Taradale Fire Brigade has organised a GoFundMe appeal to assist four volunteers from the Harcourt CFA who lost their homes and a business in the Harcourt fires on January 9 while fighting fires and saving other people’s homes and businesses.
One of the affected firefighters, Stephen Upton, and his wife Sam, lost the majority of their home styling business while Stephen was fighting the fires. Stephen spoke to the Express about his devastating experience.
Stephen was driving Tanker 2 on Friday January 9, one of the first vehicles to arrive at the initial fire at Fogartys Gap Road, which he describes as being “substantial and out of control”.
The brigade chased the fire as it roared towards Harcourt, trying to get to the head of the fast-moving flames.
Stephen tried to wrap his head around the impact it would have while trying to prevent his town, his friends and neighbours’ houses from burning.
“We got close to a burn-over, huge flames over the truck, and I had to take evasive action to keep the crews in the back safe,” he said.
“We are trained in burn-overs, which is where there is a lot of heat and a lot of flames, and you have to bunker down under foil blankets, but ultimately they say don’t get in one – if you can, drive away.
“We were on the Midland Highway when the front came over, and I reversed at 30km/h for about 60 metres. The crew on top ducked underneath, and once the initial intense heat passed, we got moving. That happened a couple of times because we were trying to stop the head moving towards town. When it kept moving up Coolstore Road, I realised the business was almost certainly gone, but I had to keep fighting, because the school and oval were up the road.
“I didn’t know if I still even had a house at this stage, so I rang the neighbour who told me it was still there.”
Returning home at midnight, with no power, Stephen struggled to sleep. The next morning, he went straight to his warehouse at the Coolstore.
“The warehouse is in a tin shed, and it was still there, warped and scorched with heat marks, but still in the same shape,” he told the Express.
“The front of the warehouse faces the other way, and as I walked around, I was thinking, ‘Maybe it’s okay?’ But no, my truck was destroyed, everything was gone, it was vaporised. I went on my knees and started crying.”
Stephen and his wife own Bloom Property Styling, a home staging business they have run for five years. Over that time, they have built up a huge store of furniture, artwork and one-of-a-kind decor items. They currently have 12 staged houses, which is unusually low due to the holiday period, resulting in them losing 75 per cent of their stock and infrastructure.
“We put in the insurance claim, thinking, can we keep doing this? We’re not young, but we’re not old, we’re both 53, we have a son in uni this year.
“We received a lot of love from the industry, telling us we are so important to the area, and we decided we couldn’t retire, we’re not ready, and we love what we do, but do we have the energy and resolve to build it back up?
“We’re now 100 per cent focused on resurrecting the business from the ashes. We’ve taken a lease in East Bendigo and in the middle of trauma we’re making big decisions.”
To find out more about the other volunteer member stories and to to donate, visit: www.gofundme.com/f/help-volunteer-firefighters-who-lost-their-homes-in-harcourt
