Have we got an amazing episode for you on Revival On The Air Today.  I talk to Adrian, who I met more than 35 years ago when we both lived in the South East of South Australia (I was in Mount Gambier, Adrian in a little town called Mount Burr about 50kms/30 miles away).

 

Adrian tells of a notorious bushfire (forest fire) event that happened across South Australia and Victoria in 1983 called Ash Wednesday.  (this is no relation to the event with the same name that some Christians celebrate, not the Revival Fellowship). 

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ash_Wednesday_bushfires

 

Years of severe drought and extreme weather combined to create one of Australia's worst fire days in a century, and within 12 hours of it starting, more than 180 fires were causing widespread destruction across the 2 states. It was the 1st time in South Australia that a state of disaster was declared.

 

Ash Wednesday saw the largest number of volunteers called to duty from across Australia at the same time—an estimated 130,000 firefighters, defence force personnel, relief workers, and support crews.

In Victoria, 47 people died, and 28 died in South Australia. This included 17 volunteer firefighters.  The speed and ferocity of the flames, aided by abundant fuels and a landscape immersed in smoke, made fire suppression and containment impossible.

Adrian recounts his personal experience of being a volunteer firefighter on that day.  He was sent out on his own to check on a house & family, and when the fire front approached him, he had nowhere to go.  I won’t spoil the story, but it’s amazing.

 

Enjoy.

 

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