Nixon family’s relief after ‘baptism by fire’

It was 1.30am and father-of-two Jason Nixon was lying on the couch of his Glen Huon home trying to sleep. All of a sudden all he could smell was smoke.

Jennifer and Jason Nixon with their two children Amber, 7, and Hunter, 5, on their property in Glen Huon that was spared from the bushfires that swept through the region. Picture: LUKE BOWDEN

IT was 1.30am and father-of-two Jason Nixon was lying on the couch of his Glen Huon home trying to sleep.

His wife Jennifer and two children, Amber, 7, and Hunter, 5, were away in Sydney and he was the last person left in their street.

All of a sudden all he could smell was smoke.

“I sat bolt upright and went to the door,” he said.

“When I opened the door I couldn’t see two feet in front of me, and then I was panicking.

“It was too unsafe to leave because of not being able to see, let alone drive a car.

“I was ultra-alert the whole night and once first light hit I had a quick look around and decided it’s time to go.”

When he returned two weeks later the fire had burnt within a few metres of their back porch. It had torched a shed, destroyed a strawberry patch, several kilometres of fencing and cost them weeks of income from blueberries and cherries due to be picked.

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Close-up look at bushfire damage

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“Driving through the forest initially everything was white as it was still hot and burning,” Mr Nixon said.

“We turned the corner and saw the property and I was just lost for words. It was a range of emotions — fear, anxiety, joy and sadness.”

Mr Nixon said they were extremely fortunate to still have a house and most of their farming infrastructure.

“Unfortunately three of our neighbours lost their houses and that bears a constant reminder to us of how close we came to suffering the same fate,” he said.

“There’s always constant reminders, but the support network we’ve got with our friends and local community is excellent.”

Amid the chaos they still managed to get the kids back to school, with Hunter starting prep.

Trees ravaged by bushfire on Frypan Rd, Glen Huon. Picture: LUKE BOWDEN

The couple have only owned the property since April last year and Ms Nixon said it was “baptism by fire”.

“We weren’t really fire prepared, we hadn’t experienced a bushfire before,” she said.

“You can never be fully prepared, you can’t predict what’s going to happen.”

Mr Nixon said if anyone was unsure of how prepared they were for a bushfire they should get someone in to assess the property.

“My best advice is take all the steps you can to safeguard your property, but at the end of the day you’ve got to get out, it’s not worth it.”

They said the community support had been amazing.

“If we had of lost the cherries and blueberries, that’s our livelihood gone,” Ms Nixon said.

“We took some blueberries to the Huon Valley Strong Market last weekend and we’d sold out by 11am.

“It was great to see community getting back together again to shed tears, laugh, cry — it was good to see.”