By Bianca Hall
Before anyone could see it coming, flames leapt four metres into the air on the edge of the Raglan property Attila Hegedus had been trying to defend – in short sleeves and jeans – with just a metal rake.
Hegedus and his partner Melanie Stratford bought the sprawling property and wooden home, which they are in the process of renovating, a year ago. For a moment, they feared they were on the cusp of losing everything.
Beaufort, a town of almost 2000 people west of Ballarat, came under direct threat on Thursday before the wind changed. Warnings to leave were on Friday downgraded to advice that residents should stay informed.
But while the battle to protect Beaufort from serious losses appeared to have been won, Raglan remained resolutely in the line of fires on Friday.
A pine plantation bordering Hegedus and Stratford’s property thankfully failed to ignite on Friday afternoon, but fires steadily lapped at bracken and trees across the road.
The thunder of trees falling and crackling of undergrowth provided an eerie background soundtrack, as Hegedus desperately raked at the burning undergrowth, keeping it clear of his fences.
Four fire trucks carrying CFA crews pulled up and, as flames suddenly leapt up into the air, helped rake and douse the flames.
“It takes a tragedy to bring people together sometimes, unfortunately, but people have really come together,” Hegedus said. “We’re so grateful.”
Raglan was a hive of activity on Friday, with fire crews from as far away as Warrandyte and Wonga Park converging on the small town to help save houses and sheds.
Hegedus’s house was only one of many near misses, as CFA crews rushed from property to property trying to protect homes.
Beaufort nurse Rebecca Simmonds and her family return to their property in Raglan after the bushfire swept through on Thursday.Credit: Jason South
On Thursday the fire had looked like a safe distance from Rebecca and Lee Simmonds’ property in Raglan until the wind changed.
“It was like a tornado,” Rebecca said.
She took photos of flames leaping at least six metres into the air, surrounded by a hurricane of smoke, before getting in her car and speeding away.
As she left, Rebecca – who is a nurse at Beaufort Hospital – took a call from a colleague who warned the hospital was being evacuated. She went straight there.
Simmonds and family at their property on Friday.Credit: Jason South
“We had 12 acute beds, 15 nursing home residents and 12 hostel people, and we got them all out,” she said on Friday.
“We just got people out. We’ve got a wonderful crew, and a great team that just worked well together, and everything fell into place.”
After helping her patients reach safety in Ballarat, Rebecca rejoined her family at a friend’s place in Beaufort.
On Friday, the couple and their children returned to their home on the outskirts of Raglan, expecting the worst. They were relieved to find it had somehow escaped the fires unscathed.
Other locals weren’t so lucky.
At the Ballarat relief centre on Friday, screams rang out as a woman learnt her home in Raglan had been destroyed. She was too distraught to speak to The Age.
As crews worked at breakneck speed to protect properties and build containment lines, the blazes, according to the Incident Control Centre, were producing spot fires that ignited 10 metres ahead of the fire front near Musical Gully and Beaufort.
At the Wendouree Cricket Club in Ballarat on Friday, dozens of residents who had fled fire-affected areas including Beaufort, Lexton and Raglan waited for news.
Sharon Lockyer and Alan Moormann wait to hear news at the relief centre.Credit: Jason South
Many had come with only the clothes on their backs, and were wrapped in blankets to ward off the unseasonably cool weather after scorching conditions on Thursday.
Beaufort residents Sharon Lockyer and her son Alan Moormann got out of the town with only their pets once they saw flames licking the vegetation outside their family home. The pair, both former CFA volunteers, had seen plenty of bushfires before. But this one shook them.
“The spot fires were 200 or 300 metres away from the house, so we just went,” Lockyer said.
Like so many others with pets, they spent the night in their car outside the relief centre on Thursday night. Lockyer’s pet rabbit Floppy Top did not survive the stress of the night.
Beaufort residents Gail Hall and Ruby the dog and Judy Cox with Wilbur wait to hear some news after bushfire forced them to evacuate to Ballarat on Thursday.Credit: Jason South
William Hamilton got out of Beaufort with a toiletries bag full of medications, his mobile phone and his charger. He couldn’t convince his 85-year-old neighbour to leave.
“I was thinking we were gonna get an official warning, but they basically come on the radio and said ‘get out now, you’ve got 15 minutes to get to the highway’, and I said: ‘right, I’ve gotta go’.”
He was anxiously waiting for word he could return to his house, to see whether his beloved motorcycle – a Suzuki 800 Cruiser – had survived the fires.
“It’s my prized possession – I really hope it makes it,” Hamilton said.
Opposition upper house whip Joe McCracken – who grew up near Beaufort – was in the chamber of Parliament on Thursday when the seriousness of the situation revealed itself.
“My parents headed out yesterday and they saw the flames coming from the back of Raglan Road, they could literally see them, and I was in parliament at the time. I had to duck out and I called and said, ‘Dad, you need to get out; get out of there’,” McCracken said.
On Thursday afternoon as the fire fronts worsened, the City of Ballarat set up a relief centre at the Wendouree Cricket Club. In an hour, agencies including the Salvation Army, Victoria Police, Ambulance Victoria and Powercor, as well as church chaplains, local councils and state and federal MPs had leant their support and time.
Volunteers were dispatched to the local op shop to buy spare clothes for people, while beds, blankets and food were offered to anyone who needed them.
Adding to the quiet stress etched on the evacuees’ faces was the patchy – and at times, non-existent – phone coverage, which made confirming the safety of loved ones and properties in Beaufort, Raglan and further afield impossible.
On Thursday, about 150 people had filled the cricket club hall, with about 20 people staying overnight inside and more in their cars and caravans outside.
Despite the uncertainty, Pyrenees Shire Council mayor Robert Vance said the adversity brought out the best in people.
“Dealing with the unknown is always scary, isn’t it?” he said.
The fire continued to threaten homes on Friday.Credit: Jason South
“But it’s nice that they can come together and share their thoughts with one another and give comfort to each other. That brings people together.”
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