Hero Orbost firefighting crews face new threat as weather worsens
Fresh from fighting bushfires in NSW, heroic volunteer firefighters have returned to Orbost as residents brace for the worst amid deteriorating weather conditions.
VIC News
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Volunteer firefighters in Orbost have been fighting bushfires for more than six weeks and were on Thursday bracing for the worst.
The fireys have helped lend a hand to their compatriots in New South Wales, with Captain Dick Johnstone having recently returned from a five-day stint fighting the Kempsey fire.
“The community comes first, it is very important to me,” Mr Johnstone said.
To Orbost’s east, Wairewa, a township of only 23 homes, lost 11 to fires on Monday night. The Orbost CFA crew escorted some of those heartbroken residents back home on Wednesday.
“There is a lot of tears about, Wairewa are doing it tough,” Mr Johnstone said.
“It is a tight-knit community. It is about giving them support, a handshake, a pat on the back.
“Eleven houses, for a lot of people it doesn’t mean much, but for that community it is just devastating.”
Leading firefighter Paul Buck from Craigieburn CFA has come to help the Orbost crews.
“Our role here is to support the town,” Mr Buck said.
“Monday was the bad day, they got hit really hard.
“There were 400 people on the oval who evacuated. It was a big event. Everyone comes here to the neighbourhood safe place.”
Mr Buck said the Wairewa bushfire would have a “massive impact” on the community.
“We were a shoulder to cry on,” Mr Buck said.
“For them to share their experience with us, it is part of the recovery and healing process.”
Craigieburn CFA senior station officer John Zuccarelli said the Orbost crews were “heroic”.
“They helped our neighbours up north, and now they are back there in it,” Mr Zuccarelli said.
“The CFA (member) is the type of person who puts the community first.
“What people don’t understand is they wake up to fires, every single day since November. You don’t get respite from it.
“There is a lot of emotion.”
The Orbost crews were on Thursday preparing for a horror day of bushfires on Friday as the hot weather worsened.
“Saturday will be bad,” Mr Johnstone said.
The Orbost CFA said the best thing locals could do was gather at the relief centre if they were in doubt of what to do when fires threatened.
The Princes Highway between Orbost and Lakes Entrance was open on Thursday but locals feared the freeway may soon be closed again.
With the bushfire only kilometres away, the stretch of road had limited visibility.
Thick smoke engulfed the roadway and forest both sides of the road.
Residents of Orbost have been seen wearing masks to protect themselves from the smoke haze blanketing the town.
Orbost resident Anna McCarthy, 76, was taking no risks and wore a protective face mask.
“It is better to be safe than sorry,” she said.
“It’s a bit frightening.
“My immune system isn’t very good, the smoke doesn’t help, the mask helps me breathe better.”
Ms McCarthy said she was “concerned” for Saturday’s conditions as she lives by herself without a car.
“When you live alone it is harder because you’re more concerned about what to do.
“I don’t drive so you need to rely on other people.”
Orbost residents were lining up at the bank to withdraw cash and filling up cars with petrol ahead of the upcoming onslaught of weather conditions.
Linton Brown, in his 70s, fled the small town of Manorina with his wife on Monday and was using the services of the relief centre.
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The couple had taken refuge in Orbost and still did not know if their home of 15 years was safe.
“We will wait and see,” Mr Brown said.
“We think the CFA have saved it by the work they did the day before.
“We packed up mainly our camping gear because we thought we would be in it for the long haul.
“It is part of living in Australia, you just accept it. We will wait and see.”
Manorina is 34km from Orbost and a town of only five homes.