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Rural Fire Service (RFS) Mid Coast District deputy captain Steve Taylor visited the charred grounds of the Pappinbarra fires of February with Port News journalist Matt Attard.
Steve opened up about the terrifying experience of facing nature at its worst and his pride in the super-human efforts of firefighters and volunteers over that fateful weekend.
The day of the fire
“Standing on Pappinbarra Road, you can see just how hot the fire burned,” he said as he looked at the skeletons of fallen trees and charred forest.
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“The conditions on the day were forecast to be extreme, which effectively means we wouldn’t be able to control the fire.
“We were immobilised on the morning to do as many door to door calls as we could to notify people of the danger. This was beneficial to a lot of people who packed up and left early. We attribute that to the fact no lives were lost in the event.”
Steve said that he knew of the warnings, but when he arrived he had not seen conditions as fierce for a very long time.
“Firefighters of 30 years, veterans, told me they had never seen anything like it. The low humidity was a huge factor, with those hot and dry westerly winds,” he said.
“The fired moved very fast and made it very difficult for us. As we drove out to the fire front, it was on our flanks and all we could do was fall back to property protection.”
Steve was a part of a crew that was out early in the morning doing some community engagement work, and was called to the fire at around 1.30pm.
“All crews went through until 10pm or 11pm that night, and when we got our first break it was the first time we got a chance to really think about what had happened,” he said.
“Talking to other firefighters who were covering other areas really gave us an idea of how big and how devastating the fires were.”
The aftermath
“It was a few days later when it sunk it what had happened and what we had done, and what we were able to achieve,” Steve said.
“I went to the recovery meeting with the locals and they couldn’t thank us enough, so I think that helped a lot of us deal with what we thought was a huge loss. But when you reflect back, you can see how many homes actually were lost.”
I was talking to a firefighter who was at the location where a house had perished. He told me he laid awake wondering if he could have done more, if he could have gotten water from the water tank on the property.
He said that the feedback from the residents confirmed that, due to the warnings in the morning, they were able to pack up and leave before the emergency alert had come out.
“I was talking to a firefighter who was at the location where a house had perished,” he said.
“He told me he laid awake wondering if he could have done more, if he could have gotten water from the water tank on the property.
“The next day, he had a look at the tank and noticed there was no access to the tank, so it’s those little things that remind us we did our best.”
Moments of reflection
“As I think back to the day, it was a really eerie feeling,” he said.
“When you approach a home, you have no idea who is home or if anyone was home. Sometimes people asked me why I do what I do, and I’ve always struggled to come up with a reasonable answer.
“I went through a house to make sure no one was home. The windows were open and so were the doors.
“As I was rushing through the home to secure it, I noticed the photos of the family and the children on the wall. As I reflect on that, I realise that’s a good enough reason for me.”