‘This is just Armageddon’: Farmers devastated by fires

“It’s the most awful thing you could ever witness”: Farmers share their devastation as bushfires tear apart their livelihoods.

Blaze: Andrew Hicks’ property at Jingellic goes up in flames. Picture: Hicks Beef

FARMERS are struggling to come to terms with the “absolute devastation” caused by ravaging bushfires that almost wiped out their entire livelihoods.

“I can’t overstate it, this is just Armageddon,” southern NSW farmer and volunteer firefighter James Pearce said, exhausted from days on the frontline.

“It’s the most awful thing you could ever witness.”

Mr Pearce was on duty with his Yaven Creek brigade, from near Adelong, not far from where a lightning strike started the horrific blaze on Monday morning.

“We knew the forecast was poor but we obviously were doing what we could,” he told The Weekly Times.

“Monday afternoon was where it all blew up.”

But Mr Pearce says the inferno — which wiped out about 1780ha of his own property, leaving only about 80ha unburnt — is “only the start” of the pain to come.

“It’s gut-wrenching when you’ve got to put stock down and every morning look out and see black scorched country you used to work and love.

“Mental wellbeing is going to be a massive issue.”

He estimates those in his area who were affected would have lost 95 per cent of their properties “at a minimum”, and said nearby areas were preparing to again be “under attack” with tomorrow’s forecast of high temperatures and strong winds.

According to VicEmergency, out-of-control bushfires in the area have already burned through more than 132,000ha.

Mr Pearce, who runs YavenVale Herefords, expects to find a significant amount of dead stock when he is finally able to assess the “sheer scale of what (he is) dealing with”.

“It’s just pure luck if they survive,” he says with a heavy heart.

But Mr Pearce still considers himself one of the lucky ones, able to save his home.

Flashback: The Hicks family (with Andrew pictured in the centre) were The Weekly Times 2014 Farmer of the Year. Picture: Yuri Kouzmin

Just over an hour away, Jingellic beef farmer Andrew Hicks is also considering himself lucky to still have a house that stands, despite “losing the battle” to save his farmland after fireys spent 30 hours fighting.

“The fires came at us once, then came at us from another direction and nearly wiped us out,” he explains.

Mr Hicks lost 1376ha of land across three properties, about 30 cattle, half his hay and two shearing sheds.

He is now left picking up the pieces, in a rush to sell the remainder of his cattle before the little feed left runs out.

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“We’ve got no power, no water and are sorting out mobs of cattle to sell at cattle yards,” he says.

Thankfully, he says, there’s many helping hands.

“We’ve got young guys helping us today and making it a lot easier. We’re very grateful,” he said on Thursday.

“Other people suffered huge losses; local people lost houses and deaths in the area is not what anyone would wish for.”

Volunteer firefighter and expectant father Samuel McPaul tragically died fighting the Jingellic blaze on Monday when the truck he was in rolled.

The fire is now more than 104,000ha in size and still burning out-of-control.