Hope rises from ashes
The More family amid the ashes (from left) Bernice, Quentin, Ashley, Peter and Yvonne. (Photos by Shairon Paterson)
As Peter More walked down his street his heart flickered with hope. He noticed that along Emma Parade in Winmalee, only the houses on the right were burnt down. His house was on the left.
As he reached the crest of his driveway, where he could normally see his rooftop, there was nothing.
“All that was left of the house was the brickwork for the foundations of the house,” Peter recalls. “I felt curiously detached as I watched the smouldering ruin before me, but I do remember how difficult it was ringing my children to say ‘we’ve lost the house’,” Peter says.
The final moment of destruction came in those five minutes Peter stood there. He watched the crown of the large eucalypt tree fall into the pool below the house.
“I practically built that house over the 19 years we lived there. Every school holiday and over most weekends, there always seemed to be some necessary project to ‘improve’ and extend our home. Overall, I felt a great sense of satisfaction providing such a lovely place for us all to live.”
On Thursday 17 October, Peter’s family was one of many who lost their home from the bushfires that ravaged the Blue Mountains region.
His was also one of the first families to come across Salvation Army officers and Senior Chaplains for the NSW Rural Fire Service, Majors Ian and Kerry Spall.
That Thursday, the Spalls drove towards the Winmalee Rural Fire Service station to support the firefighters. Here they first met Peter’s 15-year-old son, Ashley, a cadet volunteer with the Rural Fire Service.
As soon as the fires broke out, Ashley left his school grounds at Winmalee High and headed off to the Winmalee Rural Fire Service station, ready to support the fire crews.
Knowing his own home was in danger, Ashley continued with the job at hand. But when he received the terrible phone call from his father, he knew life could never be the same again.
“We were so thankful for Ian and Kerry at that moment,” Peter says. “Whilst there were other people around, we felt so lonely and desolate. All of us needed a lot of comfort, and Ian and Kerry provided just that for us.”
Due to the bushfires, the roads in Winmalee were blocked off and many residents were stuck in their cars for up to seven hours. Having organised temporary accommodation with friends in Springwood, the Spalls helped escort the More family out of Winmalee.
"We felt so crushed and so desolate and to know that we were in Ian and Kerry’s hands at that time was very important,” says Peter.
Since that day, the More family and the Spalls have kept in contact and built a long-lasting friendship despite the unusual circumstances.
“Sometimes it’s like that, keeping that continuous support and care. But it was part of our strategy in the long term. Peter we’re not abandoning you. Part of our head space was we wanted to support Ashley, but in that primary focus there was a whole family,” says Major Ian Spall to the More family.
Peter continues: “Life is interesting. We lost a house and that’s terrible, but there’s an excitement for making new friends even when that wasn’t your intention or expectation. We’ve kept in contact since that time and trust this will continue into the future now as well.”
Temporarily settled at their rental property in Mount Riverview, in the lower Blue Mountains, the More family is making plans for the future.
While they have decided against rebuilding, Peter and Yvonne say they are determined to stay in the Blue Mountains because “we still feel at home here”.
To read the full version of this story, see December's copy of Pipeline.
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