Kylie & Jack 1: Humble Beginnings

84. Hell on Earth

The last two days had proven nothing short of hellish for everyone. At a quarter past two on the morning of Boxing Day, a fire was started by lightning strike in inaccessible scrub between Tarratata and Birrabirra, on the very edge of the Ellerslie State Forest (which backed onto the old soldier settlement block where John's father's family had lived for several generations). It was left to smoke and smoulder, gaining life when a breeze rippled through the area. Before dawn, it had been called in. Before dawn, it had become a blaze and now the clock was ticking.

John and Janelle were forced awake by the ringing of both their mobile phones and the landline. The fire radio that was perched beside the second house phone on John's desk was crackling loudly, as crews from Birrabirra, Tarratata, Gundagai, Barrabrumbra and surrounds were called up.

Janelle opened up the New South Wales Rural Fire Service app and the first alert to come up was Dunn's Rd fire. That night, they drove halfway to Tarratata to try and get a better view of the fire. It may be hilly country around here, excellent for sheep grazing, but it also meant excellent vantage points to see where the smoke may be rising from. It also meant a lot of inaccessible territory, with thick scrub that only got cleared once every few years in a monstrous bushfire.

John drove while Janelle took photos. They drew level with the mailbox to the Eden property, pulling over and with stunning clarity, even at a quarter to midnight, could see the red and blue flashing lights of the fire trucks scaling the black and orange horizon. They could see the canopies of ancient gum trees lit up magnificently against the billowing smoke, burning a bright and brilliant shade of orange by the flames below.

Neither of them needed to say it. This was not going to end well.

Friday 27th Dec 2019, 8:53 AM

Janelle had spoken with Mike, Amy and Kylie. She told them Murruma wasn't in danger ... but it didn't stop them from being on alert. For all the fires they had fought and lived through, Janelle and John both had never felt quite so troubled than they did by this one. All three kids made it explicitly clear that whatever was needed, to let them know and as quickly as possible. Work could wait, as Amy put it. Murruma wasn't just a town to the Foley's. It was their home and therefore a part of them. Janelle expected this, but she also had to make it equally clear to them that she didn't want or need them to be anywhere near Murruma. It was bad enough she had to worry about John going out and about. That she was still here.

But they knew what to do. John and Janelle had been doing this for the best part of forty–five years each, they knew when it was time to get out and they knew what to take, who to tell and where to go. They had their evacuation plans ready and kept in mind the possibility of needing a Plan B ... and C, D and E too. It would be extremely easy for Murruma to be cut off and enclosed in a ring of fire, being in a valley.

6:11 PM

Kylie was still feeling tired and after all the leftover food, was feeling bloated too. She was getting cranky as well, finding everything irritating her. She had snapped at Jack earlier this morning and right now, she couldn't even remember why. It had been a stupid reason. It was probably due to watching ABC News all day, checking the Fires Near Me app every few minutes.

Although she knew how this went, knew exactly how she would respond to the events around her before they happened, it still set her teeth on edge. Despite being snapped at, Jack remained close at hand, knowing she didn't want to go through this alone, also well aware that she would never say as much, either.

11:52 PM

"I hate this not being able to help bullshit! I need to do something!" Kylie grumbled as they got into bed. Jack hid his smirk, crawling into bed beside her.