This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jan/09/australian-wildfire-braced-lose-children
The article has changed 6 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
| Version 0 | Version 1 |
|---|---|
| How the Tasmanian family escaped the Australian wildfire | How the Tasmanian family escaped the Australian wildfire |
| (3 months later) | |
| As the wildfires that have swept south-eastern Australia continue to burn, tales of survival and miraculous escape have begun to emerge. In the small Tasmanian town of Dunalley, dozens of homes were destroyed last week, forcing many to flee. A mother of five, Bonnie Walker, whose husband was away, was en route to a funeral when the fires encroached. Her five children, aged two to 11, were being looked after by her parents, Tim and Tammy Holmes, next door to her home in the fishing village. They told the dramatic story of their survival to Australia's ABC News. | As the wildfires that have swept south-eastern Australia continue to burn, tales of survival and miraculous escape have begun to emerge. In the small Tasmanian town of Dunalley, dozens of homes were destroyed last week, forcing many to flee. A mother of five, Bonnie Walker, whose husband was away, was en route to a funeral when the fires encroached. Her five children, aged two to 11, were being looked after by her parents, Tim and Tammy Holmes, next door to her home in the fishing village. They told the dramatic story of their survival to Australia's ABC News. |
| Bonnie Walker: I had a funeral that I had to attend in Hobart on Friday, so it was already a sad day for me. It was really hot and probably mid-30s [Celsius] by that point. And it felt eerily wrong to be driving away, but I wanted to honour the commitment I'd made to be with my friends who'd lost their friend. | Bonnie Walker: I had a funeral that I had to attend in Hobart on Friday, so it was already a sad day for me. It was really hot and probably mid-30s [Celsius] by that point. And it felt eerily wrong to be driving away, but I wanted to honour the commitment I'd made to be with my friends who'd lost their friend. |
| … I got as far as Sorell, through the fires, it was really quite an awful experience driving through the fires, they were about to jump the highway, as it turned out. I'd just got through and listening to the ABC radio and the road closed behind me. | … I got as far as Sorell, through the fires, it was really quite an awful experience driving through the fires, they were about to jump the highway, as it turned out. I'd just got through and listening to the ABC radio and the road closed behind me. |
| … We just waited by the phone and received a message at 3.30 to say that mum and dad had evacuated, that they were surrounded by fire, and could we pray. | … We just waited by the phone and received a message at 3.30 to say that mum and dad had evacuated, that they were surrounded by fire, and could we pray. |
| So I braced myself to lose my children and my parents. | So I braced myself to lose my children and my parents. |
| Tim Holmes, Bonnie Walker's father: We saw tornadoes of fire just coming across towards us and the next thing we knew everything was on fire, everywhere all around us. | Tim Holmes, Bonnie Walker's father: We saw tornadoes of fire just coming across towards us and the next thing we knew everything was on fire, everywhere all around us. |
| … We lost three houses and by that time I had sent Tammy … with the children to get down to the jetty because there was no other escape, we couldn't get off. | … We lost three houses and by that time I had sent Tammy … with the children to get down to the jetty because there was no other escape, we couldn't get off. |
| Bonnie Walker's daughter: It came from both directions. It came at us and then from the side. | Bonnie Walker's daughter: It came from both directions. It came at us and then from the side. |
| Tim Holmes: I ended up having to run down through a wooded area on my own, where there was so much smoke and fire, I didn't know where I was. So I just kept running. | Tim Holmes: I ended up having to run down through a wooded area on my own, where there was so much smoke and fire, I didn't know where I was. So I just kept running. |
| There was a moment of fear that this could be very, very dangerous. But I managed to run through and get to the water's edge, which was a kind of a sanctuary. | There was a moment of fear that this could be very, very dangerous. But I managed to run through and get to the water's edge, which was a kind of a sanctuary. |
| Bonnie Walker: A few minutes later, an image arrived which was really – it's still quite upsetting to see the image, it's all of my, our, five children underneath the jetty huddled up to neck-deep seawater, which is cold, we've swam the day before and it was cold. So I knew that that would be a challenge, to keep three non-swimmers above water. And with only my mum and dad and our eldest daughter. | Bonnie Walker: A few minutes later, an image arrived which was really – it's still quite upsetting to see the image, it's all of my, our, five children underneath the jetty huddled up to neck-deep seawater, which is cold, we've swam the day before and it was cold. So I knew that that would be a challenge, to keep three non-swimmers above water. And with only my mum and dad and our eldest daughter. |
| Bonnie Walker's daughter: Even though there was hot ash and everything all over us, it was still cold. | Bonnie Walker's daughter: Even though there was hot ash and everything all over us, it was still cold. |
| Tim Holmes: We were relying on the jetty really. And the difficulty was, there was so much smoke and embers and there was only about probably 200mm to 300mm of air above the water. So we were all just heads, water up to our chins just trying to breathe because it was just, the atmosphere was so incredibly toxic. | Tim Holmes: We were relying on the jetty really. And the difficulty was, there was so much smoke and embers and there was only about probably 200mm to 300mm of air above the water. So we were all just heads, water up to our chins just trying to breathe because it was just, the atmosphere was so incredibly toxic. |
| Bonnie Walker: That was a very perilous time. | Bonnie Walker: That was a very perilous time. |
| Tim Holmes: And it raged for three hours. Because there was a lot of sort of - well, it was a wooded point. So everything was on fire and it was just exploding all over the place. Yeah, amazing. Just scorched. | Tim Holmes: And it raged for three hours. Because there was a lot of sort of - well, it was a wooded point. So everything was on fire and it was just exploding all over the place. Yeah, amazing. Just scorched. |
| Bonnie Walker: My father rallied against all odds and managed to go up and get a little dinghy off the foreshore. Loaded our children in and my mum and then dragged it into a headwind 200m or 300m around the point into the headwind. And got them to safety so that they weren't breathing the polluted air. | Bonnie Walker: My father rallied against all odds and managed to go up and get a little dinghy off the foreshore. Loaded our children in and my mum and then dragged it into a headwind 200m or 300m around the point into the headwind. And got them to safety so that they weren't breathing the polluted air. |
| Bonnie Walker: I spent a lot of time with good friends and prayed like I've never prayed before and I think those prayers have been answered. | Bonnie Walker: I spent a lot of time with good friends and prayed like I've never prayed before and I think those prayers have been answered. |
| guardian.co.uk today is our daily snapshot of the top news stories, sent to your inbox at 8am |