Residents affected by the 2019 Noosa bushfires have told of their experiences in a new short film documenting the disaster’s impact, three years on.
The film features interviews with Holly Kemp and Pam Murphy who lost their homes in the fires.
“When you move to bushland it’s always in the back of your mind that it could happen, but you never thought you’d lose everything all at once,” Cooroibah resident Holly recalls.
Pam Murphy fled the Peregian Beach fire as embers rained down on the coastal town, setting her home of more than 30 years alight.
“All my paintings went up. All my husband’s records from the jazz bands, my antiques – they’ve all just gone,” she says.
Council enlisted local filmmakers, Pluggas, to produce the 15-minute film to document the fires and their impact on our community, and promote the importance of disaster preparedness.
“The past three years have reminded us how resilient and caring a community we are, but it’s vital we stop and reflect on how quickly and furiously the fires took hold and consider what steps we should take to ensure we are prepared should disaster strike again,” says Mayor Clare Stewart.
More than 8000 residents were evacuated across multiple suburbs and thousands of hectares burned during a series of 2019 fires, which began with the first Peregian Beach fires on September 9, followed by the Cooroibah and Noosa North Shore fires.
“Fortunately, no lives were lost. But the outcome could have been much worse. If you haven’t made a bushfire survival plan, it’s our hope this film will inspire you to do so,” the Mayor said.
The film, which will feature in Get Ready Month campaigns and other local disaster preparedness education efforts, recounts the 2019 event from the perspective of residents, emergency services personnel and Council’s disaster recovery team, headed by Community Services Director, Kerri Contini.
“We hear from the first responders whose skills and dedication in the face of incredibly difficult conditions prevented loss of life and widespread damage,” she says.
“Then there are those who got straight to work, once the fires were out, helping our devastated wildlife.”
Meghan Halverson, Queensland Koala Crusaders founder, recalls in the film the grim scene confronting her and her fellow wildlife rescuers in the weeks that followed the fires.
“We were some of the first people out there doing the black walks after the fires as soon as it was safe enough to do so. I guess the black walks represent hope where you’re trying to find an animal, some animals, that can be helped,” she says.
“What happens to a koala if they’re in a fire, they don’t climb down they climb up. And usually in the past if there were fires, they can get up high in the canopy and it would burn around them and then they’d come down after the burn. But with a fire that hot and that high, that’s where they didn’t have a chance.”
Mayor Stewart said Council had invested significantly over the past three years in measures aimed at preventing a repeat of the 2019 fires.
“We’ve boosted budget funding for bushfire resilience measures such as more controlled burns, greater trail maintenance and we’ve also appointed an in-house fire officer to help keep our community safe,” the Mayor said.
This film was made with the assistance of grant funding from the Australian Government through the National Bushfire Recovery Fund.
Check Council’s Heritage Noosa website (heritage.noosa.qld.gov.au) and Facebook page (facebook.com/noosacouncil) from September 9 to watch the documentary.
