Taggerty’s Mums and Dads’ Army (from left) Doug and Lynne Walter, David Buchanan (partner Anne Catchpole not in photo), Sanders McAulay and Ray Goss, Margaret Wood and Kerrin Cassidy and (back) Jenny and John Branton. 34947
By Melissa Meehan and
A SUNDAY morning gathering on the deck at the Taggerty Store is the first time since the February bushfires that a group of residents dubbed by the media as “Dads’ Army” has had a chance to look back as a group.
As they sits around the round table looking back on Black Saturday and the three weeks that followed the first thing that needs to be sorted out is a gender issue! All agree, it was, and still is, very much a “Mum and Dads’ Army”.
The army of Taggerty Heights residents saved themselves and their homes by becoming a local ‘strike team’. They say others could draw on their experience.
Doug Walter said the “army” didn’t have to rely on the hard-pressed CFA, because they were well-equipped to fight the blaze.
The secret to their success – Ultra High Frequency (UHF) radios.
“By the time the fires were close we couldn’t get updates about where it was or where it was heading,” Mr Walter said.
“The power was out and so were the phone lines.”
Cut off from the outside world, they kept in touch with each other using the battery powered UHF radios which were part of their fire plan.
“But it allowed someone up the other end of the road to let everyone else know what was coming.
“It also gave people the opportunity to call for help.”
Not only was the group equipped with the UHF radios, they were properly equipped with “serious fire fighting equipment”.
Each home had fire fighting hoses, goggles, helmets, leather gloves and boots.
“When we first got them I thought we were going over the top,” he said.
“But looking back – it saved our lives.”
In the weeks after Black Saturday, Mr Walter said the group was busy fighting spot fires and the local CFA had tuned into their frequency to monitor whether they needed assistance.
“If they heard that we were struggling a bit they would send in a truck,” he said.
“But most of the time as a group we were able to help each other out.
“It was nice to know we had some sort of guardian watching over us.”
He made a submission to the Bushfire Royal Commission last month, and says he hopes the government takes his thoughts on board.
“I really think that all homes in fire-prone areas should be equipped with UHF radios,” he said.
Taggerty Store owner and army member Ray Goss said he would like to see all small farms, including hobby farms encouraged over the fire season to carry small slip-on units on utes and trucks, armed with UHF radios.
“Farmers would need to complete CFA minimum skills training, register with their local brigade and wear approved CFA personal protection,” he said.
“If we’d had a little slip-on on the day we could have done a lot more,” he said.
Since the fires all members of the group have installed 1000-litre water tanks on their properties in the hope to achieve more mobility when another fire hits.
Sitting on a sunny day, with a bit of a chill in the air, and with the benefit of hindsight the discussion is about what could be done better, but overwhelmingly, the plan they had worked on for two years, and which some say they never thought they would need to use in such devastating circumstances, worked.
They lost no houses, no lives … just one shed. “A lot can be learnt from our experiences,” Mr Walter said.
