Fire Ready

Sometimes I get a little paranoid about things, and one thing that I am particularly frightened of is bush fire. This isn’t a new fear, but it has certainly been exacerbated by black Saturday. I still remember as a little girl having nightmares that the fires in the Dandenong’s would travel down burwood highway and get me in Vermont South. I used to be able to talk my self out of it, but now I just tend to take stuff with me everywhere, just in case of fire. For example for most of last summer I drove around with all my photo albums in the boot of my car, just to be safe.

The thing is with Castlemaine, Inverloch and Warrandyte (the suburb next to Donvale) all on the list of high fire risk places this year I am on alert, so when I saw an add at the post office for a community fire meeting, I figured that’s where I wanted to be. While the meeting was mostly about how defendable properties are and what you need to do to get ready, I feel like I have taken the first steps to being prepared. I have a fire plan and sometime before January I am going to make a fire ready pack for the boot of my car, just in case I get caught out. I know this might sound a little obsessive to you, but I am really worried. Since moving up to Castlemaine I have a new appreciation for dry land, and a desire for rain like never before. The thing is I can’t really stop a fire if it comes, but I guess I can be prepared and pray that my family, friends and I will be safe. So fire season, I think I am ready.

I guess that's just all part of the adventure!