Swan Valley Anglican Community School

FIREFIGHTERS ARE OUR HEROES!

A devastating bushfire which swept through the north-east of Perth in February, combined with a State shutdown due to COVID-19, provided an unusual start to the year for Swan Valley Anglican Community School (SVACS) students.

Starting on February 1, the fast-moving bushfire originated in Wooroloo, 45 kilometres north-east of Perth in the Shire of Mundaring, and by the following day the bushfire emergency had spread to the Shires of Chittering and Northam, as well as the City of Swan.

By 6 February, the bushfire had travelled 26km from its source and the School was in the middle of the red Emergency Alert Zone. For three days, the school community was on high alert, with many staff and students evacuated from their homes as the fire approached. As the school was already in the middle of the COVID-19 lockdown, there were no people on site during the fire.

Luckily, no SVACS families lost their homes, however, some larger land holdings were badly burned. The school campus was fortunately unscathed. stock and pets was devastating. The fire coincided with a five-day lockdown of the Perth metropolitan region that started at 6pm on 31 January, due to a case of COVID-19 outside of hotel quarantine.

Many in the school community reached out to help others. Primary Teacher Sam was evacuated and sought refuge at his mother-in-law’s house. On hearing that fellow teacher Tam had also been evacuated, Sam invited Tam’s family and pets to join them. The evacuees were all provided with food and shelter for five days. They all soon realised how very blessed they were to have met each other at Swan Valley Anglican Community School and that they were able to support each other so well beyond the school gates. A wonderful example of Good Samaritans at work!

When school finally reopened on Monday 8 February, our Primary School students wanted the firefighters in our fire stations and volunteer fire brigades to know how much we appreciate their wonderful work in keeping our communities safe. They decided to design and make the most beautiful, thoughtful thank-you cards to send to our amazing firefighters all around the South-West of our state. In total, around 650 handmade cards of appreciation were sent to 63 different stations and brigades.

Bunbury Volunteer Fire & Rescue Service posted on their Facebook page: Massive thank you to all the students at Swan Valley Anglican Community School who sent us these awesome pieces of art! You’ve made our day!! While we wish we were visiting your amazing part of WA under better circumstances, it was our pleasure to help out where we could.

Parkerville Volunteer Bushfire Brigade sent the following message: The Parkerville Volunteer Bushfire Brigade recently received a package of pictures, drawn by students from your school. The Brigade would like to acknowledge this lovely gift. Please thank the students and teacher who organised this lovely gift, members really appreciate this type of thoughtfulness.

Gingin Volunteer Fire & Rescue posted on their Facebook page: We received some absolutely beautiful drawings to thank us for helping at the Wooroloo fire from the students at Swan Valley Anglican Community School. We love them and they are hung on the fire station wall!

Our thoughts and prayers remain with all those people who lost their homes and are now setting about rebuilding their lives. They have a long journey ahead of them. I was really close to the fire. I live on Shady Hills View and the fire was only 900m away from my house. On Tuesday night, when the fire started, we packed our car full of our irreplaceable things. The fire was glowing like the sun. By that time, 55 houses had been burnt down. On Wednesday, we came back home because the fire had calmed down, but just in case it got worse again we kept our car all packed up. WE EVEN TOOK OUR DOGS.

On Thursday morning, we had to evacuate again because the news reports said that Shady Hills View needed to evacuate. Mum decided we were going to leave again. Mum’s friend came to pick my sister and me up. Mum repacked the car because it was a bit messy. While mum was packing the car, a helicopter came over our house with a megaphone telling us to evacuate so Mum left as quickly as she could. WE THANK THE FIRE FIGHTERS FOR SAVING US AND OUR ESTATE. WE ARE SO LUCKY OUR HOUSE DIDN’T BURN DOWN!

- Indigo, Year 4