“A STORY OF TWO BUSHFIRES” - WILL CARMODY - CONT. Captain of the Cascade Volunteer Bushfire Brigade. Will was Senior Fire Control Officer for Shire of Esperance West Zone 2. Incident Control Officer with Shire of Esperance at Level 1 fire.
The next five hours were chaotic and overall, I was just
if the fire closed in from the north, people getting
trying to manage what was going on. We moved down the
evacuated from Grass Patch up to Salmon Gums would
western side with the fire, door knocking and evacuating
have no way out. Once again the failing communications
if people weren’t defending. Once the fire passed, other
made it incredibly difficult to discern where the second
parts of the convoy were coming in behind to try and
fire front actually was. At about 6pm we sent fire crews
help save property or mop up spot fires.
up Rollond Road to protect towards Salmon Gums. However, conditions had moderated and we found other
At 4.20pm we finally got communication through to the
teams were already working up there.
tracking team, who had been cut off from the rest of the fire crews. They had spent the afternoon isolated and
It wasn’t until 8pm that evening that I was advised by
without communication, trying to retrace their route back
good friends that Freddy had died. I was also told of the
out from the pad in the bush they had sheltered on. They
loss of three other lives. I held grave fears that there would
finally joined the rest of the crews around 5 or 6pm, and
be more fatalities. The thought haunted me; I didn’t know
were stunned with what they learnt had occurred.
what the final number would be. At 11pm, I briefed an officer from DFES about the fire and operations that were
By this stage communication was terrible, and we had
being conducted at the time, before eventually making
limited information on where the fire front was. I also
my way back home to the farm.
needed to verify the information that we did have. I sent individual units to scout out and confirm the fire front’s
Around 5am the next morning, I met up with Gavin
exact location and report back. Once they came back
Gibson and we went up for a fly. By air, the vastness of
with the position, we transferred the location onto an area
the fire scar was staggering. In some areas, it stretched
map I had managed to set up. This way we were able to
as far as you could see. The plane was flying at 200
define the fire’s perimeter and infer its movements.
kph, and yet we seemed to continue passing over the devastated tracts of land for an inordinate amount of
During the afternoon, an evacuation point had also been
time. Patches of properties still smouldered and burned,
IMAGE (above & opposite): The agricultural landscape
set up at Salmon Gums Primary School. Approximately
spot fires scattered through massive stretches of blowing
on Wednesday morning, showing the scale and ferocity
150 people were sheltered there, as fires raged to both the
sand and charred paddock. All up, the fire had run 107
of the fire. White areas are paddocks denuded and
north and southwest. I was immediately concerned that
kilometres in length over the course of one day.
already drifting. Photographer: Will Carmody.
pg 76 | WILL CARMODY