1997 Ferny Creek bushfires: Firefighters still affected by monstrous day as killer arsonist remains on the run
THE fateful day when Melbourne’s usually-lush Dandenong Ranges turned into a raging orange fireball is still burnt in the minds of those who were at its forefront 20 years ago.
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THE DAY Melbourne’s usually-lush green Dandenong Ranges turned into a raging orange fireball has been burnt into the minds of those at the forefront of the firefight.
Three lives were lost, 45 houses destroyed and many more damaged in the 1997 fire that swept from the base of the ranges up to Ferny Creek and Sassafras.
Newlyweds Graham and Jennifer Lindroth, and their neighbour, Genevieve Erin, died as they sought shelter from the blaze in the garage of the couple’s Ferny Creek home.
Victoria Police says five fires were deliberately lit across the Dandenongs on January 21, and are still searching for the person or persons responsible 20 years on.
A team of one sergeant and three other investigators is currently looking into the cold case.
Detective Inspector Michael Roberts, from the arson and explosives squad, hopes a $1 million reward announced last October will entice someone with information to come forward.
“There may be a reason that they haven’t come forward before and been something that has been nagging them since it happened,” Det Insp Roberts told the Herald Sun.
“It’s time to clear the air and give the families of the victims some closure.”
He said the fires and loss of life was still very real for many involved in the fire, two decades on.
Police have not ruled out the possibility that sightings of a utility vehicle in the area at the time, described as a white Ford XD, could be linked.
A computerised facial image, developed in 1997, of another man seen in the area at the time, described as caucasian, aged around 30, with short-cropped hair, is also still an active line of inquiry.
The arson and explosives squad is looking at the cause of the fire with fresh eyes, but still believe the five fires were started by the same person.
An award of up to $1 million will be paid at the discretion of Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton for information leading to the apprehension and conviction of the person or people responsible for the fires.
Where the fires started
10.20am - Fussell Rd, Montrose
10.44am - Mt Dandenong, Kalorama
11.01am - Trigg Track, Mt Dandenong
12.30pm - An access track off Tobruk Ave, the Basin*
12.40pm - Walbundry Ave, Ferntree Gully
* It was the fire in Tobruk Ave that ultimately swept through Ferny Creek and killed the Lindroths and Ms Erin
Don’t need ‘really big fire’ for profound effect
Former Ferny Creek CFA captain John Schauble said the 1997 fire had a huge affect on the Dandenongs community.
It was the first time people had been killed in a bushfire in the local area and there had been a 20 or 30-year gap since the last blaze raged through the mountain.
“It was a complicated day,” Mr Schauble, who was a brigade lieutenant at the time, said.
“It’s a good illustration that you don’t need a really big fire to have a profound effect.”
He remembers the fires starting in Kalorama and moving their way from the base of the mountain to the top.
The conditions weren’t as bad as Black Saturday, he says, and the fire behaviour wasn’t as extreme either.
“But when a fire gets into a street full of houses, deep within the bush … it was a tough fight.”
For many involved in the firefight, it was their first time battling a blaze in their home patch.
They had fought fires on Ash Wednesday and other parts of the state, Mr Schauble said, but it’s so different when it affects people you know, including family and friends.
Fire crews ‘chasing their tails’
Current Upper Ferntree Gully CFA captain Peter Smith was about to get in the shower after a long night of fighting fires in Mount Martha when he got the call about fires in his local patch.
“It was a day of chasing our tails,” Mr Smith said.
“It’s stuck in our minds, what happened, it’s really burnt in our memory.”
Mr Smith and his team fought fires all over the Dandenongs that day — including areas near Sky High, in Seabreeze Ave and two house fires started by embers in Upwey.
He believes that it was lucky more houses, and lives, weren’t lost in the blaze.
“The firebug picked spots that would cause the most confusion and damage,” he said.
“It came on different fronts, and wild winds made the fire difficult to chase.”
Sent home at 6.30pm that night because of smoke-burnt eyes, Mr Smith said it rained heavily the next day.
“One minute, crews were racing around the mountain, going like the clappers battling the fire and then trucks were getting bogged on the fireground,” he said.
“I feel for the families of those who lost their lives — for them, there will always be an empty dinner spot at the table and I think it’s wonderful that police are still trying to find the culprit.”
