Bushfires: In over her head, but dive tank a lifeline

Samantha Kneeshaw had done all she could to save her house so she jumped in her pool with scuba gear.

Samantha Kneeshaw submerged herself in her swimming pool at Lake Conjola for 10 minutes with her dive tank during the New Year’s Eve fire. Picture: Sean Davey

When Samantha Kneeshaw realise­d there was nothing more she could do to save her house from the raging New Year’s Eve bushfire at Conjola, on the NSW south coast, she made her way to her backyard pool and strapped on scuba diving gear.

For 10 minutes the marine biolo­gist oceanographer sat as still as she could, submerged in the shallow­ end of the water without goggles or a mask to see, and controlled­ her breathing as burnt leaves and ash fell around her.

“I couldn’t actually see it at that stage,’’ Ms Kneeshaw told The Australian. “The house was obscured by black smoke. All I could see was flames above the house and I reckon they must have been the trees on the other side of the (Princes) highway. I just thought that was the house going.’’

Fire damage at Samantha Kneeshaw’s. Picture: Supplied

The 45-year-old was in despair at the thought of losing her home after trying so hard to save it.

And she was deeply concerned about the wildlife, without realising people at Conjola Park were also in danger.

Her teenage daughters, Darcy and Manny, husband David and beloved dogs were out of harm’s way in the nearby towns of Ulladulla­ and Milton and she had enough oxygen in her diving tank to last one hour underwater.

“There were a couple of explos­ions — they were two trucks on my neighbours’ property — I had to keep under because of all the embers and there was just stuff everywhere,” Ms Kneeshaw said.

Nearly every plant on the four-hectare property was burnt or lost their leaves from the heat and seven of the family’s eight chickens and a rooster were killed.

But as the smoke began to clear Ms Kneeshaw saw her house mirac­ulously still standing, saved by her firefighting efforts, a firefighting pump and a homemade roof sprinkler system.

The only damage was two cracked windows and melted bathroom vents.

Ms Kneeshaw may be the only Australian to have used her scuba-diving gear and pool to survive the bushfires but she stressed it was part of her fire plan and she was well-prepared.

Her husband had gone to work before 8am on the day the fire hit, not knowing what was coming, while Manny had been dropped into town to stay with a friend and Darcy was volunteering.

A phone call from neighbour Bruce Shea at 10.30am alerted her to the need to get ready for the ­approaching fire.

Ms Kneeshaw started spraying around the house and wetting the decks while, across the highway, 30m-tall eucalypts were in flames.

“At that stage I just went angry. I was furious at the government,” she said.

“We’ve been watching this place get dryer, tree ferns that have been there for years have died. We knew this was going to happen. I was just livid they haven’t done anything about climate change.”

Flames burnt through the pool fence at Samantha Kneeshaw’s home. Picture: Supplied

With adrenaline pumping, she rang triple-0 when she could see the fire and urged the authorities to get there before it jumped the highway and reached Fishermans Paradise and Conjola Park — not realising it was already burning on the other side.

After the worst had passed, she circled the house again and again, putting out spot fires well into the afternoon, and jumping back in the pool to get air from her diving tank because of the smoke. Nearly 100 homes burnt around Conjola and three people died.

“I started to run out of energy to put anything else out,” Ms Kneeshaw said.

“Then my neighbour came down, I was just ecstatic to see him because I couldn’t see their house at the top of the hill and everybody was okay. He’s gone ‘do you want to speak to your husband?’ My poor husband didn’t get to me until the next day at 4pm.”

Ms Kneeshaw, who teaches physics and earth science at Ulladulla High School, fears the country is going to forget about the bushfires in six months. She called for everybody to “step up” and start acting to limit global warming.

So far just 10 of the 90 bird species that lived on the property have returned but there are signs of life — Ms Kneeshaw’s rhubarb started sprouting on New Year’s Day.