Rebuilding lives

By Kath Gannaway
ULTIMATELY Chum Creek couple Steve and Sally Pierre-Humbert will have the home they always wanted. That’s one of several positives they are embracing six months on from the day they emerged from their shipping-container wine cellar surrounded by the ruins of their home.
Some things have not changed from the Sunday morning when Mail journalist Melissa Meehan reported they were grateful just to be alive and determined to rebuild.
They are still resilient, maintaining a positive view to the future for them and their children, and most of all, still grateful for the fact that they survived the fires they now know took so many lives.
There have been some down times too however, and Steve says they know it’s not over yet.
“I think we had a big dip about three months ago, almost to the day,” he said, quick to add that they are focusing on the positives – like both learning how to drive a bobcat, and the greater sense of community they now share with their neighbours – neighbours they can now see clearly, who are, like them, much more likely to stop for a chat. We’ve had people drop in to borrow things where before people seemed to just look the other way,” Sally said. “I stopped the other day to have a beer with some guys down the road and just walked home afterwards,” added Steve. “Six months and two weeks ago, you would have got a wave once in a blue moon.”
A group of volunteers from Geelong have helped clear the dead trees and it’s hard not to feel positive when they look at the huge pile of wood. “It would have taken us weeks,” Sally said.
Just the same, Sally says they feel like they are treading water a lot of the time, dealing with the frustration of just getting the new house started.
Despite starting their plans even before the insurance was through, there are problems with drawings and they haven’t even got to planning application stage.
“It’s six months and we still don’t have anything on the land … the whole thing is out of our control at the moment,” Steve said.
They’ve dealt with guilt – Steve not being able to stop what happened and not having a house for his family to live in, and Sally as an ex-CFA volunteer feeling she should have been able to save the house.
“We all went to counselling, including the kids, and that definitely helped us deal with some of the issues,” Sally said.
They have never waivered in their desire to live where they live.
“We have a chance to be better prepared next time … where a lot of people didn’t,” Steve said.
Standing on the spot where her office once was, Sally said they will re-build a safe house. “This will never happen to us again and we will be Healesvillians forever,” she said.