Longtime Harcourt CFA member John Jenkin and his wife Jan, are feeling grateful to be among the residents who were able to save their home in Friday’s fire.
John had been in Longwood the night before to give his daughter and her father-in-law some much-needed respite from protecting her home against the Longwood fire.
“With Friday’s forecast of catastrophic conditions, I travelled home in case I was needed. My wife Jan and son David had set up the generator and hoses ready in case we needed them,” John said.
The family felt confident that their very well-mown and maintained four acres was defendable.
John has been to many large fires over his 57 years in the brigade, including Ash Wednesday, so he understands what needs to be done in the lead-up to every fire season, but no one could have foreseen what Friday’s conditions would bring.
Jan evacuated with their other daughter and grandchildren, who were staying in Harcourt with them while their family battled the Longwood fire, leaving John and David to defend their home.
The first tanker to arrive was Chewton, and David directed them to the Kinder, where the fence was already on fire.
Fortunately, the father and son were able to save their home, grateful for the support of two other tankers that assisted.
Their efforts to defend their strip of property are credited with preventing the fire from passing through to houses in Binghams Road and across to Harmony Way.
“It is so important for people to be prepared; keeping property clear and mown can help in making a place defendable. But on a day like Friday, it was also important for people to heed the advice of authorities to leave early and evacuate when emergency services arrive, rather than trying to be a hero. Houses can be replaced, but people can’t,” John said.
At Wednesday’s press conference in Castlemaine, CFA Chief Officer Jason Heffernan also reiterated the importance of property owners being prepared as we still have a long summer to go and traditionally February is the worst for fire activity.
“Knowing what those conditions were Friday, seeing what those conditions were and what we were up against. I am surprised we have not seen more devastation in communities,” Chief Officer Heffernan said.
“I went to bed Friday night hoping and praying that we would not see much more devastation and loss on the Saturday. I think its down to the hard work of our emergency service personnel, our firefighters, our volunteers. It’s down to the hard work of the community members who heeded the call, got out and ultimately made it easier for our firefighters. Whilst the loss is devastating for these communities, I feel the outcome may have been a lot worse,” he said.
