Escaping Victoria's Bush Fires

Meg Ulman, a travel writer and blogger was forced from her home last week when bushfires outside of Melbourne, Australia threatened her safety

The Bushfire Getting Closer to Home

From all the travelling I have done in my time I like to think that one of the most important lessons I have learnt is that spontaneity really is the spice of life. In my day-to-day existence I find it easy to live according to this maxim. But nothing can shake the foundations of normal behaviour and beliefs quite like a life threatening situation.

The place that I call home is in the hills outside of Melbourne, Australia. It is a popular tourist destination famous for its natural mineral springs, organic farms, creative community, restaurants, cafés, large gay population, weekly market and beautiful bush surrounds. Traditionally this area is also known for its high rainfall, which courtesy of global warming, is no longer the case.

Smoke from Bushfires Obscure the Blue Skys Above my Home

Recently, this lack of wet weather caused me to question everything I hold dear when a nearby bushfire on a windy day forced me to evacuate my home.

Did you ever play that game as a kid? The one where you have to say what one precious item you’d take with you in the event of a fire? My sisters and I would play it all the time. Though back then I had no responsibilities and would say things like the game Boggle so I could impress the fire fighters with how many words I could find.

Except last week I was playing that game for real and with slightly different parameters; Instead of having to grab just one thing, I had an hour to grab as many things as I could. While my heart was defining what home means – the accumulated history of collected sentimentalities – my head was screaming, “Think practically!” But in the event of an emergency, what does practical mean? A torch and a battery operated radio, as the local fire authority suggests? I grabbed my laptop and my external hard drive, my passport and my birth certificate and then stumbled around the house sizing everything up. I tried to channel my travelling self: When I am away from home, what do I miss? What do I long for?

My Emergency Box ready to go by the Door

‘If I had had less time it would be easier’, I remember thinking. Then I couldn’t curse myself afterwards for forgetting anything. I could just blame my lack of time, not my lack of being able to define what valuable really means.

As it turned out, this beautiful corner of the Earth, our community, my house and all my possessions were left intact. When I returned two days after I left, I dumped my box of emergency things near the front door where they’re going to stay until the hot weather’s over. I was exhausted and oh so happy to be home, surrounded by all my useless knickknacks that I would have hated to live without.

Main image of fire from Photohome_UK on Flickr