Jane Boot knows how it feels to be surrounded by a bushfire. Her 3,000 acre property in Stoneleigh, 70km west of Ballarat, burned 11 years ago.
“We ended up with a lot of fire brigades protecting the house. We know what it’s like to be in a situation where your home, property and animals are under threat,” she says.
So when an out-of-control blaze hit the Pyrenees region on Thursday, her family didn’t think twice about welcoming evacuees into their home.
“We were about 20kms south of all the spot fires,” she says. “The wind changed later in the day which saved us, but with every wind change, it impacts others and it went to Beaufort.
“We put out the call to friends and let them know they were more than welcome to come our way, well out of the fire. We ended up with a house full of cats and dogs.
“It’s just what you do for people in the country.”
Thousands of people in 28 communities were advised to evacuate on Thursday as a fire burning in the Mount Buangor state park, about 60km west of Ballarat, spread rapidly in extreme fire danger conditions. As of Friday afternoon it had grown to 12,000ha and was still not under control.
Officials have confirmed that some homes have been lost.
More than 200 people sought refuge in relief centres across Ballarat, Ararat and Maryborough. Volunteers, businesses and community groups rallied to help.
Dozens of people offered paddocks and driven trailers to move horses and other livestock out of harm’s way – but some evacuations were more specialised.
Mel Vincent is an avian behaviourist and the practice manager at Birds Vet Melbourne. She drove to Ballarat on Thursday to assist with the evacuation of 180 birds from Beaufort rescue organisation AviRescue.
“AviRescue moved [to Beaufort] really recently so they don’t have a volunteer network out there, which complicates things,” she says. “But we had about 20 people come out putting birds in cars, bringing fruit and vegetables and putting food in bowls, and there were so many offers of help for fostering birds too, which is great.”
The evacuation effort began as soon as smoke was seen on the horizon.
“You always worry about smoke inhalation so you have to leave a lot earlier, and the birds were panicking. They knew,” she says. “I don’t know if you’ve ever tried to catch an angry macaw, but I’m just glad [the owner] has still got all her fingers.”
Sarah Beaumont is the co-owner of Eurambeen, an historic homestead and set of gardens 9km from Beaufort. She is among those who fled to Jane Boot’s home. Her partner, Ian Glover, stayed to defend their property with the help of some friends.
Beaumont says the community support has been “one of the loveliest things”.
“I don’t know how many text messages I got,” she says. “People reached out and said ‘come here, there’s a bed’. It helped me knowing that people are caring and they want us to be okay.
“As I was leaving the property to go to Jane’s, there were loads of utes coming in the opposite directions to help, so that was absolutely fantastic. It was a heartening feeling for sure.”
More than 1,000 firefighters from around the state have been fighting the blaze since it first started on Thursday morning, supported by 24 water-bombing aircraft. A wind change late Thursday swung the fire front to the north-east, threatening the communities of Amphitheatre, Elmhurst and surrounds, with towns around Avoca urged to stay on high alert.
The Victorian Country Fire Authority’s chief officer, Jason Heffernan, told reporters on Friday the cause of the fire was still under investigation.
“This is a large fire,” he says. “Getting intelligence to the people that are trying to contain the fire is a real priority and will remain a priority today and, in fact, tonight as well.”
The state’s premier, Jacinta Allan, says Thursday night was a “really tough night” for towns west of Ballarat and thanked those who had supported fire-affected communities.
Pat Millear, a group officer with the Victorian Country Fire Authority Westmere, says the volunteer contribution had been “outstanding”.
“There are hundreds of volunteers from people doing administrative work through to the captains and officers and those at the back of the truck that go away on the strike teams,” he says.
“It’s a massive team effort and it’s all about protecting our communities.”
