going up to attend. We pumped up our tyres before
tail, reaching along and up into the sky. They were
road before we went past. Then they turned around,
heading back up to Gibson.
probably 20 or 25m high. In those few moments,
pulled in behind us and followed us out.
it was hard to tell the depth of the fire, but the speed We stopped shortly in Gibson, blowing out radiators as
was frightening. The sound was absolutely deafening.
We headed back to the highway as fast as possible. I
the vehicles were struggling with the heat, refuelling and
Most people describe it as the roar of a freight train. We
had no idea where the fire was in relation to us exactly,
checking everything over. I departed the shed in Gibson
couldn’t hear the noise of the truck running because of
as I was concentrating solely on navigating due to the
4.4, followed a few minutes behind by Gibson 2.4, and
the howling wind and roaring fire.
smoke and darkness. The visibility was so bad, I was
then Blake and crew in Gibson 1 brought up the rear. To
hanging over the steering wheel looking down at the
this day I can’t remember whether we were told to take a
In the cab, we had a very quick conversation between the
road to catch glimpses of the white lines and touching
certain route up to Cascade. In any case, I know where
three of us, about whether we would continue up Grigg
the gravel edge. It was the only way to stay on the road.
Cascade is, and I do remember hearing on the radio
Road to Dalyup Road North or whether it was possible
that the fire was via Grigg Road. It took about an hour
to turn around the 4WD truck, which carried 4000 litres
The heat was intense and so dry that somehow, we
drive from Stockyard Road, before we were turning left up
of water. At that stage the fire was still running along the
weren’t even sweating. One of my crew told me that the
Grigg Road. I was still driving the lead vehicle.
side of the road.
door to the cab on his side was getting hot. The front was very close to us and I could still barely see in front of the
The drive down Grigg Road was in strong wind and thick
The decision was made extremely quickly. We would turn
cab of the truck.
smoke that obstructed our view. Suddenly we hit clear
around. I proceeded to turn the truck around and was
air and saw the fire front. Strangely enough, we know the
going through the three-point turn, when the truck stalled
My crew told me to put my foot flat to the floor. I replied
exact time we saw the front, as one of the crew members
dead. I hastily re-started the vehicle and got the vehicle
that my foot was flat to the floor, but we were barely doing
had his phone out, and it read 4.13pm. In Blake’s later
around heading back down Grigg Rd for the highway.
60kph and keeping ahead of the front. I couldn’t work out
terminology, it was like ‘going through the gates of hell.’
This moment gets mentioned every now and again at the
why we weren’t moving faster with a tail wind until later,
The fire was only about 300 metres north of us, travelling
fire shed, and has earnt me the occasional nickname of
when I realised that it was the oxygen deprivation caused
from the right-hand side and heading ESE.
‘Turnaround Dave’ or ‘Dave 180’.
by the fire. The fire was literally choking the engine as it used the oxygen to burn.
We could see the flames as soon as we came out of the
We had travelled back about a kilometre when we saw
smoke. It was out in the paddock, reaching towards the
Gibson 2.4, about 200m in front of us. I was straight on
About five minutes after we turned around, I saw Gibson
bush on the right-hand side of the road. About a dozen
the UHF telling them to turn around. I can’t remember
1 stopped at the intersection of Grigg Road and Lover’s
fire devils were spread throughout the fire from front to
them responding but I saw them pull off the side of the
Lane. I told Blake over the UHF that he needed to turn
DAVID MILLS | pg 107