Ten years ago on the evening of January 18 I was balancing a hose and a camera on the roof of my house as I watched huge helicopter water bombers changing course overhead.
They would scoop water from a nearby dam, drop it on flames about 2km from where I sat, then make the brief flight north to the landmark of the Curtin shops where they banked hard to the south-west to repeat the cycle.
It was 10 years ago that the much-loved fingers of bushland which had previously poked benignly into the urban folds of Canberra became thoroughfares for deadly fires. The bushfires had manoeuvred for the past week at the city’s outskirts, but on that Saturday, January 18, they swept, as if in a co-ordinated attack, down the highly combustible bushland lanes which led to the heart of many suburbs. When the battle for Canberra finally ended a week or so later, 70 per cent of those stretches of prized parklands, plantation forests, and pastures including horse paddocks had been razed or badly damaged.
More devastating was the loss to citizens. Some 300 houses were gone and their families homeless. Four people had died, and these tragedies were felt by the people of the city. Many more were badly burned and are still recovering to this day.
Canberra is distinct among its peer national capitals of industrialised nations.
It is probably the only one which occasionally has mega-fauna road kill found within a kilometre or so of the national legislature. Errant kangaroos sometimes perish on the roads below Parliament House.
And Canberra is probably the only capital of an industrialised nation where the menace of bushfires is real. As dreadful as that is, it is also fitting that the capital of Australia should be vulnerable to the violence of nature like much of the rest of the country.
The lessons from a decade ago, and the anguish that learning involved, are as real as those in other states blackened by fires.
There is a common and perverse notion that somehow Canberra and its people are removed from the lives of the rest of Australia. The 2003 fires established how wrong that was.
Ten years ago it happened so quickly that the newly-relocated emergency services HQ, just down the hill from my rooftop in Curtin, close to the geographical centre of Canberra, was itself being menaced by fire, primarily from large embers carried by a strong wind.
Grassland around the national Mint a few kilometres to the north of Curtin was ablaze. Other suburbs to the south were hit by even more ferocious fires. Houses in the Tuggeranong Valley 10 kms away were ablaze.
The very routine of nature was upturned by the invasion. Heavy smoke had shut out the sun so effectively by early afternoon that flowers closed their petals hours before sunset and birds roosted for sleep. But the night was lit up by a merciless front of flame.
Among the things I learned from the week was a definition of bravery.
People who do things without an accurate calculation of the risk are impetuous. People who know full well the danger they face but still move towards it are brave.
That includes the fire fighters who could haver died as they battled a front near a water treatment plant but stayed put because they did not want a chlorine tank to explode and send toxic fumes through all of Canberra.
Then there was the fire brigade crew instructed to remain in position awaiting orders. However, they saw a mass of flame their superiors were not aware of heading towards houses.
They not only reported the new fire front but disobeyed orders and drove to it to protect the neighbourhood.
There also was much to learn about the willingness of individuals to help strangers.
A social worker friend volunteered her experience and contacts to help look after people evacuated to a local college, one of four schools in Canberra which became respite centres and even homes for fire victims.
She worked tirelessly and the next I saw her was at the January 26 Australia Day function at The Lodge. I was chatting to her when Prime Minister John Howard joined us.
I started to give him a potted account of my friend’s efforts when he interrupted. “I know,” he said. “That’s why she’s here.”
Howard had met her while touring the evacuation centres and invited her to take part in the Australia Day events. It wasn’t a stunt. Howard wanted to honour her, and through her the other helpers. It was a spontaneous, genuine display of his better instincts.
Another friend lost his house along with his beloved collection of 45rpm records gathered over a generation.
I mentioned this on Sydney radio and suddenly the chap was swamped by discs of all types, sent by listeners who wanted to help. Many of the recordings he would not have played at gunpoint, but the important point was the caring response.
There is still bitterness in some over the management of fire fighting 10 years ago and the failure in warning systems. And the sweep of events in 2003 is still stark to the city’s south where hills once covered by trees are still naked.
And those who lost possessions and loved ones can never regain their lives completely.
Comments on this post will close at 8pm AEDT.
Facebook Recommendations
Read all about it
Punch live
Up to the minute Twitter chatter
Emails reveal the direct negotiations between between Steve Jobs and James Murdoch on e-book prices http://t.co/D0n5VMCGfm
RT @theheraldsun: BREAKING NEWS: Ford set to announce it will shut plants at Broadmeadows and Geelong - http://t.co/uyL9nZB4L0
Officers "flooding the streets" after 40 EDL members ran at police following the #woolwich killing http://t.co/sjhMVVONzQ
RT @ImaanHMazari: Sick terrorists beheaded a 20-year old British soldier in London are giving Islam a bad name. You aren't Muslim. Stop def…
Recent posts
The latest and greatest
The Punch is moving house
Good morning Punchers. After four years of excellent fun and great conversation, this is the final post…
Will Pope Francis have the vision to tackle this?
I have had some close calls, one that involved what looked to me like an AK47 pointed my way, followed…
Advocating risk management is not “victim blaming”
In a world in which there are still people who subscribe to the vile notion that certain victims of sexual…
Nosebleed Section
choice ringside rantings
From: Hasbro, go straight to gaol, do not pass go
Tim says:
They should update other things in the game too. Instead of a get out of jail free card, they should have a Dodgy Lawyer card that not only gets you out of jail straight away but also gives you a fat payout in compensation for daring to arrest you in the first place. Instead of getting a hotel when you… [read more]From: A guide to summer festivals especially if you wouldn’t go
Kel says:
If you want a festival for older people or for families alike, get amongst the respectable punters at Bluesfest. A truly amazing festival experience to be had of ALL AGES. And all the young "festivalgoers" usually write themselves off on the first night, only to never hear from them again the rest of… [read more]Gentle jabs to the ribs
Superman needs saving
Can somebody please save Superman? He seems to be going through a bit of a crisis. Eighteen months ago,… Read more
Most commented