Friday, I went to an end of semester party on the college. It can be summed up pretty easily: cheap alcohol, good music, and satisfactory company. No, I did not take part in the cheap alcohol, but I did enjoy the music and company. Plus, I found ten bucks on the floor that nobody else noticed because they were drunk.
On Saturday I finally went to the horse races. Apparently this was a big race day, it seemed like the whole city turned out for it, and everyone was extremely dressed up. Most people used the event as a chance to get drunk and flirt with the opposite sex, but I am not like these people. I used the day to make a bet on a horse named Coda (My own horse is named Koda). The horse had raced twice in her life, and placed in neither of these. I bet $1 each way ($1 for a win, $1 for a place). Coda went on to win the race, and I went on to claim my $15 win.
At the races, I was noticing the smoke from the nearby bushfire was getting really thick, especially around my neighborhood. After making a $2 bet on another horse, I received a message from Aileen and could only decipher the words "Fire across the street" "House full of smoke" and "Evacuated." I tried frantically to call Aileen or Richard, but neither could be contacted, so I rushed home.
The smoke was thickening as I neared my house, but when I was just about to reach my street, I ran into a police barrier. They told me that my street was closed off and nobody else was there. Freaking out, I drove away and was finally able to get a hold of Aileen, who was still at the house. With nowhere else to go, I found another way to the house, but the police still saw me and though I got inside, they were soon to follow. They were shocked to see Aileen and I there, saying we should have been evacuated (by the way, the whole house was full of smoke), but Aileen had heard nothing of the evacuation, so the police said we should just get bags ready just in case, but we were okay to stay to defend the house. I ran into my room and packed away everything I couldn't live without (computer, ipod, scriptures, passport, personal hygiene items, etc) and soon made my way outside to assess the situation at the front of the house.
Smoke was everywhere, and Richard was across the street, watering the burning embers. Two people from the branch showed up and helped. For the next two hours I took pictures and helped to water down fires as they came up with gusts of wind. Everything in the paddock across the street was burned. Before I came, the fire had raced across the near 1/2 mile wide paddock within one minute, roaring like thunder as it went. We are lucky the house is okay, since both the gutter right in front of the house, and the trees in the front yard caught fire. The smoke continued into the darkness, and fire trucks passed regularly, while neighbors I'd never met came out to help keep the fire at bay. As darkness fell, you could see the fires burning from the hills around us, lighting up the hills like countless red stars. At the top of a hill a house burned, lighting up the horizon for hours. Occasionally, a tree would fall in a shower of sparks, succumbing to hours of internal burning. Everything was very eerie. The road had been blocked off, but somehow many people drove by, sightseeing. Only one of these people offered to help. I felt like I was in a Universal Studios attraction, people could watch, but all it was was entertainment to them.
The power was out, so dinner was impossible and we were forced to go out to eat (I'm not fond of fast food, but it's a requirement sometimes). We drove around a bit to assess damage to other areas (I felt a bit like the spectators from before); the fire was still raging in other areas, but there was nothing we could do at this point. We got power back before too long and were able to get out most of the smoke, but the house reeked of smoke for days after, and still smells a bit of smoke. All three of us have experienced respiratory problems from inhaling so much, usually without noticing it, since while fighting the fire we were pretty responsible about keeping wet cloths over our mouths.
On Sunday, the fire was contained in our area, but threatening homes elsewhere. Richard went to the new Branch President's house and helped build fire breaks for five hours. Aileen and I tried to clean up what we could, but everything we cleaned up inevitably got covered with more ash within minutes. We'd lost power in the morning and went the rest of the day without power, luckily one of the branch members kindly made us a quiche for dinner. Workers were replacing the burned power poles in front of the house, but finished by night and we got power back a couple hours after dark.
Now, we are simply cleaning up the messes and hoping the smell of smoke goes away soon. The house was not hurt at all, thankfully, and the latest news reports say that the fire is contained and no more homes are at risk. This is after Rockhampton was declared a disaster area. Across the street, it was rumored that the six horses in the paddock had been killed. Luckily, this is untrue, and two horses are expected to recover, though all six were badly burned. I'm hoping the other four make it through.
In all of this, I found one very funny story. As the fire was raging through the paddock, Richard was preparing to go out and face it himself. And what did Aileen do? She hurried into the shower, knowing that if we were evacuated, she wanted to be clean. I find it funny that she, being very much a woman, considered her appearance above safety. Though I must give her the benefit of informing everyone reading this that she was not aware of the extreme nature of the risk the fire posed.
Anyway, there's my short but as thorough as I want to give fire story. Right now, I need to pack, since I have but one day left in Rocky (Technically, 21 hours). It will be a sad, sad moment when I fly away from this wonderful city, but hopefully, there will be many adventures ahead.
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