Peregian bushfire: ‘Thick black smoke was coming straight at me’

After getting his family to safety, The Courier-Mail photographer Lachie Millard had just minutes to think about what he would take from his Peregian home as a bushfire roared towards him.

THE Courier-Mail photographer Lachie Millard last night described the fear he felt for his young family and their home in the path of destructive Sunshine Coast fires.

The Sunshine Coast father said he was in an instant panic when he was working at home and smelt smoke wafting into his house yesterday afternoon.

Inside the Peregian firestorm

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The terrifying view from Lachie Millard’s Peregian Beach home. Picture: Lachie Millard

“And in that time I picked him up and got to Peregian Beach the fire had extended quite a lot and I thought I better go get the dog next,” he told The Courier-Mail.

Mr Millard said he then drove back home to get his dog before driving up to Noosa where his wife Frida was working.

“I told my partner to stay and then I went back to Perigean Beach,” he said.

When he returned home at about 6pm he said the fire was already at the bottom of his street near David Low Way which is the main road that runs through Perigean Beach.

“It was just black smoke coming straight for our house and for our street. I was pretty panicky I wasn’t as calm as I wanted to be,” he said.

Huge flames approaching Peregian Beach. Picture: Lachie Millard

Mr Millard said the first thing he did was run in and grabbed hard drives filled with precious baby photos of their firstborn, family photo albums and passports.

“It was getting thick with smoke so I couldn’t think to get anything else,” he said.

The photographer then quickly hosed down his property to give it the best chances before he fled.

Mr Millard said he was worried about the high winds making it particularly difficult for the firefighters.

“The winds were super intense, super strong - the strongest I felt in a westerly non-cyclonic event.

Residents were forced to leave their homes as the bushfire approached. Picture: Lachie Millard

“Thick black smoke with winds felt like they were circling around the town and there was debris smacking on the roofs,” he said.

He then drove about half a kilometre north of Perigean town to get a look of the fire.

He said seeing the flames on David Low Way made it all very “real” for him.

“That’s when it all became real because you know it’s people’s houses are going,” he said.