By Jill Fraser
MELBOURNE
Five houses in the town worst hit in South Australia’s catastrophic bush fire are still standing today thanks solely to the quick thinking and courage of a band of local farmers.
The total number of houses lost in Kersbrook, when the Sampson Flat fire was just beginning its relentless march across the Adelaide Hills, was 12.
This figure would have climbed to 17 if not for the heroic efforts of several Kersbrook mates, who rolled up their sleeves, climbed into their utes (Aussie slang for trucks) and with water tanks on board confronted the largest fire the state has seen in over 30 years.
The mammoth blaze, which has annihilated 13,000 hectares (50,000 square miles) and destroyed 27 properties, is finally under control. But although rain has now fallen on the fire ground the potential for hotspots to reignite is still high.
For six days the fire raged out across the land, engulfing everything in its path.
Just over a week ago, on Friday Jan. 2, it was bearing down on the tiny town of Kersbrook, which has a population of just over 400.
With the local fire station desperately under-resourced, Darren Wake, a Country Fire Service (CFS) volunteer, "Fazz" Parasiers and their mates, Bullwinkle, Bear, Wingie, Reece, Jock, Roo, Pop, Wakie, Cano, Cano Pop, Simon, Matt, Nifty Neville, Apples and Beefy decided that if they didn’t form their own fire brigade the whole town would be in danger.
Talking to television reporter, Sarah Harris from Australia’s popular morning show, Studio 10, Wake said “the way the fire came out of the forest and into Kersbrook I thought we were going to lose all of Kersbrook."
“There’s things I saw that I never want to see again,” he told Harris.
A Kersbrook resident for most of his 30 years, Wake told The Anadolu Agency that the intense heat of the fire caused the glasses on top of his helmet to melt.
“It’s hard to explain the extreme heat. It was like an inferno: a massive firestorm coming at us and the fire behavior [the height and depth of the flames and the speed at which the fire moved] was like nothing I’ve ever seen before,” he said.
“We desperately needed more resources so all these farm vehicles banded together. That’s what we do up here."
“One by one all these utes driven by our mates rolled up. We put together tanks and pumps and hoses and somehow we managed to stop the blaze.”
Despite their efforts two local CFS members lost their homes.
“They’ve got nothing left,” Wake told AA. “They walked out of what was left of their houses with all their stuff in a couple of shopping bags. So we’re banding together to help them."
One of the utes is up for sale for AU$2.5 million ($1,700,00) - the combined value of the five houses they saved. Their hope is to raise desperately needed funds for the Kersbrook community and CFS.
“We’d all do anything to help our mates,” Wake said.
Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott has pledged AU$4 million assistance for fire-affected South Australians.
Referring to the actions of firefighting heroes, Abbott said without them the consequences of the fire could have been far worse.
An estimated 3000 emergency service and support personnel across numerous agencies worked tirelessly over six days last week to control the fire and its impact on the community.
“I want to thank, on behalf of all Australian people, everyone involved in fighting these fires,” Abbott said.
“But for those efforts there would have been much greater losses."
“This is probably the worst fire in the country so far this summer.”
