The Fires

• Brooke Noonan, Grade 8
• Short Story
• 2020

My name is Anthony Brown and I live on my farm in Cobthalia, with my beautiful wife Michelle and our three kids Joshua, Henry, and Elizabeth. Our family has been through a lot; drought, flood and now fires, and I am here today to tell you our story, my version of what my family and I have been through.

It was a scorching summers day in January 2020 when I was feeding the cows and my nose picked up a scent. I rushed inside to tell Michelle, dodging where kids were playing with lego on the carpet. I told her what I smelt, “SMOKE!”, and she immediately walked outside and agreed, “I smell it too!”. We sprinted inside. I accidentally stood on the tv remote and we heard a serious voice on the news sing out “If you are in the Cobthalia district you need to evacuate immediately, there is a fire is headed straight for you. Take your valuables, clothes, medicine, food, and small pets. Be careful, it might be already too late!”. Michelle's eyes start to tear up as she hears the tv and we knew it was time to go.

We gathered up all of our stuff and put it in our cruiser's, trying not to forget anything in our panic to leave. I follow Michelle's car down the driveway, watching the road ahead of us being covered by a huge blanket of dark, thick smoke that reaches up into the sky. I turn south to see clear skies being chased by the dark gloomy skies.

Suddenly, Crrrraaaacccckkkk! A huge gum tree fell in front of me blocking the road, narrowly missing Michelle's car just in front of me. The kids screamed from the back seat as I had to swerve out of the way of this giant tree. I felt like screaming myself, but I had to stay strong for the kids, for Michelle and for myself. As I attempted to call the local CFA there was no phone signal, so with nowhere else to go, we had to go bush. We were bouncing along and trying to navigate our way through grass that was taller than us in some places. After a chat with Michelle over the walkie talkies, she was with us cruising along once again.

After a while, we arrived at my parents’ house safe and sound and relieved. A few days later we were told that it was safe to go back, but not really knowing if we had anything to go back to. We drove up the driveway and found the surrounding grass was black, with a crumbled smoking pile of bricks and tin where our house used to be. Elizabeth was getting upset and asks “Where is our house dad? Mum?” We all started to get emotional, seeing our home and normally luscious green land that is now black, burnt, and bare. But we are still here, lucky enough to have the chance to rebuild and go on.

Thank you!