-
Over 20 homes are destroyed as bushfires rage across Victoria - Source: ONE News -
Watch Video
-
Related
Fire ravaged southern states of Australia remain on high
alert.
Light drizzle and cooler conditions have helped firefighters but
there's now concern over rising winds.
Bushfires have burnt 6,300 hectares in the state of Victoria where
the biggest blaze has devastated the eastern town of
Boolarra.
Helen Morrison's heart sank when she got the phone call from her
neighbour.
"Our house was on fire. There's nothing we can do," she says.
Her dairy farm was scorched and beloved farmhouse razed to the ground.
"I already knew the house was gone and the farm was burnt out but when I come up the driveway, I sort of steel myself but I couldn't believe how flattened it was... I mean it's just nothing," she says.
Morrison calls herself one of the lucky ones. She has another home in which she lives in nearby Boolarra but the rampant bushfires have destroyed a livelihood she and her husband have built up for more than 20 years.
"It breaks my heart," she says.
People in the region live with the threat of bushfires ever year. It's part of the bush psyche.
"Everytime there's northerly winds, the grass is really dry, you always have that in the back of your mind," says Morrison.
People had begun to voluntarily evacuate on Friday morning but things got serious quickly when the wind shifted.
"Everything just went from still whispy smoke to it just roaring over," says Morrison.
She is not alone in her pain. Fire officials say there are 28 houses lost in the fury of the flames.
Officials are confident the fires are now contained but it doesn't make dealing with the losses any easier, especially when the fires are deliberately lit.
Morrison believes it could take up to two years to get their farm back up and running but she's not giving up on Boolarra.
"And we're still able to have a laugh," she says.
World News Video
-
Dangerous rush to Everest summit (1:59)
-
Dozens killed in Syrian massacre (2:09)
-
'King of Romance' competes in Eurovision (1:46)
