Black Saturday 10 years on: Why Marysville CFA’s Kellan Fiske will never walk away

The day Marysville was wiped off the map every single CFA volunteer who fought to save their home town lost everything. Young Kellan Fiske lost so much more. A decade on, the now-CFA lieutenant is ready to protect the region all over again.

The day Marysville was wiped off the map, every single CFA volunteer who fought to save their home town lost everything.

Houses were razed, businesses destroyed and livelihoods lost.

But young Kellan Fiske was among the firefighters who lost so much more.

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As the full scale of the disaster became clear and crews were forced to retreat to the local oval, his mother Elizabeth and brother Dalton huddled together just 500m away.

Their bodies were discovered the next day — two of the 40 victims in the town who never had a chance.

A decade after Black Saturday changed his life forever, the Marysville CFA lieutenant is among a new generation of firefighters ready to protect the region all over again.

Mr Fiske said he owed it to his Mum and brother and all those who perished on Victoria’s darkest day.

“Would I leave if it happened again?” he said. “No way. I’d stay and fight.”

CFA lieutenant Kellan Fiske with his family — sister Bronte, brother Dalton, mum Elizabeth and father Glen — before Black Saturday. Picture: Supplied

Nobody would have blamed him for walking away of course. Plenty of people did.

But Mr Fiske said he found renewed purpose picking up the pieces of his life and helping others do the same.

He has learned a lot in a decade.

“I had to grow up pretty quickly,” he said.

“After the fires, a lot of the people I grew up with around the brigade had to take a step back as they tried to deal with their traumatic experiences.

“Every firefighter who fought in Marysville on that day lost their house and all their belongings.

“It would have been very easy to say, ‘we can’t do this anymore’.

“There would have been a fire station up there and two fire trucks, and nobody to go serve the community.

“All that hard work would have been for nothing.

“Marysville has been pretty good to me so I sort of felt a responsibility to try and keep the fire brigade going with the other guys who also felt the same way.”

Kellan Fiske is part of a new generation of firefighters ready to protect Victoria’s bush communities. Picture: Jake Nowakowski

The fire that destroyed Marysville was sparked by a break in an electrical conductor on a power pole near Murrindindi Saw Mill.

Fanned by the extreme temperature and strong northwesterly wind, it burned southeasterly through the Black Range and was out of control less than half an hour after it started about 3pm.

Within 90 minutes it had travelled 40km and had a front more than 5km wide.

Flames were reported to reach more than 100m into the air. Spot fires started 15km ahead.

Positioned in a valley to the north, an eerie gloom had enveloped Marysville. Scores of residents had left but there were still many who felt there was no need for concern.

There had not been any alerts from authorities. No cause for alarm.

Then the power went out and the wind changed direction.

It was a critical factor.

Spot fires erupted as embers rained down like a meteor shower. Grass fires spread to trees and fences, then sheds, cars and houses.

LPG gas bottles hissed wildly to release pressure as the ambient heat soared. It was enough to buckle terracotta roof tiles.

Residents and emergency service crews were forced back to Gallipoli Park amid calls for help from those stranded. But they could not do anything.

There was fire in every direction.

Marysville before and after the fires.

“It was surreal standing there helpless, watching everything just explode into flames. We knew there were people out there. Mum and Dalton were out there. But we couldn’t do anything,” Mr Fiske said.

There are things he admitted he would have done differently that day. But it’s not worth dwelling on.

Just those unknown final conversations with loved ones get under his skin. They should have been more poignant.

Perhaps he should have told them to leave?

It is the cruel legacy for anybody in Marysville who lived but lost everything.

“That’s what upsets me most,” Mr Fiske said.

He recalls his last conversation with his mother from time to time.

There was nothing to it.

She had asked him to go to the service station to pick up a gas bottle for a barbecue planned for later that day.

She had craned her head away from the computer when he dropped it at the door as he told her he was heading off on patrol.

“Be safe,” she said.

The Marysville fire station before and after the fires

Then as the sky thickened, Mr Fiske phoned home for a favour.

The heat was brutal and he wanted to change.

“My brother answered and I told him to go to my room and get me a singlet and give it to my Dad to bring to me.

“That was it. The last time we spoke.”

Mr Fiske and his father found the smouldering remains of the house when it was finally safe to navigate through town. Both the cars were still in the car port.

“We just thought maybe they got a lift out with the neighbours,” he said.

It was 5.30am the following morning when his father visited the home for a second time and found the bodies of his wife and son.

Recalling the horror was much harder in those first tentative months of recovery.

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But in the years since, Mr Fiske said his words no longer got lodged in his throat.

As a leader with the CFA he often visits schools to recall the experience of surviving the disaster that claimed almost everything he cared for.

There are lessons to be learned.

“It’s really good for the younger kids who are so full of questions and want to know as much detail as possible,” he said.

“It doesn’t bother me. The way I see it, we went through something horrible, a lot of people died and now we are in a position to tell our story of what happened and educate people and maybe ensure they never find themselves in a similar situation.”

A new generation of firefighters are leading the charge to protect Marysville: (L-R) Doug Cordes, Paul Martin, Nathan Marchetti, Kellan Fiske, Chell Norris, Kerry McFadzean, Judy Ratcliffe, Jacinta Veldman and Rob Richards. Picture: Jake Nowakowski

A greenkeeper for the local golf club, Mr Fiske has helped re-establish the venue. He meets with members of the Marysville CFA every week.

Operationally, the station is better equipped.

Crews have converted from an analogue to digital radio system and each truck is fitted with crew protection systems including sprinkler and heat shields for windows.

“Our brigade has grown so much since the fires,” Mr Fiske said.

“We have nine or 10 new members and it is in a really healthy position.

“That’s something I am really proud about.

“I would have no hesitations about being on the back of a fire truck with any of these new men and women.”

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