In remote East Gippsland, those who have already faced two separate fire fronts still dread the flames predicted to return over the long, cruel summer weeks to come vicfires
A sense of unease lingers in remote East Gippsland, where wild bushfires have burnt and threatened towns twice in a week.
The couple have defended their home from out-of-control bushfires using sprinklers and fire hoses twice in five days. “It might even have had something do with the fruit trees catching alight and stopping the speed of the fire,” Mrs Blakeman said touching a charred black leaf of an apricot tree with the tip of her finger. “We all think different things saved us.”
Firefighters would later say that each time the wind changed direction, the fire front would race towards a different town. “We’ve had a few close calls,” Robert Cellar said. “It was only the wind change which saved our bacon on Saturday."Mr Cellar stood in his frontyard at 2pm on Saturday as the sky turned black, ready to hose down embers. But a sudden wind change led to the fire changing its path, narrowly avoiding Nowa Nowa and heading south into bushland.
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