“Boxing Day is more the worry.”
In Pomonal, Anthi Emmanouil-Playne and her partner, Bill Playne, packed to leave on Christmas Eve to spend Wednesday with family in Melbourne.
The couple lost their house in February when a bushfire burnt 45 homes in the town beneath the Grampians, and they have been in another house while they rebuild. They have been living in the town for just two years.
Emmanouil-Playne, who works in the region as a counsellor, said they had chosen to leave on Christmas Eve because it was better for their mental health with a large fire burning nearby.
Anthi Emmanouil-Playne and Bill Playne, with dog Remi, pack up their car to leave Pomonal on Christmas Eve.Credit: Justin McManus
“I want to be in the best mental shape that I can be, so I can support others,” she said. “I’d prefer to stay away and then come back well enough to serve my community. Everyone is going to do that in different ways.”
Ararat CFA captain Ash Turnham said he would spend Christmas Day in Melbourne but was not planning to stay overnight, because of the extreme conditions forecast for Thursday.
He said local crews were on standby on Christmas Day, but on Boxing Day they would be manning the CFA station and going to designated locations.
Turnham spent Christmas Eve making preparations with the crew, while his wife was out doing peer support work for the CFA.
“For us, it’s not much of a Christmas Eve,” he said. “As captain you never switch off.”
A community meeting in Moyston on Tuesday. Credit: Justin McManus
A strike crew from Ararat had been assembled and was ready to rush to the Grampians if the conditions were worse than expected on Wednesday.
Although Ararat is not directly affected by the Grampians fire, Turnham said his crews had been supporting neighbouring brigades in fighting the blaze over the past week or so.
On Tuesday, emergency services told a community meeting in the town of Moyston that under a worst-case scenario the Grampians fire could expand markedly – particularly after a forecast change in wind direction on Thursday. If that scenario does eventuate, emergency services say the fire could reach surrounding towns including Dunkeld, Pomonal and Willaura.
CFA chief officer Jason Heffernan urged people in areas at risk of fire to leave early if they were at all uncertain about their fire plan. “Just go,” he said. “If you’re not sure, play it safe. Your life is not worth the gamble.”
Country Fire Authority chief Jason Heffernan urged people to leave early if they were at all unsure about their fire plan. Credit: Nine News
Heffernan said firefighters could better focus on battling bushfires and trying to save properties when they knew people had already left their homes. Residents staying behind to fight a fire could quickly become overwhelmed, and people had described the noise of a bushfire as being like a freight train bearing down on them, he said.
“The sky goes black. The noise then comes along. Quite often power is lost. If you’re on tank water and relying on electricity, all of a sudden you’ve lost your water.”
Heffernan also urged families to have a designated driver who was not drinking alcohol if they were in bushfire-prone areas during Christmas so they could leave quickly if necessary.
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