Lucky Escape

My uncle sent through this photo yesterday, with a pretty courageous story from the bushfires over the weekend. My cousin received a call from a friend, who needed help keeping his house safe from the fire that was raging near his home in Callignee, Gippsland. My cousin and a few mates headed out, but once they had arrived, realised there was no way they could save the house due to the ferocity of the fire and speed of the winds. By this stage however, they were too late to leave, so their only choice was to find somewhere to shelter. So the four of them jumped in the water tank, which you can see near the pool, and took turns over an hour and a half period, lifting each other up to the top to get air, as by this stage the water tank had filled with smoke. It's amazing that they all survived. The hardest thing to comprehend is it looks like this fire may have been deliberately lit. So far 12 people have died in the Callignee area, with this figure expected to rise.