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Click here for the Grey Nomads website -> The Grey Nomads Forum -> "I digress ..." -> Yarloop fires: Trauma continues for bushfire survivors almost two years on.....
Post Info TOPIC: Yarloop fires: Trauma continues for bushfire survivors almost two years on.....
kiwijims


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Yarloop fires: Trauma continues for bushfire survivors almost two years on.....
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In January 2016, a lightning strike triggered a blaze that tore through some of WA's best agricultural land, near Waroona south of Perth.

By the time it was extinguished 17 days later, almost 70,000 hectares of land had been scorched, 181 homes and buildings destroyed and two lives had been lost.

After: Bushfire-devastated properties in Eastcott Street

Bushfire-devastated properties in Eastcott Street Yarloop,

"We've all had different traumas through our lives, but that was a big one," said beef farmer Mike Walmsley, who fought tooth and nail to stop the flames flattening his 250 hectare property.

"It was like nothing we'd ever seen before. The noise it was like a jet plane."

For many of the region's farmers who rely on the land for income, life has not been the same since.

"The soil is basically sterilised from the heat," Mr Walmsley said.

"Any seeds that were in there would be basically cooked there's not a lot of organic matter left in that.

"This could look like this for some years to come. I'd say decades."

A fire-blackened sign in Waroona shire

A blackened sign warns of the danger of bushfires in the area.

Be careful while camping People, this could be your home town !!!  nonono

K.J.



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Tony Bev


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It was a bad fire

We are perhaps 50 kilometres away to the south, the sky was black, and ash (thankfully cold), was landing on our lawn

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Hewy54


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The trauma goes on for many years. The Pinery fires on 25/11/2015 were only a few kilometres from our home. I spent 5 months volunteering with Blazeaid, then a further 6 months doing volunteer work on one of the farms. I still visit every so often to help out when something major needs doing.
Each time I visit, the farmer fills me in on what progress has been made, but it will still be years before they rebuild the structures, and who knows if they will ever get over the trauma.


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The Doo crew


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Family friends lost it all in the Yarloop fire, 35 years of everything except the clothes on their backs, things that cant be replaced like baby photos, family heirlooms & the like.
They moved to Yarloop after loosing everything in cyclone Tracey, thinking things would be safer "down south" Unfortunately they are now of the age that rebuilding is a task beyond there stamina these days, many never rebuild/recover from a catastrophic event such as this one.

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