Fire, Fire and More Fire

I have often seen scenes of bush fires on TV, and although horrified, never ever thought of just HOW some people felt when a fire was threatening their homes. WELL NOW I KNOW!

Yesterday we had what we call Berg Winds. At this time of the year our general temperature during the day is between 17 - 21 deg C. When there are Berg Winds (like yesterday) the temp can rise to 28 deg C. With the Berg Winds come warnings from the weather bureau about bush fires.

How ours started, no-one will ever know but man, it was scary. The hose pipe (water hose) on the property that we rent, has less pressure than my partner after a couple of beers. I stood for 4 hours wetting a wall (and the dry plants next to it) with this ridiculous piece of gardening equipment - waiting for the fire to jump the wall.

Unfortunately we have had very little rain this season, so with the help of the wind, the fire spread very quickly.

At first I was calm, but when I started feeling the heat from the wall, and could hardly see 5 feet in front of me, I started panicking. Thank goodness the men arrived and took over.

It is amazing what goes through one's mind when you are in a situation like this. Move the car, load the dogs, grab some clothes, computer, laptop, money, ID documents, haven't got time. Start again - move the car, load the dogs................................

What DOES one grab in an emergency?

Well, my priorities have really changed since yesterday. Got some really serious planning to do - eg ALL our personal and business information/files are on my computer. Backup and keep elsewhere.
Contact people who have been through this and find out exactly what I should have thought of taking.
Review insurance.

But as the saying goes - the horse has bolted. This will probably never happen to me again - but it is still worth "being prepared".