Dark Skies Bring New Life To Scorched Land

The Age

Saturday December 22, 2007

Sarah-Jane Collins

LAST December Sue Rowell's 50-hectare property was devastated by fire. She and her husband lost their orchard and the pastures where their donkey, Bo, usually roamed were charred to stubble.

Up in Victoria's high country the Rowells' story was repeated over and over as some of the worst bushfires in the state's history raged for more than 50 days.

What a change a year makes. As Victorians prepare for Christmas 2007 the sky brings rainfall, not ash.

But the Country Fire Authority says the threat of bushfire is never far away.

"This time last year we were well and truly into the fires," CFA Region 23 operations manager Stuart Kreltszheim said.

"Weather conditions have been favourable so far this fire season . . . but a few months of rainfall doesn't wipe out the conditions caused by 11 years of drought."

Mr Kreltszheim urged locals and visitors to the region to be aware of the risks.

"We need to ensure that people aren't lulled into a false sense of security by a couple of weeks of good rain," he said.

But despite the warning that things could change quickly high-country locals are thrilled by the weather.

"It's an amazing change from last year," Mrs Rowell said. "It's a relief really. Up until the end of October it was looking really dry, but since then we've had some really good rainfall."

The Rowells live in Rose River, near Whitfield, where the fires burned everything in their wake. But this year, instead of the usual drought-stricken dangerously dry pastures, there is green.

"It is just amazing to have it still green. On the 10th of December we just sort of stood back and thought back to last year," she said. "All the pasture was burnt and the orchard was lost."

But the effects of the fires are still being felt. Mrs Rowell and her husband supplement their income with some seasonal work on a nearby vineyard; this year the crop was damaged by the fires.

"Our seasonal work was cut right back to half. (The grapes) were smoke affected . . . it just all went to waste," she said.

Still, if the weather holds it will be their first green Christmas in a while, and Mrs Rowell couldn't be happier.

"It's been really good, and we can't quite get over how much it's changed."