COMMUNITY spirit is at the core of recovery efforts following the Keilira fire, with many people in the Kingston and Padthaway districts still dealing with the event’s aftermath.
Lightning strikes early Monday morning ignited the blaze which has burnt around 25,000 hectares, destroyed three homes and is believed to have killed thousands of sheep and cattle.
Donations of manpower, fuel, stock feed and essentials continue to flow in for those impacted by the blaze, which Country Fire Service crews battled to bring under control after it took hold of dense vegetation.
Mopping up her Keilira property this week, Fiona Rasheed returned to find her hay shed destroyed and around 600 dead sheep.
Ms Rasheed said the “horrendous” fire had caused significant damage across the area, revealing the flames came as close as her front garden, falling just short of the family home.
Since returning home, Ms Rasheed said she had received an “overwhelming” influx of community support as residents came together to rebuild fences, cook and help clean up.
“There will be a lot of work to rebuild but we will just take it one step at a time to work out what to do next,” Ms Rasheed said.
“I was in Kingston with the children when the fire started and my husband informed me of what was happening.
“I was desperate to go out and help but many people told me to stay where I was safe with the kids.”
Still wrapping her head around the damage, Ms Rasheed expressed gratitude to nearby landowners who have taken on a significant number of stock.
After learning of the fire, Maroona Station’s Rob Starling left his own farm to help the farm fire units tackle the blaze before eventually taking on 300 of the Rasheeds’ stock.
Fighting the fire for around eight hours on Monday, Mr Starling said it was the worst bushfire he had experienced to date.
“We do not usually travel out this far to help out but the fire was coming to a friend’s property and we got out there as soon as we could,” he said.
“I do not have massive experience with fires but this was the most serious one I had seen.”
Describing most of the area affected as a “write off”, Mr Starling has called for urgent improvements to communication infrastructure in the area, adding landowners should be given more freedom to manage their land.
“Phone service was a tricky thing while we were up there fighting the fire,” he said.
“But the government also needs to let us manage our land how we see fit by letting us back burn and clean trees and shrub around our property.
“People can literally lose their lives because they cannot manage these things how they want and it is something that we need to talk about in the future.”
Ms Rasheed said people were “standing on top of utes” in attempts to send text messages during the emergency incident.
“We were up the top of hills which is very dangerous during fire season,” she said.
“There was no mobile service at all which was difficult because we were trying to contact people and having people trying to contact us.
“It made it so much more dangerous and is something that is not acceptable because of times like this.
“We are just wondering what more it will take before they listen to us and get a tower out here.”
