Buchan couple shelters beside dam wall to survive blaze which destroyed their home
A couple believes a greater force guided them to safety as they survived the Buchan fires which tore through their family home. This is their incredible story.
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A couple sheltered beside a dam wall as flames raged over the top of them in a miracle tale of survival.
Mary and Dennis Gilbert believe a greater force guided them to safety as fire tore through the Buchan home they handbuilt 30 years ago.
As flames took hold of the house they fled to a shed made of thick rock but were overwhelmed with smoke and embers.
They ran to one car only to find it on fire before escaping to another which was red-hot from the intense heat.
With thick smoke blinding their view, they drove by memory half a kilometre down a winding road to the dam, lying beside their SUV and the dirt levee bank as fire swept overhead.
Mrs Gilbert, 67, told the Herald Sun: “It was just unbelievable.”
“I just keep thinking back to how lucky we were and all the little instances that happened,’’ she said.
“We were guided I think to find our place by the dam wall.”
Mrs Gilbert and her husband, 70, were keeping close watch on the fire on Monday afternoon and were well prepared with the area around their house cleared and firefighting pumps and hoses ready.
At about 8pm the blaze hit.
They took shelter in the shed, Mrs Gilbert using her science knowledge from 50 years as a primary school teacher to douse their faces with water for oxygen and covering up with blankets and a helmet.
It was so hot their water tanks exploded.
“We could see the fire approaching and hear the roar,’’ Mrs Gilbert said.
“Then all hell broke loose.
“It was just terrible.
“I was holding a blanket up against the louvre doors to stop embers coming in but it got to a stage where I had to give up.
“My airways were closing up — I couldn’t breathe. There was just more fumes and embers coming in.
“Dennis shouted: ‘We’ve got to get out of here! We’ve just got to get out!’’’
With one car alight, the couple ran to the other, crashing their way along a garden rockwall as they tried to make their way through a fireball of smoke, embers and flames.
The dam wall was higher than the car, creating a buffer between the couple and the fire as they lay on the ground.
“It was sheltered and all the fires were blowing all around us,’’ Mrs Gilbert said.
“The fire was three or four metres away from us.
“It was a monster — it was coming from all sides.
“We just spent the whole night lying on our blankets near the dam watching in disbelief.”
With a kangaroo, deer and wallaby which had also sought refuge at the dam the couple waited — at times getting into the water to escape the exceptional heat.
“We sat the whole night and watched our farmhouse burn,’’ she said.
“It was a beautiful home we spent years building.
“But we had each other.
“We knew someone would come for us at some stage.
“It was just unbelievable.”
Mr Gilbert, a former forestry worker, suffered severe burns to his hands and heat so intense his glasses burned his eyes as he defended the Old Basin Rd property.
Called Buchan Farmhouse, it included a beautiful guest home popular with visitors from across Australia and overseas.
“All of a sudden this great big roar came round over the top of the house — it was like a big orange fireball,’’ Mr Gilbert said.
“I couldn’t see because there were flames all around us and sparks everywhere.
“It was like a tornado inferno — I’ve never seen anything like it.
“It was like a big dragon just eating everything in its way.
“We couldn’t have found a better spot because we could breathe in the dip where the car was.
“We could lay down near the car under the dam wall and all the sparks were going over the top.
“Everything was alight around us but we could breathe because the smoke was a bit higher.”
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At about noon the next day a surveillance helicopter flew overhead, Mr Gilbert flashing their SUV’s lights to get its attention.
At the same time neighbours, who had been looking for the pair through the charred debris of their home, arrived.
The couple’s daughter Hannah feared the worst as their son Garth raced home from a holiday in Iceland.
“Anybody else in that situation — I don’t think they’d be here to tell their story,’’ Hannah said.
Asked if the couple would rebuild, Mrs Gilbert said: “We will be back.”
“It’s our home,’’ she said.