Sheltering in the fire headquarters as Balmoral inferno intensified
Reporter Jack Morphet and photographer Sam Ruttyn were in Balmoral chronicling the fires on Saturday when a sudden weather change sent flames racing towards them, forcing them to seek shelter with residents, pets and volunteers. SEE THE VIDEO
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I felt the embers hit the skin on the back of my neck just before I heard a Rural Fire Service volunteer yell: “Everyone get inside, get inside now!”
Photographer Sam Ruttyn and I had watched firefighters racing from house to house around the tiny town of Balmoral in the Southern Highlands all day on Saturday.
Properties had been destroyed and thick black smoke surrounded the community. But, by 6pm, the southerly change ripped through.
It hit with such ferocity you knew instantly the situation had changed for the worse. The wind was so fierce I had to hold onto my RFS helmet.
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I could hear the roar of the fire as it inched closed to where we were standing.
Within minutes firefighters were yelling at everyone — media, residents and even RFS volunteers — to run and take shelter inside the Balmoral Fire Station, a garage for storing trucks with sprinklers on the roof.
A couple with their pets in small carriers sprinted across the road at the last minute and were ushered by firefighters into the building.
An A-frame house directly across the road was engulfed in flames by the time I found a spot on the floor in between 20 residents, many with pet dogs at their feet.
Flames licked at cars parked on the street outside. The scene was surreal.
Weary RFS volunteers with soot-covered faces sat in stoic silence, knowing there was nothing they could do.
Others used damp towels to wipe ash from their faces.
One panicked woman paced the room with two dogs on a lead, asking strangers randomly what she should do and if she should go back to her home because it wasn’t insured.
Another resident claimed a woman was trapped in a house down the road.
Tempers flared because people knew that if their homes weren’t burning to the ground at that very moment, they were about to.
In between handing out bottles of water, RFS volunteers asked people to be calm and sit down.
Even if firefighters wanted to leave, they couldn’t.
The station was surrounded by an inferno. Smoke filled the garage and my eyes watered behind my goggles.
I looked outside and saw our last line of defence — eight fireys shoulder to shoulder, armed with hoses.
After an hour, we were told it was safe to leave the station.
We walked outside and saw trees and houses still burning.
About 7pm, police turned up to lead residents in a convoy out of town towards Buxton and, hopefully, safety.
Originally published as Sheltering in the fire headquarters as Balmoral inferno intensified
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