Fight or leave, but have a plan

By Tania Martin
AN UPWEY man who stood and battled flames to save his house in the 1997 bushfires says he would do it all again in a heartbeat.
But Andrew Galbraith says people who stay and fight in bushfires should be prepared and have a plan.
Mr Galbraith had just finished building his family home just before the bushfires came through the Dandenong Ranges in 1997. Three people were killed, 41 houses were destroyed and 400 hectares of land burnt.
Mr Galbraith, a builder, kept in mind the volatile nature of the Dandenong Ranges and the risk of future fires when he built his own home.
“I made sure that the house would be safe if a fire went through the area,” he said.
He built the roof with a steep pitch so that leaves could run off and not clog the gutters.
When the 1997 bushfires hit the Dandenong Ranges Mr Galbraith was working in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne and after failing to reach his wife he went home not knowing if his family had decided to stay or leave the area.
Mr Galbraith was also concerned about his parents as they lived in a house on the same property. From his property his parents couldn’t see how bad the fire was so they were pretty relaxed when he arrived home.
The decision was soon made that Mr Galbraith’s mother would go and his father would stay to help him save his house.
Mr Galbraith said he was unsure of how long he had until the fire came through the area so he placed buckets of water strategically around the outside of the house.
“I had the car radio on really loud because we had no power and I was unsure how soon the fire would come through,” he said.
“All you could see was a red glow over the top of the hill.”
Mr Galbraith said a couple of CFA volunteers came to his property with knapsacks to spot some of the smouldering flames but soon had to leave because they were needed elsewhere.
It was important, he said, for people to not only plan to stay or leave, but to realise that they could not rely on having a CFA firefighter there to help them.
“The firefighters are very stretched so you have to be able to cope on your own,” he said.
Mr Galbraith said he was prepared to fight bushfires if they ever came through the area again.
“People who stay and fight have to be prepared and confident that they can fight the fire because you can’t just sit under the house and wait for it to pass,” he said.