Reflections

Over the last year I’ve seen the best and worst of people.

I live in a small town that was impacted by the Longwood Fires that started on January 7, 2026.

Those fires burnt around 300,000 acres. Over 900 farming properties were impacted. Last count I saw said 210 dwellings were destroyed in Murrindindi Shire alone. (This fire impacted four LGAs – Strathbogie, Murrindindi, Mansfield and Mitchell). In Murrindindi Shire over 600 pieces of infrastructure and machinery (plant) were destroyed and more than 519 sheds. And 1 life lost.

My last linked-in post about the fires was a video thanking the local farmers and residents who defended one of the edges of town. Since then, I’ve come to learn that CFA and NSW Rural fire Service trucks helped too. Local contractors put in fire containment lines (fire breaks) around town and locals stepped out to help their neighbours. Saying thank you doesn’t seem like enough.

The view from our front yard on the night of Thursday January 8, 2026.

From the day after the fire reached my town (January 9) until sometime in May I had been helping out in the community led relief centre. Providing whatever help we could give to those who came through the doors. Food, slabs of water, clothes, tools, work clothes, PPE, boots, hay, vouchers to local businesses who’ve lost their summer trading… and the list goes on. To say it was busy is in an understatement.

There have been so many people who have helped us.

Personally, I want to thank the many nameless people who donated vouchers, cash, clothes, water, hay…and the list goes on. It is fair to say that hundreds of thousands of dollars of goods and aid were donated across the many community led relief hubs to help those impacted by these fires.

I would be remiss if I didn’t say thank you to the many of you who kicked in some cash to support those who organised donations and ran into our lives to help. If you were one of those people – donor or runner - thank you from the bottom of my heart. Your generosity still brings tears to my eyes.

While most I can’t name, there are those I can name – Finn Keath for organising the first community BBQ just 4 days after the fires went through, ADRA for turning up with their immediate disaster grants and food, Community Pete, the Rinsed.Co boys, Yarck General Store & Bucks Bakery & Ging Halligan & FOFO for feeding our volunteers who were putting in long days, Seymour Central Church, the Murrindindi Health Bus and team from Alexandra District Health, the teams from Murrindindi Shire Council, Whittlesea Council, Services Australia, DFFH, AgVic, AgBiz, our local MPs Cindy McLeish and Helen Haines… and Bunnings. Oh and almost forgot – Goulburn Murray Water for setting up a potable water tank where people could fill IBCs or 20l water jerries and have drinking water at home.

I’d also like to thank the many teams who have catered for our pot-luck meals, giving tired volunteers a rest. (Our weekly pot-luck meals were/are ‘bring a plate if you can and if you can’t, come anyway!’)

And of course, all the volunteers. (I’m one of a team of 6 who had been doing the organising tasks, talking to government agencies to get help for residents and of course the legends who picked up those who came home to nothing. I’d also like to thank the army of volunteers who would pop in to help the core team.)

Special mention to Warren Davies and all the amazing teams at the community started and led Relief Centres at Longwood, Ruffy, Yarck, Fawcett, Highlands. Gooram, Creightons Creek & Yea as well as Robyn & Sasha at Foundation Murrindindi who’ve been supporting fire impacted people around and beyond Alexandra. It has been an honor to work with you.

A small glimpse of the many donations and volunteers who supported our community.

In my off time from the relief hub I helped get temporary water out to people. With the support of a major donor and the many ‘mum and dad’ donations we were able to fundraise to deliver 288 IBC water pods (new, food grade) to give people water. (Our original target was 200 and we are thrilled that because of the donations of a local business, we were able to get another 88 pods out to locals across the fire ground.) Like all rural areas, we rely on rainwater tanks for everything. If someone has lost their house and sheds – then they’ve lost water also. This has been a temporary fix – but an essential one to tide them over until they can get insurance claims, buildings rebuilt and tanks in place. For some that has happened, for others, they are still waiting.

You might ask ‘why did they need tanks if they had nowhere to live?’ Fair question. Most people who have lost their homes were/are living on their properties in caravans, containers or sheds (if they still have one). One 84-year-old gentleman who lost everything, had been collecting water off his tent roof into a bucket when I met him. Everything else is gone. The reality is hard. Rental properties are few and expensive. For most, living on their property is their only option.

Two months after the fires I opened the door to the smell of smoke. The morning dew on burnt ground. About this time, a tourist innocently asked ‘are people still fire affected’ – well yes. The experts tell us that recovery takes about 4 years for farmers and at least 3 years for the rest of us. The impacts on our family farm mean we are now out of farming. The cost to recover is not worth the return you get. We’re not the only ones.

In June, the Yarck relief hub closed. We have commenced transitioning to whatever comes next and we will all live changed lives. And soon we will be getting ready for the next fire season. Preparing properties and homes and making our fire plans.

In a couple of years, the now black and brown range across from me will be yellow with wattle. Bob, a local farmer tells me this is what happened after the ’69 fires…wattle is always the first thing that grows back. And in another 57 years, whoever lives in my house will not know the impacts of this fire.

I’m eternally grateful for the help we’ve had.

I’m also very grateful that many years ago our Yarck Hall Committee had the foresight to plan and apply for a grant to make the Hall ready for an event like this.

We have a commercial kitchen, a great supper room, the hall, an all-abilities toilet with shower (great – especially in the first couple of weeks so people can wash off the soot at the end of the day) and now a wired-in generator (power and comms always go first). We can easily house material aid and we can easily have community meals there.

You too can build the capacity, the ability of your community to respond in a crisis.

There are grants around to do this. If you are in Australia, look at FRRR and a local community foundation. Check out State and Federal Government volunteering grants. You can also check out Grants Guru or the Grants Hub.

And if something like this happens to you – reach out. There is an amazing network of community leaders in our part of the world who will be willing to support you.