VB for a mate: Farmer farewelled after fatal Bodalla bushfire
Friends of farmer Michael Clarke shared a beer together in the ruins of his Bodalla home where he battened down the hatches and hid in his bathroom as a deadly bushfire swept over the remote property.
NSW
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Farmer Michael Clarke battened down the hatches and hid in the bathroom of his remote farm house, ignoring warnings from family and firefighters the bushfire was half an hour away.
The stubborn pecan farmer, 59, told friends he would barricade himself in the shower if the fire came, believing the it would roll over the 128-acre property he built in rural Bodalla.
When the wall of flames arrived at 3pm on Thursday, he called his brother with urgency in his voice, saying, “the house is on fire.”
His brother Shane begged him to leave and seek shelter but instead he locked himself in the shower an effort to keep wet.
Surrogate nephew Hayden Vandenheuve found him the next day believing he had heeded warnings from the RFS to evacuate at 2.30pm the day before.
“It was horrific finding him, I was checking the property to see if it had survived and found him,” he said.
“He told me if the fire came he would stay and protect the property and hide in the shower.
“I didn’t expect to find him there, it was horrific, he was a kind lovely guy, like an uncle to me.
“Whatever I needed he bought me, we’ve lost a good guy, I feel lonely without him.”
Clarke was found slumped in the downstairs shower room the following morning.
Friends recalled a stubborn man with a gentle soul.
“He has a strong mind, a stoic salt of the earth type of man, he wouldn’t budge from the house,” said Hayden’s mother Carrie.
“He loved that property, it was his peace.
“Micheal was a bit of a loner, but my son Hayden loved him and Michael loved him back.”
Yesterday friends gathered at the smouldering remains of the house drinking cans of VB in his honour.
“He loved the bush and always wanted to die in it, his dream came true,” said former school friend Steve Napier sipping from a can.
“My son Hayden found him, he’s lost an uncle in Micheal. Micheal was a loner, a bit of an eccentric, he spoke beautifully and wrote beautiful letters.”
Old friend Tony Foulis recalled a generous man who kept few friends.
“I’ve lost a dear friend, he left it too late, he loved a beer, the bush was his life,” he said.
“He’d give you the shirt off his back, he restored an old oak table and gave it to me because it was clogging up his garage.”
Mr Clarke’s death brings the death toll of this bushfire season to 25 in NSW and 33 in Australia.
Dozens of homes were destroyed when a bushfire ripped through the region.
The same day three US firefighters died when their aerial water tanker crashed northeast of Cooma.
NSW Emergency Services Minister David Elliott said yesterday the fire season was the “darkest summer” in state history.
“I’m hoping we don’t have a repeat next year, or the year after or for the next 10 years, but the reality is, we probably will,” he said.
Originally published as VB for a mate: Farmer farewelled after fatal Bodalla bushfire
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