Watch these two short videos first for context, before listening to the interview with Narel and Ian.
This first video is footage of firefighters caught in the fire one block away from Narel’s house. Their truck melted. How they survived and walked out is a testament to good training and the power of miracles.
The second video below shows firefighters at Ian and Narel’s boundary fence and the shocking speed of the fire approaching. Remember – in a herd of eight, not a single horse with a single burn mark.
Ian and Zac running for hours in that rain of fire putting out spot fires and again, not a single burn mark on either of them.
This photo is the same boundary fence in this last video, with their untouched house from memory about 30 metres this side of the fence.
You can listen to the interview here on the audio player or right mouse click and follow the prompts to download. This has been extensively edited due to sound problems that day. Enjoy this example of a spectacularly fine tuned inner guidance system producing gobsmacking miracles.
Narel’s facebook post in the aftermath.
We thought that Narel’s post after the fire about the practical actions they took could be worthwhile knowing should anyone face fire themselves. So here it is:
Ok after my last post earlier today I hijacked Mums computer… if you are going to read you may need to grab a cuppa as its its bloody long, a narrative of the experience followed by dot points of our planning… hope it helps x
As promised I am putting together some notes on what we did to fire proof our property with the gift of time and notice prior. Also what we experienced, and what we are now in the midst of doing now in the aftermath on day 2 post fire. The first thing I felt was relief once the fire passed, along with a new feeling of helplessness as I saw it approaching so many friends directions. In haste I am sharing this with the hope that some of this may help someone else to prepare. I share this with full acknowledgement that this is our experience, and that the nature of fire is highly unpredictable, so much of this may be so far off others experiences, but I felt strongly called to share this so here goes starting with a run down of events, followed by what we implemented…
- Edit, we now have news of at least 2 neigbours homes gone on our side of the road, am just devastated for them 😞
We were away on an international cruise when news of the first fire came to us and the threat to our home and animals. When we had left this was a possibility so we made a rough half hearted fire plan not really believing it would get to us, we left this information with my parents house sitting, and cleaned up a bit, moving firewood down the back from the main carport and more.
Returning home on Boxing Day Thursday 26/12/19 was like entering to prep for war. We unpacked our bags, washed and repacked to evacuate the same day. And then the serious fire prep began as we faced many upcoming high threat days, and friends close in the south were in the thick of battling it.
While we were away my parents had two days of it being too close when the sky went black and ash and embers were falling. The first day it hit when we were home was Tuesday 31/12/19, new years eve. The sky was pitch black at 3pm, smoke was pluming behind us and around us, we thought we were as prepped as could be in the time we had but it was like a trial run for the big day coming and we learnt a lot that day, we also learnt that our horses (still at home) were completely impressive in their ability to read and respond to the conditions and threat. It was a hard day and night, not knowing if we were going to cop it or not, but it did not quite reach us that day, but it did give us more gifts of what to do and not do.
So new years day through to 3/1/20 we threw ourselves even deeper into the prep from sun up til sun down. And then on 4/1/20 it came. I had left with the 3 younger children, dogs, cats, birds to my parents the night before, driving out being one of the hardest things I had ever done, not knowing who or what I would return to, wanting to stay and help, but needing to be with my children. Ian my husband, who is very fit, and Zane, our 18 year old son with RFS training who is fit, strong, full of energy and very calm under pressure stayed.
I could not sit like a caged lion at my parents place so threw myself into twice hourly analysis of maps, wind and temp forecasts, and fire map predictions. I also went into meditation to connect in, beyond what my mind was showing me, and the fears of so many being thrown our way, throwing us off balance from what we thought were good plans, that inner place, supported by some very good close friends who were also going in deep doing the work – that is the space I continued to return to when being thrown off balance while my men were at home in defence mode. I continually was given sign after sign that we would be ok and focussed on that and all we had prepared rather than the fears swirling, refocus, refocus, refocus.
Meanwhile at home things were building that day. By 2pm the front was coming across the back of our property from west to east. By then we had 2 fire trucks in our place, and one in each neighbours our side of the road. They were ready to defend and Ian said the roar as it came through was incredible, like freight trains and he would have run but looked to the fire men who held and was given strength from their response. They stayed until the main front had passed then had to leave to where it had gone to, leaving the boys to continue on with monitoring where the fire was going, spots and embers. There had been a water bombing helicopter working continually there behind us all morning too from neighbours dams. We knew a big hard southerly was coming, and that the earlier front at 2pm had possibly saved us as without it could not have stayed to defend in the southerly wind. The fire trucks came back a couple of times checking in on the boys and helping out.
When the southerly hit around 7.30pm, all hell broke loose. There was a huge fire ball that sailed over our neighbours from the south and hit the peoples bush across the road setting it all on fire too. Zane ran laps of the house putting out the embers as they landed, with Ian just further out from him. They had walky talkies whenever out of sight from one another. They ran all night, stopping for a brief lay down on the stables floor and continuing on drinking gastrolyte. By early morning Zane was sent to bed and Ian patrolled. He eventually went to sleep for one hour setting an alarm to get up, then did more then had another hour of sleep.
The next day I was able to come out in the afternoon with the kids. The highway and start of our road was still on fire but we were let through, however now the main danger is the number of huge trees falling unexpectedly and we got trapped in for a few hours, then let out but not allowed back in again – that will continue to be the case for some time now.
So that is the nutshell of what happened. Now lets take a look at both what we did and implemented during the course of time between Boxing Day and this event…
Packing – a few changes of all weather clothes, masks, 1 work uniform, sentimentals, important documents, chargers, computer hard drive, kids baby photos and wedding photos, animal foods and bowls, bedding, leads, cat carrier, cat litter, plastic bags, torches, camp mattresses, towells, bedding. BE RUTHLESS – if you can easy do without it or its replaceable leave it, your car will be full enough.
Prior – take a photo of every room in house, sheds, stables, and inside each cupboard – believe me after my last fire experience, you need this both for insurance, and to remember exactly what was there, its surprising what you forget about.
Fill up all baths, sinks with water and place piles of towells of various sizes to soak, then roll and place at doors, on window sills (you know how much dust comes in during high wind – now imagine that is ash and embers).
Fill as many buckets as you can and leave both inside and outside every door.
Have a mop ready in case have to soak and whack onto embers on verandahs or in house.
Take EVERYTHING off your verandahs – anything can catch from an ember and set up the whole house.
Have a ladder at your manhole, along with a hose ready there. You need to constantly check the roof space for embers and the hose ready to point up there.
Take all gas bottles away from house and point nozzle away from buildings as they vent and can throw fire.
Cut all grass short as possible – it will grow back one day. Likewise we cut down any bushes close to the house at ground level, and cut things back hard, also remove mulch and any dead or dying plants.
Shouldnt have to say it but clean your gutters out.
We are on tank water and dont want this ash and crap in our tanks, so we cut metal to size, removed the filters and covered the tops of water tanks, we disconnected our down pipes so when it does rain all the ash goes on the ground, not in the tanks. Then we got all Ian’s old socks, filled them with sand and blocked all down pipes, filled the gutters with water and just kept topping up in lead up – trust me this is a slow process you dont want to be doing on the day – only topping it up.
Make sure you have all your neighbours mobile numbers – we kept in touch constantly and shared new reliable information – SO much of what info was going around was incorrect, so ignore the facebook panics by individuals and listen to reliable sources. For us the locals and 2st local radio was the best source, along with Willy Weather wind predictions taken at the local navy base. The Fires near me app could not keep up but the fire map on www.arcgis.com was excellent.
Have mobiles charged ready, and walky talkies for back up.
Make sure no air conditioners on.
Tape up any sliding doors on the inside as they are not very well sealed.
Get flammable furnishings away from inside windows.
Cover any gaps in shed walls on the side the fire front is expected from.
We took off the ridge capping on the sheds and houses (we have 2 houses here) and installed a fire retardant material Ian had in the shed, then replaced ridge capping.
When the fire is coming close all internal doors, that way if fire breaches into the house it can be maybe contained in one area better.
We turned off electric fences for safety and access.
Equipment for firefighting. We have a paddock ute so we set it up as a firefighter, literally buying the last pump we could find at the produce shop along with a 1000 litre tank so that went on the ute along with shovels, rakes etc. Inside the ute we had pure wool blankets – they are KING in protection should you need to take shelter we heard. Also lots and lots of water bottles full in the cab of ute. We had a generator to run water out to many locations should the electricity go down and it did. We had numerous hoses both outside and inside incase the outside hoses melted, plus be sure to test first where they reach to so you know your limits. Only had a few brass fittings and shops had sold out so bought a back up of plastics – not ideal but better than nothing. Be aware that not only electricity can go off but water can too, or pressure can dramatically drop as everyone has the water on, not just you.
PPE – also had and added to our personal protective clothing – the fashion of the moment was broad brimmed cotton or wool hat, clear goggles (sunnies no good when the light goes in a moment), multiple masks, cotton neck covers you can wet and pull up over face, heavy drill cotton long sleeved shirts, cotton denim jeans, leather sturdy boots and gloves. Trust me, ash in the eyes hurts a lot… and as many wool blankets you have for if you need to take shelter.
On hand – lozenges, eye drops, gastrolyte sachets to replace salts and electrolytes, quick to hand things like protein bars, fruit etc, AS MANY drink bottles as you can fill and they were all used.
Our phones rang constantly, and you just cant answer it all as need to preserve battery and stay alert to conditions, the support and well wishes is lovely but needs to wait.
Prior – we had a family meeting – super important to know where everyones head is at on the matter and helped us decide our evacuation and course of action.
Also before hand decide on designated “take shelter” areas both inside and outside. Near shedding on side away from fire under a carport was one of ours, as was Iden or Zanes bedrooms as both have large external glass sliding doors that exit, and are in the middle of house, so depending on which side fire was on, they could choose to go to the room on the other side away from it.
DO NOT EVER take shelter in a bathroom, small internal room, or a hallway – these are what we naturally gravitate to but are bad for deaths historically, instead be somewhere by an exit on a side of house furthest from fire front.
As the front arrives, if time, take hoses inside, you will hear it come, then wait until radiant heat passes, then exit as soon as safe, for next job will be checking inside roof space and also around house outside continually to deal with spot fires.
What we discovered – horse manure catches fire…. a lot. But their hay piles did not at all!?
Fire is HIGHLY unpredictable. Things burnt you would not expect, and likewise things did not burn that you would expect,. It creates its own weather system so anything can happen, so have some plans but expect nothing concrete. Our neighbour trees are like match sticks but ours have foliage on top, but not much below.
Later – falling trees can kill – and we are hearing them crashing down constantly – but also be aware on the roads too, we have had many come down over our road blocking us in or out.
Start evaluating what you will claim on insurance – this I am to action later today to get the ball rolling – hoping we dont get banned soon as this our 4th claim in 5 years between last fire, 2 lots wind damage in winter and now this, probably hang up when I ring later 😉
Do a make safe on anything dangerous to animals and people. Many of our fences are now just hanging wire with completely obliterated fence posts.
If you are on tank water, wait for decent rain before reconnecting down pipes – no nasty ash in my water thank you.
Watch out for injured wildlife and get them help, put out water or “safe foods” which you can get advice on from your local wildlife carers or online. Grass hay too as nothing to eat for wombats and roos now.
Snakes are coming out of the bush, so be aware and be kind to them too.
Dealing with power and water outages – the endeavour energy app has been fantastic updating where things are at for us. Be sure to empty fridges and freezers and prop open doors as otherwise you are in for a nassssty surprise later, ewww.
Aftercare for humans – we are all in shock and coming down from adrenaline. Exhaustion setting in, take care of yourself and others. Rescue remedy, supportive calming herbs for the adrenals (no not what some of you probably thinking), eat and drink well, and ask after each other re mental health. We all deal with things differently, and after the last fire we had I needed a few goes with the counsellor much later down the track, thought I was fine in the beginning but was not. PTSD symptoms whenever I smelt smoke etc, just be kind to yourself and to others, as fear and loss can come out in other ways such as anger and abnormal behaviours, forgetfulness and more.
THE ANIMALS – I know many of you want to know more on this topic as we have so many. We took out the domestic animals but not the horses – a very hard decision.
We took the RFS advice, and looked at our property – yes we have multiple very large open cleared paddocks, all with water access, shedding to shelter in and behind, so we opened all internal gates to “safe” areas, then made sure all external gates CLOSED, and let them use their highly impressive instincts for survival to take them where they needed to go to be safe – which they demonstrated superbly to us on our “trial Tuesday” seeming to know exactly when it was dangerous and not.
With 8 horses, and a 3 horse trailer, meaning 3 round trips to a safe area (and um at moment not sure where any are that I could easily get 8 horses too running out of time) some of them high needs and fearful of other humans and not knowing we could even get back to whereever they went to feed and water them (and large amounts of food to cart around as well) this was another factor in our decision process. We painted our phone number on all of them, I bought red, yellow and blue acrylic tubes of paint, but poor Billy looked rather unfortunate in her messy red writing like she had been under attack with blood all down her side – so yes maybe avoid red! If you cant protect them dont ever lock them up in a small area. If we were closer to thicker bush or smaller paddocks I would have removed them but we weighed up ALOT of things in making this decision…. and still were incredibly worried it was the wrong thing. As many of you know I am an animal communicator so I spoke with them all about our plans and they had many questions before hand and it was evident later that they had listened – so proud of them all!
Aftercare for animals – our horses are alive and unhurt physically, but are now showing coming down from the stress and emotions are high. The mares more so. Please take a look on my time line of two articles in the past week I have shared on care for stock after a fire and what to do and look for, hooves cleaned out from hot ash, magnesium and vitamin C in feeds, plain grass hay off the ground so not ingesting much ash, and much more…. They say it better than I can. I will be giving them lots of Reiki and freedom of expression as I always do, but there will be an adjustment period.
Well this is unedited for errors and grammar, havent even ready back over it, as just wanted it out there asap – if you have gotten this far well done, its a long one, but I hope it helps.
Wishing you peace, rain and all that sounds like what I want right now and probably you too 😉 x