Rebuilding after the fires // share your story

[Former-Member]

Thank you so much for sharing @frog @Shaz51 @BPDSurvivor @YouAreNotAlone Feeling very honoured to read these stories  

@frog my heart also aches for the animals. In the fires, and also in general climate change related disasters. I wish I could pour all of my energy and money into this issue because they're so beautiful and it is our duty to protect them.

[YouAreNotAlone]

@frog I can absolutely understand that.

It's so hard to see everything you've known be so drastically changed. And it's even harder when it's YOUR community.

I moved away and I think that disconnection makes it harder. For a long time, I refused to leave my house because I was convinced the tree in the backyard would catch fire. I could only calm myself by staying home to see for myself that it wasn't burning.

[Fizz]

I live in the Eden-Monaro electorate, which covers a lot of South-East NSW -  one of the spots hardest hit by the fires, thankfully my village wasn't affected by the fires but I was due to the nature of my work having spent so much time over the years in many of the affected towns.

Just gonna paste in here what I wrote to my work colleagues earlier this year after I returned to work from two months leave - it explains it all: 

"Most of the affected areas in NSW during the 240-plus days of fire the state endured were communities I had worked closely with since I joined the organisation back in July 2003. I didn’t realise the impact seeing the bushfire footage and hearing about them had on me at the time. Nor the impact of the subsequent conversations I had with various fire-affected members and supporters who I had come to know over the years…many of whom I came to consider colleagues, comrades, friends - as you do in an organisation like ours.

I could actually identify the exact spots where Hamish and other journos on ABC News 24 were standing when they did their reports during the fires from towns like Batemans Bay, Mogo, Broulee, Moruya, Narooma, Bermagui, Cobargo, Candelo, Bega, Tathra, Merimbula, Eden etc. They were the same spots where over the years we’ve set up banner hand-stamping events for our Stop Violence Against Women Campaign; the China Firewall during our China Olympics campaign; held vigils against the death penalty; or rallies for refugees and asylum seekers. It was repeated time and time throughout the lead-up to the festive period, January and February. Place after place. Community after community. Not just the south coast but other rural and regional NSW towns I had got to know and build relationships with as a community organiser - Cooma, Braidwood, Wagga Wagga, Albury, Ulladulla (where my elderly demented father was evacuated from), Berry, Nowra, the Southern Highlands, Lithgow and the Blue Mountains.

As I said, in hindsight, I didn’t realise how much impact it had on me. Admittedly, I overestimated my resilience. These were communities I had worked with, and in."

[Shaz51]

my heart also aches for the animals. In the fires, and also in general climate change related disasters too @Former-Member , @Fizz , @YouAreNotAlone , @frog , @BPDSurvivor 

as to know something is coming even a couple of days before , feeling the air pressure in the sky and then the birds disappear ( do not know where they go ) but you don't hear them again until the disaster is over 

it is soo wonderful how the community pulls together in a disaaster , and afterwards , we could not go out the back door or the front door due to the fallen trees leading against the doors

[Former-Member]

Thanks so much for sharing @BPDSurvivor

[Former-Member]

Thanks so much sharing your story @YouAreNotAlone  and so sorry to hear of the loss of your school friend. 
Is there anything that you do that helps you when you see photos or videos of the fires? How do you manage that?

[YouAreNotAlone]

@Former-Member it does get hard to manage. In the moment, I often find myself having a PTSD-like response. I take deep breaths, and practice mindfulness, e.g. what can I see, hear, feel, touch, taste. A little trick from Jessica Jones also helps me, which is to name the streets you've lived on in anti-chronological order. You have to stop and really think about it, and by the time I'm done, I generally feel calmer.

[YouAreNotAlone]

@Shaz51

I remember the air pressure changing. The birds flying away from the flames is one of my most vivid memories of the morning . . . I've spoken to others who had more severe experiences in the fires, who said they even saw birds dropping from the sky from the heat. So many poor animals.

[YouAreNotAlone]

@Fizz this is my community, too, so I know exactly what you mean. The Eurobodalla Shire will always be my home. It was so surreal to see it all so impacted.

[Shaz51]

hello  @LajW