General News
6 February, 2023
Local publican learns fire lessons
Barry Ross, co-owner of the Court House Hotel in Talbot, had just arrived at the pub on Saturday afternoon when the VicEmergency app on his phone pinged. There was a grassfire not far from his house in Mount Glasgow. What followed was a crash course...
Barry Ross, co-owner of the Court House Hotel in Talbot, had just arrived at the pub on Saturday afternoon when the VicEmergency app on his phone pinged.
There was a grassfire not far from his house in Mount Glasgow.
What followed was a crash course on the importance of being bushfire prepared.
“I quickly rang my wife (Irene) who ran outside and saw nothing so I thought it can’t be near us,” Barry said.
“About five minutes later Irene saw the smoke and realised it was reasonably close to us so I raced home quickly to assess the situation. There were a couple of trucks already on site at the fire.”
Barry and his family live on 10 acres just outside of Talbot. Waiting at home were Barry’s wife, his grandchild and a house guest, as well as three Jack Russells, a cat and a cockatoo.
As the family debated whether to leave the property or stay and fight the fire, they realised they weren’t properly prepared to take all of their animals with them.
“There are things we needed on Saturday that I will now put into place,” Barry said.
“We have a cat basket to put the cat in but we realised we haven’t got anything to put the bird in. The bird doesn’t like the dogs so we need to have all those little things in place and everyone needs to know where they are.”
Barry said they were lucky they have access to bore water, so were able to keep the area surrounding the house wet. Although most of the property is well-maintained, the fire came uncomfortably close.
“We realised how close it was to us when we had the choppers going over us and the bus belonging to our next-door neighbour caught alight. When we heard the bus windows popping and the tyres blowing up it got scary; I thought if that explodes that’s going to affect us.
“Greg McNeilly (from Talbot CFA) and his fire truck came onsite when the bus went up. Once we saw the fire trucks, we felt safer, we kept the water flowing around the house and things like that. The CFA were absolutely fantastic, their blood should be bottled.”
Thankfully, at approximately five in the afternoon, the fire was declared under control. In the days since, Barry and his family have reflected on what they need to do in the future should their home be threatened again.
“We’ll have a think once we all get together of what we could have done better and what things we need to get up to scratch,” Barry said.
“Nowadays you don’t need a filing cabinet for paper work, you need to have your computer and get that to a safe place because that’s where all your documents and your banking details are. I never thought of photo albums, I would have lost all of them so they are things that should be put on a stick.
“Furniture and stuff like that can be replaced but it’s things like the medals, your parents’ or your children’s stuff, it should go in a box and you take it with you.”
As well as buying a bird cage, Barry said one practical thing he will do is invest in a roof sprinkler with a diesel generator. Since Saturday’s fire, he’s noticed a few houses with sprinkler’s installed on the roof, which means if the family leave during a fire, they can run the sprinkler and hopefully save the house.
Another thing the fire has reinforced for Barry and his family is the importance of community spirit.
“I can’t speak highly enough of the CFA, they were absolutely fantastic,” Barry said.
“But even people who were at the pub that I don’t really know were offering to help. It warms your heart. People you don’t even know that will come up and give you a hand. It makes you so glad to live in a place with such a wonderful community.”
To learn how to create your own Fire Ready kit,visit www.cfa.vic.gov.au/plan-prepare/before-and-during-a-fire/fire-ready-kit