By Melissa Meehan
WHILE Victor Gill watched as the Murrindindi Complex fires burned Kinglake and Kilmore from the roof of his Steels Creek home, he never thought he would be running from the same fire just an hour later.
He may have been forgiven for thinking there would have been a warning, for expecting the air to fill with smoke, but Victor and wife Raelene were forced to flee the blaze through a wall of fire as a ball of flames raced towards his house.
“I was getting up on the roof to see where the fires were at,” Victor said.
“But they never looked like any threat to us, it was a fair way away.”
On his last trip up to the roof, Victor realised the fire was not a “fair way away”, instead he ran downstairs to Raeline and told her to get her things and go.
“I actually backed the ute up to the house so we could grab some things,” he said.
“But by the time I turned around the fire was here and we had to go.”
So Raeline and Victor raced down the steep Brennan Avenue towards Yea speeding from the flames behind them and through the fire ahead.
“We had no other option but to head to Yea down Hunts Lane,” Raeline said.
“Steels Creek Road and Yarra Glen were on fire.”
The two of them headed for the main street and were surprised to find so many people.
Raeline said she was amazed that the local Red Cross and Lions Clubs were able to provide food and drinks for everyone in the town.
“They just came out of nowhere,” she said.
“And then a local company provided mattresses, it was amazing.”
The next day the couple headed towards Seymour to stay with Raeline’s mum until it was safe to go home.
Beginning again
THE burnt and blackened trees leading to the Gill’s Steels Creek home is a constant reminder of the devastation of the Black Saturday fires.
Every house in Brennan Avenue was destroyed and two families lost their lives.
But among the lifeless trees and rubble things are looking up for Raeline, Victor and Kylie Gill.
In the past month they have moved from living in a caravan in their shed into their newly built fire-proof home.
They had lived in that caravan since being allowed back into the destroyed area five days after the fires hit.
“We weren’t allowed back in until the Tuesday after the fires hit,” Raeline said.
“And to see our street, where our home was – it was just devastation, chaos.
“Everything was gone, nothing left. It was like the holocaust had hit the area.” On that day the family decided they would not rebuild in Steels Creek but after staying in Healesvile, Wandin and Heidleberg decided Steels Creek was and would always be their home.
“We then lived in the shed for 10 months,” she said.
“Through the rain, cold and soaring temperatures.”
The couple even had to shower outside, sometimes knee-deep in mud.
“I made sure I showered at night so no one would see me,” she said.
“But Victor didn’t seem to mind (what time he showered).” Once they decided they would rebuild, the couple studied all fire proofing options for their new home when they weren’t clearing the land themselves.
“I think that is why we are so far ahead of so many that lost their homes in the fires,” Victor said.
“We didn’t have to wait for others to come in and do it for us.”
But they have not gone without any help. “Blazeaid (an organisation of volunteers that helped farmers replace burnt fences) has been a lifesaver for us,” Victor said.
“I was happy to plug away at it and it was going to take me months.
“But with the help of these guys we got 12 acres done in a matter of days.”
The couple have also given back to those who helped them in their time of need. “We joined Blazeaid in Kinglake. It was good to be able to help others out after they were so good to us.”
It’s been a difficult year for the Gill family but one positive they can take out of Black Saturday is the new friends they have made.
“We have met so many people who are in the same situation,” Raeline said. “It has really brought the community together.”
