By Casey Neill
Yarra Glen Fire Brigade Captain Bill Boyd described 7 February 2009 as “a bad day”.
“We lost 70 houses and 11 members of the community perished,” he said.
As he fights back tears, it’s clear that he still grieves for the people he couldn’t save.
But Bill says it could have been worse, at least as far as his patch was concerned.
“I very rarely call it Black Saturday. It’s such a negative term,” he said.
“I stay positive.
“I could have lost hundreds of people.”
One of his trucks was deployed to Drouin early on that fateful day, and several members were away for the weekend.
“We knew that Kilmore had started and we were sitting around at my place and I started getting big bits of ash landing in my back yard,” he said.
They headed to the station about 3.30pm in preparation.
A local alerted them to a fire at Zonzo Estate and they turned out. Part-way through that fight he turned around and saw smoke everywhere.
“We could pretty much determine that we were surrounded by fire at that point,” he said.
They finished putting out the Zonzo fire and went back into town, which resembled a scene from a disaster movie.
“There were cars going over garden beds, beeping horns, people trying to get out,” he said.
The crew set up a command centre. He put in a request for more strike teams.
“It was just game on,” he said.
“Most of us were able to get our head down about 3am.
“We were back into it again about 6am.”
Bill’s wife and eldest daughter were among the volunteers making food at the station.
“The community certainly banded together and did what they could do to help each other out,” he said.
“IGA basically threw their door open. That was the official opening of their store.
“My wife and one of the members…they made a little rule that no firefighter would have to make a cup of coffee.
“Those little one-percenters just meant so much to so many people.”
Bill slept on the floor in the fire station on the night of 7 February.
He went home for a shower and still remembers the feeling of putting on a fresh pair of socks after 24 hours.
The brigade spent the next few days heading down as many roads as possible, putting out spot fires and seeing how they could help.
A support crew from New South Wales arrived – armed with a box of Crispy Cream donuts – and Bill asked them what the date was.
He had no idea it was 27 February and he’d been on the go for 20 days.
He showed the NSW strike team leader around the patch. He’d fought the devastating Canberra fires in 2003.
“He said ‘mate, you’ve been smashed’ and I said ‘yeah it’s been a big few days’,” he said.
Bill’s 16-year-old daughter was out on a truck that day.
He chuckles as he remembers her falling asleep while eating a meal in the staging area at Yarra Glen Racecourse, her elbow resting on the table and her chin in her hand.
“She’d kicked the boots off and her feet had been bleeding from blisters,” Bill said.
“She said ‘Dad I’ll put some Band-Aids on and I’ll be right’.
“I told her she couldn’t go back out.
“All the crew were the same but they didn’t tell me because they knew I’d stand them down.
“The brigade members that were here have bonded together.
“We knew that everyone had each other’s back.
“We’ve got ownership in the town. It’s our town.”
At brigade fire forums for businesses and homeowners this summer, Bill was surprised at how many had moved to the area post-2009.
“We gave them a fair bit of information to go away and start thinking about,” he said.
“We have a whole new generation of people in here who weren’t around.”
What worries him is the “survivor mentality” in some residents who survived the 2009 fires, who told him they’d made it through once and they’d be fine if another fire hit.
“The only reason they’re here is good luck, not good management,” he said.
“I like to think that by and large people have learnt their lesson.
“It’s not if it’s going to happen again, it’s when.”
