Pets lead the way as bushfire evacuees disembark on Mornington Peninsula
After a week tackling catastrophic fires in East Gippsland, 66 CFA volunteers were among those reunited with loved ones arriving into the Mornington Peninsula on the HMAS Choules and the patter of paws led the group ashore.
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A mix of exhaustion and pride was how firefighter Samantha Rothman described the mood among CFA crews evacuated from Mallacoota by naval ship last night.
After a week tackling catastrophic fires in East Gippsland, 66 CFA volunteers were among those reunited with loved ones after being transported to safety on-board HMAS Choules.
A total of 280 passengers and 49 pet dogs were on the vessel, with the patter of paws leading the group onshore at the HMAS Cerberus naval base in Mornington Peninsula just after 7pm.
Mrs Rothman said it had been a gruelling experience fighting the fires under difficult circumstances.
The secondary school teacher from Maryborough in central Victoria, had been on the fire front for the past five days and was last night making the journey home to her family.
“I think we’re all extremely proud of the work we’ve done and also the crews before us,” she said after disembarking from the 20-hour journey.
“Everyone was tired but we were extremely well looked after in the community.”
She praised the work of the naval crew as “phenomenal”.
“The generosity, kindness, helpfulness of all the crew on the ship was amazing. It’s an experience we’ll never forget.”
Their safe arrival brought the total to more than 1700 people evacuated from Mallacoota in the past week — the largest maritime evacuation in Australian history.
As of last night there were still 144 people in Mallacoota.
A State Control Centre spokesman said those people had opted to stay in the coastal town.
It comes after the area was cut off from road access and has largely been without power since New Year’s Eve.
Out of control bushfires in the region resulted in frightening scenes of people seeking refuge on the beach while the fire’s severity turned daylight to darkness and at times made the sky glow bright red.
HMAS Choules captain Scott Houlihan said after a grim week people were very glad to be brought to safety and had remained upbeat.
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“What it shows, it reminds us of the faith of humanity, it’s such a positive environment on-board despite the horrific conditions that are up there in Mallacoota, the spirits these people are in, there was a lot of laughter, a lot of joking, so all things considered it’s good,” he said.
Bradley Moore, from Sydney, was on holiday camping with his sister and father and English pointer dog Leo.
He and his family arrived at HMAS Cerberus on Wednesday night with two pet dogs they helped bring to safety and were meeting a relative of the owners.
He said the community had all looked out for one another under the duress of the fires.