Page 2 - Woman's Weekly - New Zealand (January 2020)
P. 2
SPECIAL REPORT
Kiwis on the
FRONT LINE
TALES OF SURVIVAL AND BRAVERY RISE
FROM THE FLAMES AND ASHES
t looks like hell on earth – So far 26 people have lost fires so large that there is little
walls of f flames stretching their lives, with more still opportunity to put these fires
high int to the air, incinerating missing. An estimated one out.” The vast scale has also
ng in their path as they
everythin billion animals, including farm seen the blazes terrifyingly
cross tinder-dry tracts of
sweep ac stock and wildlife, have also create their own weather and
Australi a. Animals and humans a died in the uncontrollable fires move in an unpredictable
alike are being forced to alike are that span more than 15 million manner. The New South Wales
abandon everything to the hectares, combined. coastal town of Mallacoota bore
mercy of one of the worst Armed forces from around witness to the ferocity and
firestorms in modern history. the world are helping out volatility of the fires on New
“We’ve never had fires like with the large-scale operation Year’s Eve. With no time to
this,” says Adele Lewis, a Kiwi to quell the flames, which have evacuate, thousands were
who fled the flames threatening been raging since September forced to take refuge in the
her home near Byron Bay. “It’s last year in some states. This sea as a firewall bore down
ghastly hearing the screams of includes the New Zealand and sunlight gave way to
the koalas. It’s a very strange Defence Force, which has darkness in apocalyptic scenes.
and eerie atmosphere.” also supplied three air force While there are many months
As many expat Kiwis seek helicopters to support relief and of work still ahead, morale
A koala on Kangaroo refuge in New Zealand, a fresh recovery efforts and two army among firefighters is still strong.
Island and a kangaroo wave of our firefighters last combat engineer sections. “People are trying hard to
near Sydney (below)
receive first aid. week bolstered the exhausted In total, 179 Kiwi firefighters look out for each other. Kicking
Below right: Helen Aussie fire teams who had been are now standing beside their though the ash of a home that
Okey had a close call. battling more than 100 blazes. Aussie counterparts. belongs to a firefighter who is
Victorian Country Fire out there protecting someone
Authority deputy chief and else’s home is profoundly
former Otago woman Stephanie difficult, but then you get the
Rotarangi says there’s no best of the human spirit with
immediate end in sight to this that as well. It really does shine
“unprecedented” fire season. through,” tells Stephanie.
“The fuels are so dry and the Kiwi expat Helen Okey (51)
has been helplessly watching
events unfold from her parents’
home in New Plymouth. She
lives in Rosedale, south of
Sydney, where 60 homes are
reported to have been lost.
She flew to New Zealand for
Christmas and said it had been
surreal tracking the path of the
fires. Her partner Steve had
