Sunshine Village Aussie

This has been an extremely tough week to be an Australian. I don’t think anyone outside of this island nation hasn’t heard of the devastating bush fires in Victoria. And sadly, in this country, it’s hard to find somebody who hasn’t been affected by the fires – either directly or in the myriad ways it can affect people indirectly – we all have colleagues who know someone. The worst thing about it is it is not a one-off event. It happens every year here. And it happens everywhere.

In Queensland, our fire season starts in August. Unlike Victoria, we have a system of controlled burns, which basically burns off all the deadfall from the eucalypts and other dry, barky trees that make up our bushland. When fire season rolls around, the theory goes that if we eliminate half the fuel, the fires can only go so strong and so far. In Victoria, they have no such system of fire control in place. In fact, controlled burns are illegal. Hence the hundred metre walls of flame that raged through bushland  - one fellow on the news estimated it took out 10 km of bush in 10 minutes, before it reached his property where he stood, ready to fight (after an all-night battle, he won).

A few work colleagues from the old Prague Post days, now scattered across the globe, have written to me, hoping that we’re okay and asking if I’d been sent down to cover the fires. Thank God, no I haven’t. My first Australian bushfire assignment resulted in melted soles of my Redback work boots, soot from head to toe and a few pictures of firemen hosing down the few sparks that remained. I’d been sent out with no fire kit to report on the bush fire. The second time I got sent out, I was given a duffle bag full of fire-proof gear and was duly briefed on how to use it. Underneath the fire protective gear, I could only wear cotton garments – no synthetics – because anything synthetic would melt. Since then, I haven’t been called out to a fire. As a freelancer, I dread the phone call. I don’t own a fire suit. I would say “no.”

My friend, Nick Moir is a very experienced bush fire shooter (and storm chaser) with the Sydney Morning Herald. He takes as many safety precautions as possible, and works closely with the fire department. He was sent out to cover the fires that were burning in New South Wales. You can watch his narrated story on covering the bush fires here. It’s tough work.

Personally, I’ve found that the Sydney Morning Herald has presented the best organised package on the fires amongst the Australian online papers. You can view that here.

Back here in Queensland, we’ve sent in a donation to the Australian Red Cross and made sure to do a big spez (my partner’s Italian family’s slang for shop) at our local supermarket yesterday because they promised all sales would be contributed towards the Victorian bush fire relief. But we still want to do more.

My dad sent me the picture you see up top from Sunshine Village in Banff, Canada. There are hundreds of Aussies working the Canadian ski fields each winter. At Sunshine, they’ve started a donation box for bushfire relief. Due to their incredibly outgoing and friendly nature, they should be able to collect a lot. (Hint hint to you skiers reading this).

It’s going to be a long, slow recovery for the people who survived the fires. The majority of them have lost their homes. A week after losing everything, they now have to figure out how and what to do from here. To donate to the relief effort, visit the Australian Red Cross Victorian Bush Fires Appeal secure site here.

UPDATE: The Aussies at Sunshine have raised just under $1,000 Cdn ($1,240 Aus) for the relief effort. Good on ya!

Photo of Aussie ski bum courtesy of ski host, Gary Faulkner