Page 3 - Woman's Weekly - New Zealand (January 2020)

Left to right: Firefighters struggle under the threat
remained behind, and spent of windblown embers near Nowra, NSW; a soldier
time at an evacuation centre. keeps watch for evacuees from a military helicopter;
“When I left the South Coast, emotions spill out at a shelter in Cobargo, NSW.
I wondered aloud if it would
look the same when I returned.
Steve reckoned there was a
50/50 chance I would have
a house to return to.”
They were lucky. The fire
destroyed a neighbouring
property but theirs was spared.
Adele (61) has lived at Iron
Pot Creek, inland of Byron
Bay, for 30 years. She fled to
her sister’s home in Wellington
and says she is unlikely to
return to Australia because
of the fire threat.
“We’re on standalone solar
and tanks. We couldn’t afford to
keep buying water. The property
is safe at this stage, but if fires
reignite, there would be no
water to fight them.
“What’s there [then] to go
back to?” #

Gutted houses in
historic Mogo Village Frightened but relieved,
in NSW. The total
damage bill is families are evacuated
from Mallacoota
estimated to by helicopter and
exceed $5 billion.
Navy ship (above).