The stayers
The Age
Friday August 7, 2009
ONE morning late last month, gentle sounds of a Beethoven piano sonata trickled out of a house on a hill high above Marysville, just in front of the forest that was ripped apart by February's fire.It was quiet up there, but for the piano - far from the sounds of cars, trucks and chainsaws in the valley below.The music stopped as the player opened the door of the house - one structure among just a handful to emerge, still standing, out of the inferno.The player is Judy Jans, an army reserve brigadier's wife and Marysville resident of 14 years, who, with husband Nick, managed to defend their home from fire on that fateful Saturday in February.The Jans spent a week in isolation in their house, with just the occasional visit from the hearse drivers, who brought them milk and bread. Judy Jans played the piano, keeping company with the souls of the dead whose relatives were not yet allowed back. But the music often came out as angry, loud outbursts from a survivor whose friends had perished in the blaze. the Jans survived partly due to the luck of the draw, for no survival in a ferocious bushfire is purely down to good preparation. But their chances were significantly boosted by an amazing protection system devised after a CFA training course three years ago. Firefighters who ran the course - about how to fight a house fire inside a bushfire - also visited people's homes, offering tips specific to each household. ''Only a dozen people attended that training,'' says Mrs Jans, her voice trailing off.About 7am on Black Saturday Mrs Jans started wetting the outside of the house and filling every vessel inside with water, despite having 42,000litres ready in tanks and pump systems.She and Mr Jans, who returned from Sydney later that morning, put on protective clothes, with torches attached to their helmets. They covered the air vents under the house and in the ceiling. Mr Jans was on a ladder, monitoring the roof for fire breakouts, while Mrs Jans checked the rooms.Outside, when the main water supply was cut off, a petrol pump ensured the sprinkler system attached to the eaves under the guttering continued to work. Eventually, a vapour lock in the pump cut that off too.''The sprinkler system certainly saved us,'' Mrs Jans says. ''The fire was licking through and being blown through our windows but it was wet before it hit the frames, fortunately.''The Jans' house is tucked into the hill on Old Melbourne Road. As the blaze came up the hill, two fire fronts collided, ripping through at 120km/h.''Our little cottage next door was totally engulfed in flames within minutes. Our garden had erupted. It was like we were placed into a box and lowered into the flames of hell, because they wrapped around our house.''The Jans texted their children, telling them they loved them and they hoped to make it. ''It felt ghoulish, but we had to make sure if that was going to be our last message it had to be one of love,'' Mrs Jans says.For about 15 minutes, the Jans walked around dazed, the lack of oxygen slowing them down. But they made it.Mrs Jans says she knows that not everyone who chooses to stay and defend their property has thousands of dollars to spend on a protection system such as hers. But if you live in bushfire-prone hills, ''you may as well put a bit of an effort''.She points to a modest house at the bottom of the hill that made it. Its gutters were clean, there was no fuel load around the house and the car - which exploded during the fire - was parked well away from the house. Putting out small garden spot fires was also important, Mrs Jans said, to prevent them forming a larger, all-consuming fire.Now, as residents plan to return to Marysville, Mrs Jans, whose garden was in the Murrindindi Shire open garden scheme, has started a movement to help rebuild local gardens. Volunteers in Melbourne garden clubs are propagating plants destined in spring for Marysville's first new gardens. For now, rows of donated daffodils line the approach to the Marysville Golf Club, a vibrant sign of new life in a singed landscape.-- SELMA MILOVANOVICFor more information visit plantaid.com.au
© 2009 The Age