Allan Weeks from Kyabram set off on Thursday morning headed to a farming property in Muckatah that was burnt in the Yarroweyah fire.
Photo by
Jemma Jones
A week after battling the wildest bushfires he’s seen in his 65 years of firefighting, Kyabram CFA volunteer Allan Weeks returned to Muckatah to help in a different way.
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Mr Weeks set off in his bright red Subaru Brumby early on Thursday, January 15 to deliver a few bales of hay to a property affected by the fire in Muckatah the week before.
As part of District 20 Strike Team 2070, he witnessed devastating fires tear through almost 1500 hectares across the Yarroweyah and Nathalia regions from the front lines.
He described the scenes he saw as the most “wild and out of control” fires he has seen since becoming a volunteer.
“It was the most erratic, obscene fire behaviour I’ve seen,” he said.
He described embers floating everywhere as sudden wind changes sent fires racing at lightning speed in all directions, with water boiling instantly when firefighters tried to douse burning structures.
He said, at one point in the battle, they had been instructed to “concentrate on asset control”, like protecting houses and sheds, rather than try to control the uncontrollable.
Returning to Kyabram at midnight, he immediately began considering how he could help those who had lost everything.
Refusing to sit idle, Mr Weeks contacted the Victorian Farmers Federation, asking how he could personally deliver aid to bushfire victims.
Allan Weeks set off in his bright red Subaru Brumby early on Thursday, January 15.
Photo by
Jemma Jones
“(The federation) thought it was a great idea,” he said.
After getting a name and an address, Mr Weeks set off.
The VFF has been co-ordinating fodder relief for farmers in the aftermath of the fires this month, working with Agriculture Victoria and state and local government authorities to get fodder to where it is needed.
VFF president Brett Hosking said he had witnessed the scenes in central Victoria firsthand, and described the damage as devastating.
“Our number one priority is to get emergency fodder as soon as possible to fire-impacted farms,” Mr Hosking said.
He urged farmers and landowners with fodder to donate by reaching out to the VFF.
Mr Hosking also said farmers who needed fodder should contact the VFF “as soon as possible”.
Mr Weeks said loading up his ute and making the hour-long drive to Muckatah was an obvious choice.
“I know the place where it’s going — there’s not a blade of grass left,” he said.
“There was a couple of calves (on the property) ... it’s just a life saver for them.
“I haven’t got much, but I’ve got more than them poor buggers have got.”
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