Inside the inferno: Four homes lost, 53 saved and a long road to recovery as smoke clears after Denmark blaze

Fighting to save their home in the thick of the massive bushfire raging west of Denmark, James and Liza Alkins received some help from the sky. At that place and time on Saturday, there were no firefighters to join the battle, such was the speed with which the fire had spread. But two helicopter pilots spotted them and came to their rescue at the corner of McLeod Street and Osborne Road, where the couple lives with their two young children. “They were there watching over us and helping in the fight,” Mr Alkins said. “There was a point where the flames actually entered into our house yard. “It was really overwhelming and surprisingly emotional at times.” With flames reaching above the forest, the team of husband, wife and two helicopters “miraculously” saved the home. “The helicopters could see we were trying to achieve and they were pre-emptively dropping water,” Mr Alkins said. “At one point our clothes were smoking and they dropped water straight on us, so I think they were saving us from the heat.” Mr Alkins, who had returned home after helping to save houses on nearby Limbourne Road, said he would always be grateful to the pilots of those McDermott helicopters. Once the threat had eased for his home and the helicopters had flown away, he left to fight alongside other property owners. Further south in William Bay, Brendan Laing spent the weekend locked in a fight to save his property, which includes the William Bay Cottages. “It’s been a long 48 hours,” he said on Sunday, with his property still smoking around him. “It was just crazy, it was madness, absolute madness. As much as we were lucky there wasn’t too much wind, it was pretty scary. “The fire basically ran through the west side of our property so the cottages are all still standing, so we’re very lucky.” Four homes were lost and one damaged in the bushfire disaster near Denmark, but 53 were saved, with relieved residents heaping praise on firefighters. The blaze, which started on Friday morning near the intersection of Bayview Rise and McLeod Street in Shadforth, caused widespread power outages and burned through about 2150 hectares over the next three days. It doubled in size on Friday night. Community meetings were held at the Denmark Civic Centre on Saturday, Sunday and Monday, to give nervous residents the most up-to-date information. Minutes after the bushfire started on Friday, Shadforth resident Colin Cook saw the smoke as he was heading towards home. Mr Cook lives on Limbourne Road, close to the ignition point. Told to evacuate by firefighters, he watched the blaze with another neighbour from a higher vantage point on Point Hillier Vista. “It was obviously going to impact the bottom section of our property down near the creek line. It was then just a question of which way the wind was going to take it,” Mr Cook said. “It was pretty obvious that the wind was indeed blowing it straight towards us.” As the fire intensified below them, he did not think he would have a house to return to. “We sat above the fire for about three hours afterwards and we could just see there were just multi-coloured plumes of smoke and massive flames kicking off the whole time through that three-hour period all around that area,” Mr Cook said. “We knew our place was absolutely in the line of that.” Mr Cook has since learned that his three horses survived — and firefighters saved his house. “Amazingly, they’ve managed to save the house, the garage and the main water tank but everything is melted obviously,” he said. “Everything else is just a moonscape. It’s gone everywhere around it so they’ve done an amazing job to save it and our neighbour’s place too. “All of the ones immediately around us, they’ve saved, as far as we can gather. “Having not experienced one like that before you would struggle to think they could save a property in that. “It’s a fantastic effort.” By midday Friday, tourists at The Dam on Wentworth Road were evacuated as choppers started to swoop, filling up from the property’s massive 120-million-litre dam. The Dam owner Steve Birkbeck said the choppers were a sign of comfort for him and the residents of neighbouring properties surrounding his 332ha estate. Mr Birkbeck estimated that 8-16 million litres of water had been used to fight the blaze from his dams. “These choppers — it was like Vietnam,” he said. “Probably the most impactful thing for me was to see these helicopters — I was in awe. “Just the sense of having the cavalry behind you when you are in trouble like that, you get pretty scared out there. “It is just really, really reassuring to know those boys were above you and how precise they are — it is unbelievable.” Mr Birkbeck has lived in the Shire of Denmark for about 35 years and experienced a significant blaze at Mount Lindesay in 1991. “This was probably the biggest residential threat to the Shire of Denmark that I’ve seen in my lifetime,” he said. At The Wolery, an ecological community off South Coast Highway, firefighters saved more homes. There are 16 houses in close proximity at The Wolery, a tight-knit environmentally focused community established more than 40 years ago. Barb Piercey lives at The Wolery with her husband, two children and two grandchildren. When she evacuated the area the plumes of black smoke were starting to glow red. “It was massive,” she said. Her husband was one of the residents who stayed to defend the community alongside firefighters. A DFES map of the fireground gives an insight into the incredible efforts to save all 16 homes which were in the line of fire. “By all accounts it was very scary but they were helped by an amazing group of volunteers, lots of fire units, plus bulldozers. “The fire was on the Wollery but all of the houses are accounted for, so that was amazing.” On Saturday afternoon, a significant breakout put the entire town of Denmark on high alert, with residents urged to leave or prepare to defend their homes. However, firefighters managed to get on top of the breakout that evening, with the warning level for the townsite downgraded by 8pm. Some residents and visitors evacuated to the Albany Leisure and Aquatic Centre. William Bay couple Ezra Vanmelle and Amy Harrison spent Saturday night at the Albany evacuation centre. Ms Harrison, who moved to William Bay a month ago, said fleeing the fire was a “terrifying” experience. “I’ve never lived in the country before. I didn’t know what to do,” he said. “We saw the flames when we were driving away.” As of Saturday night, the young couple were not sure whether their home had survived. “It’s not looking too good right now,” Ms Harrison said. The fire was downgraded again on Sunday night, with the Denmark townsite given the all-clear. It has been deemed not suspicious. With the smoke clearing, the extent of the damage is becoming evident. There have been four homes lost, another four structures destroyed, and extensive damage sustained by land, fencing and infrastructure. Speaking at a community meeting on Monday, Shire of Denmark president Ceinwen Gearon called for unity on the long road to recovery. “The first thing to say is we are now in a new phase of this emergency and we are in the recovery phase,” Ms Gearon said. “But we have to acknowledge that members of our community have been deeply impacted by this fire and a number of members of our community have lost their properties. “That means that we will all suffer with them because we will need to support them and look after them.”