My answer to What does it feel like to be in a bushfire/wildfire?
Answer by Desmond Last:
It is as if somebody has covered the sky in a blanket and you have lost all sense of belonging. By that I mean you are totally alone and your world has become a vortex of fear and apprehension. You do not know where the fire is coming from and you do not know where to go. I was at my home in Sydney, East Hills. I lived in a home with the rear facing the river. I was talking to my mum in the U.K at the time – on the phone. I knew the fire was close but the information from the Government and Emergency Services had given no warnings regarding its proximity and speed of approach. So I was hosing the roof and gutters and taking quite a relaxed attitude to it. Then it began. First I saw the smoke but it seemed to be quite a way off. Then the air started to become thick with the choking dry taste of smoke. It makes the air so dry, that alone begins to choke you. Soon I could see the searing trail of flames leaping into the sky from across the river. The sky started to go black – this is when you have to run. You have no choice. I didn't because the fire was across the river. Nobody had explained to me I was about to be BBQ by a giant flaming monster leaping a river. It did. It leapt across the sky and devoured a tree at the end of the line of homes. By now it was a dragon snaking its way through the undergrowth all before it inflamed. Luckily there was not too many trees and my home was set back from the river. Choking for air with the black sky becoming grey I drove down the road. It was surreal; bush and grass alight and not one emergency vehicle in sight – they w
ere too busy dealing with homes burning. My home survived many did not. The speed at which the fire spreads is unbelievable and the heat can be as high as 500–700 degrees – which is why they flames can leap across rivers.
I have written pages of new workable systems for dealing with Bushfires. I wrote to Gillard, Rudd and Abbott – all ex-Australian Prime Ministers – no one replied. David Cameron never replied either, but he did send the Police round who wanted to know if I was a threat to Cameron – I sent 14 emails about environmental concerns et al and about the human rights abuse I have suffered, and not one reply. I have written to Obama- no reply. I know I can reduce the devastating effect of bush-fires – so why no replies and no media coverage in 8 years of writing?
The Bush-fires will get worse. The World should ask Turnbull the Australian Prime-minster Cameron and Obama why I have been censored.
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