cruttenden was in mortal trouble.
“I ran through the trees towards the dam, I was worried if I was not quick enough I would have lost her,” he said.
Mr Gosper had parked his uninsured Commodore at his neighbour’s house where it was destroyed by the blaze.
“It’s been tough but there are a lot of people worse off than me. Everyone is safe that is the main thing.”
Ms Jeanes, a former Liberal MP for Kingston, said the fire had ripped through her 32ha property destroying three cars, a shed and their 4ha vineyard.
Her family’s cats, a tabby named Soxy and a mixed breed called Minnie, and four rescue chickens were also killed by the fast moving blaze.
“The cats were the kid’s pets who lived in the shed — we are sad they are gone but we know things could have been worse,” she said.
“What scared us was we were on out way to the cricket (Big Bash) and it all happened so quickly.”
Mrs Jeanes’s family home was saved by her husband’s stringent fire safety plans and “Elvis” the helicopter water bomber which appeared overhead and created a buffer around their home in their time of dire need.
“We lost three cars, a Kombi, an old beamer and unfortunately a car that had belonged to my daughter’s grandmother.”
Animal welfare organisations were also stretched by the fire with many local wildlife becoming displaced and injured.
Ms Jeanes and her family have been nurturing a lost joey, which was struggling to move because of burnt feet until rescue organisations could take it in.
The fast-moving fire had threatened houses and lives at Mosquito Hill and Tooperang, on the Fleurieu Peninsula, as it raged through the dry grasslands from about 3pm on New Year’s Eve.
The CFS issued a reduced threat advice notice about the fire on Saturday afternoon.
“The CFS advises that the threat posed by the MOSQUITO HILL fire near Goolwa Road, Kokoda Road, Deep Creek Road, Trig Point Road, Olsen Road and Cleland Gully Road on the Fleurieu Peninsula has reduced,” it said.
“The fire ground will continue to be monitored by fire crews over the coming days.
“Although the threat has reduced, be aware that the is still considerable risk present within the burnt area.”