AMID the staggering flames that confronted Crediton and Dalyrmple Heights, the plethora of everyday heroes was on show. Not a community keen to sing their own praises, accolades are reserved for their friends, family and neighbours who threw themselves into the blaze to repel the unprecedented scenes. However a common theme shared is their adoration for Joanne Freegard. Second officer in charge for the Dalyrmple Heights Fire Brigade, Ms Freegard’s children were evacuated as she guided the crews to battle the various infernos gripping the region. From start to finish, she worked unpaid and without sleep when she could be forgiven for having her thoughts elsewhere. As tough as nails, she’s never seen anything of this degree. “It’s crazy. I grew up in Eungella and as a rule rainforest doesn’t burn, that’s where the fire will stop. This one was different. This was at times coming through the rainforest above our head and that’s just unheard of,” Ms Freegard said.
“It was scary, when you’ve got rainforest trees with flames above your head there’s nothing you can do.” Ms Freegard managed an extensive number of volunteer crews to battle the inferno. While she has been lauded by the community for her exploits, she said she was merely the face of a profound, all-forone effort. “On the day Crediton went crazy, I might’ve been the face of it… but there were eight crews of three firefighters each in the midst of that fire saving 10 houses,” she said. “Yes OK I ran it and got them all through and out the other side – whether that’s good management or luck or a mixture of both – we all got out the other side. “I know without me there they wouldn’t have known what they were doing, but without them there I wouldn’t have been able to do what I did.” Fellow rural firefighter Troy McEvoy along with Mrs Freegard’s husband Wayne Smith fought alongside her every step of the way. A fourth generation local, Mr McEvoy’s knowledge of the area was paramount in securing several properties before they were set alight. “Fires kept coming out of the scrubs. You couldn’t fight them in the scrubs so it was a sit and wait until wherever it jumped out at you,” Mr McEvoy said. “It came at different directions all the time and every time the wind changed the fire was heading in a different direction at a thousand miles an hour. “We all just banded together with our small local community of rural firefighters and just worked house by house.” The McEvoy property was declared the safest house on the mountain, which became something of a community hub for those who stayed. A crucial component of the hub created was the communication outlet and the knowledge members of the community received. Mr McEvoy’s wife, Julie, said this information flow was important for many to ensure they were aware of where their loved ones were as the fires continued to surge. “It was very important for them to have that contact because they weren’t getting it,” Mrs McEvoy said. “For him (Troy) it was pretty important to fight these fires, and the knowledge he has.. he just had to act quickly and bring that skill set to the table. “No one knows the area as much as he does; he did days and days with two-hour sleeps.. just kept going day and night.” As the hours stretched into days of unrelenting fighting, Ms Freegard said the impact of time went unnoticed. It wasn’t until the flares finally diminished that the implications of 20-hour days came to the fore. “At the time you don’t realise, you’re running on adrenaline,” she explained. “When the adrenaline wears off it’s a hangover and it took days to get back to feeling like you knew where you were and what you were doing. “One night a couple of days after the fire Wayne was out doing maintenance and it was overcast… and he asked me to make the kids go to bed so we could turn the lights off. I said ‘Wayne it’s six o’ clock at night’. It just totally messes with you (but) you do it because that’s why we signed up to be volunteers.” As exhausted and debilitated she might be, the community’s immense gratitude for what she, and others like her, did are beyond words. As Mrs McEvoy puts it, there’s no one you would rather have guarding your back. “My husband did say the one person he would have standing beside him in a fire was Jo Freegard, she was beside him the whole time.
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AuthorA selection of my general news content. My main round was health, however I frequently covered weather, crime, politics and general human interest. Archives
January 2020
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