Black Saturday

As we headed to the Golf Club for lunch on Saturday, we couldn't miss a giant plume of bush-fire-brown smoke rising off in the distance. It seemed close but wasn't coming over Warragul at all. By the time we got home, wind was blowing the smoke over the town in a distinct plume.

We weren't too concerned at this stage. There was a small amount of burnt material falling from the sky but nothing was still on fire.
However, as the day progressed, the amount of smoke continued to increase. By about 4pm, the smoke was heavy enough to make my eyes water a bit and burn in the back of my throat. Our levels of concern rose as well. Not having done anything in the way of fire prep, we jumped into action, sweeping around the house, filling gutters and having a set of woolen clothes on standby in case of ember attack.

The smoke and wind continued to get worse until about 5:45pm, when the change came and swung the wind around. The sky cleared over Warragul, but plumes of smoke could still be seen blowing parallel to the town to the East and West. It wasn't until about 8pm that the wind died down and we could relax a little.