Superheros

Little Miss Five, who turns six tomorrow, returned to school today - her first day back since being evacuated because of the fire on Thursday 17 October.

I was on school pick-up duty today.

So, for me it was the first time I've seen the devastation.

It is going to be a long emotional journey for so many.

Over two hundred homes destroyed, over one hundred damaged and in such a small pocket of our community.

Fifteen families at the school lost their homes, two of my Grand Daughter's classmates' families included.

We can be thankful that no lives have been lost.

The realisation of just how close the fire approached the school is beginning to dawn on some of us .

Hugs are free flowing in the main street of our little village.

Everybody knows someone who has lost a home.

Back at the school the car park is still littered with blackened leaves.

The fire approached the school from the school's entrance preventing the children and staff from walking out the main gate.  They walked away from the fire toward the back of the school and exited along a side street which later saw homes attacked by the fire.

Little Miss Five, almost six, has told us repeatedly that she saw 'the scribbly gum was burning'. It seems there was more than one gum tree burning.

Our community has a  new sense of what it means to be a Superhero. 

As of 17 October 2013 - if you live in the Springwood, Winmalee and surrounding area our Superheros don't wear capes, or masks or fly or perform superhuman feats.

Our Superheros wear  hi-viz protective clothing, our Superheros drive trucks and fly air-cranes and helicopters.

Our Superheros hold children's hands, walk or drive through smoke and flying embers.

Our Superheros are Mums and Dads, Brothers and Sisters, Aunts, Uncles, Grandparents, Neighbours and Friends and Teachers.

Our Superheros rescue pets, feed the hungry, clothe the ruined, comfort the traumatized, accommodate the homeless.

Because of our Superheros, our community will be buoyed, sustained, strengthened, carried, propped and cushioned through the days, weeks and months ahead.

A big enough 'thank you' cannot be expressed to our newest Superheros.