Mandy

Mandy leaned her head through the office door, “Glenda?” she called.

Glenda twisted in her black leather swivel chair, the office phone to her ear, her finger stabbing the air as she pointed out the earpiece.

Mandy nodded in response, “Right,” she answered taking a step back.

She rested her body against the wall and did her best not to listen in on her boss’s conversation. Mandy shuffled her weight from one leg to the other, rocking the seconds by. Come on, hurry up!

she thought.

She heard Glenda’s large throaty laugh and she could tell the conversation was winding to a close, edging forward she peeked in again and saw Glenda returning the phone to its cradle.

“What can I do for you?” Glenda’s voice was light and cheerful, Mandy liked her boss.

“Have you been listening to the news today on the radio?”

“Not really.” Concern entered Glenda’s face, “What’s up?”

It was a Saturday, 7 February, 2009 and Mandy didn’t usually work on Saturdays. Neither did her boss, or their team for that matter. They were hosting a training session this evening for prospective foster carers and were running about doing last minute preparations, as the time for commencement loomed.

“They’ve issued a fire warning for Churchill and surrounding areas, Calignee residents included. We’ve chosen not to stay and protect the house.” Glenda picked up on the urgency in Mandy’s voice.

“Sure, sure, no problem. Where are you going to stay?”

“Mums,” Mandy said, edging backwards towards the door.

“We’ll manage, go, go, go,” Glenda shooed Mandy out with her hand.

In moments Mandy was in her car, engine running. Her pounding heart challenged her need for steady concentration, as she reversed her car and negotiated the car park to exit.

Melbourne had been dry, consistently so for some years now. Preceding summers, like this one, were hot; scorching in fact, with temperatures in the mid forties, Celsius that is, for several days at a time; and the rain fall was well below expected average for months on end.

With such optimal conditions (temperature, uncleared bush and lack of water), Victorians were led to believe the risk of bushfire was enormous; and of course it was. So Rick, Mandy’s husband, was shocked, this summer in 2009, to find that most of the Victoria’s raging, wild bushfires had been deliberately lit or were caused by falling power lines.

There were uncontrolled fires all over the state. Kinglake, Marysville, Beechworth, Bendigo, Redesdale, Bunyip State Park, West Gippsland, Dandenong Ranges, Horsham, Coleraine and Weerite. That was not all.

Callignee sat 21 kilometres (13 miles) from Traralgon in Gippsland’s west. Mandy worked in Morwell. It’d take her thirty seven minutes to get home. It was only a warning so she needn’t panic, but Mandy couldn’t stop thinking of her kids and the cats. She and Rick had discussed relocating both to her mother’s if the fires got too bad. Up until today though, their property had been safe with no fires in the local areas.

3AW had been monitoring the states fires since the beginning of February. The West Gippsland fires started today, around one-thirty in the afternoon, in a pine plantation about one kilometre from Churchill; and within thirty minutes it had spread to the south-east, putting Hazelwood South, Jeeralang and Budgeree East at risk. It was now five-thirty and the fires were approaching Woodside and Yarram along south Gippsland’s coast.

A cool change had been predicted to hit anytime, which would bring with it south-westerly winds and it was feared that towns sitting in its path would be wiped out.

Mandy dialled her husband’s number illegally as she drove, “Hi. Have you been listening to the radio?”

“Yep, what are...?”

“Hello?” Mandy could only hear crackling. “I can’t hear you,” she said.

“What...ha...de...”

“You’re breaking up. Look, I’m heading home now,” she said. “I’m following our plan. The stuff we packed in the car is fine and I’ll be phoning the kids in a moment so they can get the cats into their...,” Mandy heard nothing. “Are you there?” still nothing,” Rick? Shit.”

Mandy noted two bars on her cell phone indicating service. It must be Rick’s phone she thought. As she dialled home, she saw smoke billowing in the distance, clear blue skies obstructed from view.

“Hello, Steph?”

“Hi.”

“Listen, I’m on my way home. I’m about twenty minutes away. We need to leave the house so get the cats into their travellers and wait for me out front. Both of you, ok?”

“Is the fire coming?” Steph asked, her voice urgent. Why else would I be calling Mandy thought?

“Yes, make sure Toby’s ready too.”

Mandy was scared. The traffic was good, as it always was in rural Gippsland. Mandy made it home in record time, she did speed a little.

The kids were waiting out the front with the cats as planned, Steph’s brown hair blowing all about. The wind must be fierce, Mandy thought, looking up at surrounding trees. She pulled up next to them and opened her door in one movement. Smoke filled the air.

“Look Mum.” Toby pointed behind her. She turned and looked into the orange, smoke filled sky. Red embers could be seen heading in their direction through the fire wind. Smoke billowed throughout the sky over the Strzelecki Ranges and the air was hot.

“We have to go now, come on. Get the cats,” Mandy directed.

Steph opened the back of their Commodore station wagon and placed little Lilly inside. Mandy collected Terror who was meowing his disgust. “It’s okay mate. Are you telling Mum all about it,” Mandy cooed.

Steph and Toby managed the other two cats. The smoke was getting thicker and Mandy’s eyes were watering. Toby coughed.

Mandy looked back toward the direction of the fire, “Quick, get in the car,” she urged and got in quickly herself.

Mandy gunned the engine and heading away from their property. She looked behind her to the back seat. Steph and Toby were both crying and several of the cats were mewling too. She felt she were in a surreal nightmare.

Toby was reassuring the cats, “It’s okay guys, don’t worry, it’s okay,” he repeated over and over, tears rolling down his cheeks as he twisted his body to see into the back. As they drove embers began blowing past their car and several spot fires erupted. Mandy tears could be contained no longer.

We shouldn’t have worked today

, Mandy thought. She was relieved Rick wasn’t at home but she worried now for her two kids that she wouldn’t get them out alive.

Her foot planted firmly on the accelerator, she was driving dangerously fast. All about them was thick smoke. So much for the warning, it should have come earlier. Mandy and Rick knew the risk but still somehow she didn’t think this would happen to them.

As she drove on, it seemed to her she was driving into the fire rather than away from it. She slowed the car and looked behind her, Toby and Steph did the same.

“It’s surrounding us,” Toby yelled. “Mum, I don’t wanna be burned.

“Shh... It’s okay Toby,” Mandy soothed as tears poured from her own eyes.

She didn’t know what to do.

“I think the fire in front of us has been lit by the embers overhead. It’s best if we drive through the fire up front, it won’t be very big,” Mandy reassured.

“Please Mum, I don’t want to drive through the fire,” Steph pleaded.

“Me neither,” Toby was bawling.

Mandy saw the fire behind them closing in. The heat in the car was unbearable. She had to do something. She slammed her foot on the accelerator and headed at enormous speed toward the fire in front. Smoke was all around them and Mandy couldn’t see more than a few metres ahead now. The fire could be seen only as orange shading through the plumes of smoke.

It didn’t seem to matter how fast Mandy travelled, the fire behind was continuing to gain ground. The steering wheel pulled violently to the left and Mandy realised one of the car tyres had blown.

Gaining control of the steering, the car now rocked over the damaged wheel, clunking and struggling. The kids were screaming now and so was Mandy. She stopped the car and turned around in her seat, fitting herself between the two front seats as best she could.

She grabbed tight both her children as they all huddled together, screaming and crying. She rubbed their backs, “I love you. I love you both so much. You are my special angels and I’ve always been so proud of you both,” Mandy soothed. Her skin was so hot now and she was gasping for air. Toby went limp in Mandy’s arms and she thought how much better it would be for all of them if they passed out first.

“No ho ho,” Steph bawled. Mandy rubbed Steph’s back furiously as she too found herself dizzying. Blackness enveloped her as she struggled to get air into her lungs and she thanked god, who she hadn’t believed in most of her life, for allowing her to pass out and consciously escape the feeling of being burned alive.

RICK

Rick, tried in vain to get though to Mandy on his mobile phone. He was working in Narre Warren throughout that Saturday, cash in hand. When Mandy had phoned him and he couldn’t make out much of what she’d been saying to him, he began furiously packing his tools away. He wasn’t going to bother ringing Jerrod to let him know he’d be leaving early, he could explain that later.

The traffic was hectic driving out of Narre Warren but he soon found himself on the freeway heading outbound toward rural Victoria. As he approached Pakenham, the last semi rural town, having passed two of its three exits, he noted bright yellow lights in the distance. Witch hats had been set up as he approached the third exit. They began narrowing the traffic and forcing it to exit. The freeway was blocked.

“Shit,” Rick yelled as he slammed his fist against the steering wheel. The road was blocked. There was no entry back to Gippsland. Rick pulled his car over to the shoulder. He listened intently to 3AW commentating the Gippsland fires, he now knew the fires were approaching Callignee. He feared strongly for the safety of his wife and kids. He wondered whether there might be another way through. Exiting his car quickly, he approached the road crew who were manning the blockade.

“Is there any other way through?” he supplicated.

“No mate, sorry. We can’t allow any entry to Gippsland now. You’ll find all roads leading in blocked.”

Rick rubbed his hands furiously through his hair as though it helped him think.

“My wife and kids are still there, in Callignee,” he urged frantically.

“They issued a warning for that area about half an hour ago, has your wife been listening to the radio?”

“Yes, yes. But I can’t get hold of her now. There’s no answer on her mobile.”

“I’m sorry you’ll just have to wait. Have you got somewhere to go?”

Rick didn’t answer, he stormed back to his van, what could he do? Where would he go now? What if his family were killed in the fire? He couldn’t deal with any of those thoughts. He leaned his head against the steering wheel and held back his tears, squeezing the steering wheel in both hands as hard as he could.

Rick thought of Ruth, Mandy’s mother. He dialled her number. If Mandy couldn’t get through to him, she might have contacted her mother instead.

“Ruth? It’s Rick.”

“Oh, thank got you’ve phoned. I was so worried. Are you all okay?” Ruth’s voice was shaky; Rick had never heard her like this.

“I’m okay Ruth, but Mandy and the kids aren’t with me. She tried to phone earlier but we were cut off. I had hoped she might have tried to contact you instead.”

“No. No, I haven’t heard from her. Oh my god Rick, I’m so worried. I knew she should have come and stayed earlier. I knew it.”

“It’s okay, Ruth. Everything will be alright. I’m confident they’re safe. When she phoned I was sure she was leaving work. I couldn’t make out the rest but I thought I heard her say she was following our plan.”

“What are you going to do?” asked Ruth.

“Well, I wanted to go and get them but they’ve blocked the freeway. Apparently they’ve blocked all roads into Gippsland. Our plan, as you know, was to get out and head to your place Ruth, so I’ll head down now. Hopefully it’s just poor service and we’ll here from her soon.”

Rick did not hear from his wife soon. He did not hear from them all night. Ruth had sat with him in front of her television watching the fire updates. He continued ringing Mandy’s number every hour and was rewarded with the taped operator’s voice telling him the cell phone could not be reached.

“The 2009 Victorian bushfires are predicted to be the worst natural disaster in Australia’s history,” Peter Hitchener stated on the National Nine News. “The death toll is expected to exceed that of the previous bushfire tragedy ‘Ash Wednesday’ in 1983, where forty-seven Australians died.”

Rick watched the scenes played out in the distance, behind the news readers on site, at locations where the fire still burned. All he could do was cry as he sat transfixed to the television screen.

On Sunday, 8 February, 2009, police could confirm four deaths in the fires that raged through Callignee. There had been many more deaths in other rural townships, Kinglake and St Andrews held the highest so far with twelve confirmed deaths to each.

By Tuesday, 10 February, many towns had been declared crime scenes, Churchill being one of them. The police were investigating leads but there was strong suspicion of arson. The death toll in Gippsland was now believed to be nineteen. Rick still had no word on the whereabouts of his wife and two children.

Residents were not allowed back into the fire zones. Ruth had phoned through to as many local hospitals as she could, on her desperate search to find her missing daughter and grandchildren. She knew she wasn’t supposed to but she’d had no luck when calling the Red Cross Family Reunification service.

It was several days later when the West Gippsland death toll was published. Fifty-seven of the sixty-one homes were destroyed in Callignee. Rick was allowed to return home on Thursday, 12 February, 2009, six days after the Churchill fire began, though he saw no point.

Mandy’s car was located approximately one kilometre from their home. The bodies of Mandy, Steph and Toby were found huddled together, their four pet cats dead in their travel cases in the back of car.

There were no words to describe Rick’s sense of loss over those days and weeks after the fire. He did not want to rebuild their home and had already decided he’d never live in the country again. He carried the weight of his loss; and the guilt buryed his body in fatigue, pain, grey days and the feeling of hopelessness.

Memories flooded his consciousness.

“Why? Why do you want to move to the country?

He remembered her saying.

“I told you when we first got together that I had no intention of living in the country. It doesn’t suit my lifestyle.” Mandy had said to him when he’d told her he’d found a property in Callignee that would be perfect to raise their family.

“You won’t have any trouble making friends Mandy or finding work. They have loads of welfare places in the country.”

“I know they do, but I’ve always wanted to live near the beach and I like being close to shops and cafes.”

“They have cafes in the bush, just not right round the corner,” he’d cajoled. “So what if you have to drive?”

She’d brought up the threat of bushfires and he’d allayed her fears.

"Nothing would ever be as bad as Ash Wednesday. That type of catastrophe was well behind Victoria. Everybody had their fire plans and I'll make sure we have one too. We'll do it the right way."

He’d cut the grass around the house and clear the land he thought. They’d be perfectly safe. He planned to follow all recommendations made by the council and he had friends who volunteered for the CFA.

"Don't forget Mandy, I know what to do, I grew up in the area. My family have lived all these years comfortably out there, even through the risk of fires, and there had been some since Ash Wednesday.

Mandy had finally relented having researched the work options for herself in the area. She was surprised to find that she’d only be thirty minutes from home if she worked in Morwell, which had several foster care agencies, child protection and other services.

It, however, did take her several years to establish a supportive network. She had felt lonely and isolated for much of the early years at their Callignee home. She found it colder than she'd liked living in the Strzelecki Ranges and though it was calm and tranquil on their property, she was after more of the hustle and bustle she had grown up with, plus she missed her friends.

“I’m okay now, Rick,” she’d soothed several years after their move. Her commitment had meant the world to him.

How could he live with his grief? He couldn’t face Ruth once he’d found out for sure that Mandy and the kids were dead. She knew how reluctant Mandy had been to move in the early days. He couldn’t face the sadness that filled her eyes, the stooped contour of her shoulders that seemed to grow rounder with everyday.

Even Ruth’s voice had changed; aged. Unsteadiness marking her utterances, an elderly shake normally reserved for later years.

Ruth, however, did not blame Rick. She too knew a few people in the country. Not in Gippsland, but in Marysville and she’d encouraged Mandy to move, to go. Marysville had also been gutted by the fires. She’d lost a few friends and Rick had lost many in Gippsland.

All in all, the states bushfires had taken the lives of a 173 people. According to news reports, the cool change, which hit the state in the late afternoon on 7 February, 2009, brought with it south-westerly winds exceeding 120 kilometres (75 mph) per hour. Towns that had previously escaped the fire were thrust back into the path of the massive fire front, which burned fiercely with incredible speed.

A year later, Rick still finds it hard to speak with Ruth. Channel nine will be airing their story ‘One Year On’ on A Current Affair tonight. Ruth contacted Rick and invited him for dinner; she wanted company while she watched the program.

Rick accepted. He thought that seeing and hearing from people who had successfully moved on might make it easier for him and Ruth to move on or perhaps provide further closure for them. He spent the evening with Ruth, enjoying a lovely dinner that reminded him so much of Mandy’s own cooking. They watched the program together and then talked for many hours afterwards about what’s now known as ‘Black Saturday.’

REFERENCES:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Saturday_bushfires#Gallery
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/02/08/2485338.htm
http://www.latrobevalleyexpress.com.au/news/local/news/news-features/callignee-described-as-sticks-and-ash/1432085.aspx
http://www.theage.com.au/national/death-toll-rises-from-bushfires-20090208-80jv.html

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Tag der Veröffentlichung: 07.02.2010

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