Captain David Beards from the Narre Warren Fire Brigade recalls the events of the Narre Warren South fires three months after Black Saturday. 30378
By Kelly Yates
ITENSE fires and high levels of emotions is how a Narre Warren firefighter describes the fires that ripped through Narre Warren South on Black Saturday.
Three months to the day, Captain David Beards from the Narre Warren Fire Brigade remembers the events of that traumatic day when seven homes were destroyed and several others severely damaged.
Captain Beards struggled to put it into words as he spoke to the News this week.
“We didn’t receive a page message about the fire on Saturday 7 February,” he said.
“We saw a big cloud of smoke coming from behind the station so I and two other firefighters jumped in the car and drove in the direction of the smoke.”
Captain Beards said the smoke led them to Ormond Road.
“The grassland under the powerlines was on fire,” he said.
“We put the call in for assistance and the first fire truck turned up within about 15 minutes, despite the local fire brigades being stretched to the limit,” he said.
Five fire trucks and more than 25 firefighters fought the blaze, with the main priority being to protect the properties along Langbourne Drive.
Captain Beards estimated that it took just over an hour to control the blaze.
“Without the help from the residents dragging their garden hoses and buckets filled with water to the fire, the losses from the fire could have been far greater,” he said. Four firefighters were treated with heat and smoke related illness.
Captain Beards, who has been a firefighter for more than 25 years, said it was one of the worst fires he had experienced because of the weather conditions, availability of resources and the number of houses involved.
“It’s very rare in suburbia for a fire like this to take place and destroy all those homes,” he said.
Captain Beards has recently driven through the affected area, saying all the homes had now been demolished.
“It’s hard to describe but it looks surreal because there were once houses everywhere and now there are just vacant blocks,” he said.
