The roads to Omeo were closed as fires surged towards the small East Gippsland town.

Locals retreated to the Recreation Reserve to camp in outbuildings and halls clustered around the football field.

Then out of the heavy smoke, birds appeared, Chinooks and Black Hawks offering an escape to some of the community.

This is the final episode of Season One of From the Embers, a nine-part series sharing first-hand accounts from Australia’s devastating summer of fire. 

Guests: 

• Natalie O’Connell
• Leonie Pendergast
• Ann Peterson
• Dennis and Jill Riethmiller
• Graeme Symons

Credits:

• Producer: Anne Wall
• Additional assistance Alice Ansara and Lisa Burns
• Executive Producer and Sound Design: Sarah Mashman
• Production Management Team: Vicky Rouse and Abe Killian
• Engineering: Tegan Nichols
• Script Consultation: Zoe Ferguson
• Theme: Oliver Beard

This podcast has been brought to you by the Community Broadcasting Association of Australia, and is supported by The Judith Neilson Institute for Journalism and Ideas and The Paul Ramsay Foundation

 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What does a “properly defended” house look like? Is it a bunker in a hill? A mop and bucket at every corner? Do you just need a hose and access to a tap?

Across Australia during the bushfire season, a repeated message is that people should only stay if they’re prepared to fight the fires, but as a bushfire approaches, even those who are most prepared, often have to make a difficult decision.

What does a “properly defended” house look like?

Is it a bunker in a hill? A mop and bucket at every corner? Do you just need a hose and access to a tap?

Across Australia during the bushfire season, a repeated message is that people should only stay if they’re prepared to fight the fires, but as a bushfire approaches, even those who are most prepared, often have to make a difficult decision.

The Gippsland Emergency Relief Fund directly helps people in the Victorian region: more information: www.gerf.org.au/ 

Guests: 

• Peter and Jenny Cadby
• Amy Fisher
• Kevin Perry 
• Charmaine Sellings

Credits:

• Producer: Anne Wall
• Executive Producer and Sound Design: Sarah Mashman
• Production Management Team: Vicky Rouse and Abe Killian
• Engineering: Tegan Nichols
• Script Consultation: Zoe Ferguson
• Theme: Oliver Beard

This podcast has been brought to you by the Community Broadcasting Association of Australia, and is supported by The Judith Neilson Institute for Journalism and Ideas and The Paul Ramsay Foundation

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

First, the road closed. Then on the morning of New Year’s Day, night came and the skies turned red. Images from the coastal town of Mallacoota went viral as thousands of people sheltered on the wharf, the beach and in the caravan park that overlooks the lake. And during that time, the community radio station, helmed by Francesca Winterson played on…until they couldn’t.

Guests:

• Francesca Winterson
• Don Ashby
• Brodie Gaudion
• Kristin Rule
• Kate Jackson

Credits:

• Producer: Anne Wall
• Executive Producer and Sound Design Sarah Mashman
• Production Management Team Vicky Rouse and Abe Killian
• Engineering Tegan Nichols
• Script Consultation Zoe Ferguson
• Theme Oliver Beard

This podcast has been brought to you by the Community Broadcasting Association of Australia and is supported by The Judith Neilson Institute for Journalism and Ideas and The Paul Ramsay Foundation.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Kangaroo Island is the oldest bee sanctuary in the world and home to one of the last disease-free koala populations in Australia.

At the end of 2019, two lightning strikes lit up the bushland at Flinders Chase National Park, resulting in uncontrollable firestorms that tore across the island at speeds the community had never seen before, scorching the earth and destroying animal habitats. 

A warning to listeners, this episode contains stories of animals in distress.

Guests:

• Kate Welz
• Sabrina Davis
• Peter Davis
• Jayne Bates
• Dana Mitchell

Credits:

• Producer: Lisa Burns
• Executive Producer and Sound Design: Sarah Mashman
• Production Management Team: Vicky Rouse and Abe Killian
• Engineering: Tegan Nichols
• Script Consultation: Zoe Ferguson
• Theme: Oliver Beard

This podcast has been brought to you by the Community Broadcasting Association of Australia (CBAA) and is supported by The Judith Neilson Institute for Journalism and Ideas and The Paul Ramsay Foundation.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

When a fast-moving fire started in Cudlee Creek in the Adelaide Hills, residents throughout the region had to stop, drop what they were doing and return to their homes to defend, evacuate, or take shelter. If they chose to flee to safety, they faced another tough decision - what to take with them and what to leave behind? Episode 5 of the CBAA documentary series From the Embers takes us to the Adelaide Hills in South Australia.

When a fast-moving fire started in Cudlee Creek in the Adelaide Hills, residents throughout the region had to stop, drop what they were doing and return to their homes to defend, evacuate, or take shelter.

If they chose to flee to safety, they faced another tough decision - what to take with them and what to leave behind?

Guests:

• Matt and Bec Edwards
• Caz
• Meg Stephens

Credits:

• Producer: Lisa Burns
• Executive Producer and Sound Design: Sarah Mashman
• Production Management Team: Vicky Rouse and Abe Killian
• Engineering: Tegan Nichols
• Script Consultation: Zoe Ferguson
• Theme: Oliver Beard

This podcast has been brought to you by the Community Broadcasting Association of Australia (CBAA) and is supported by The Judith Neilson Institute for Journalism and Ideas and The Paul Ramsay Foundation.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

People move to Cooma for the landscape, to walk through forests, to farm, to be embraced in a small community that welcomes outsiders. 

But in the summer of 2019, danger was lurking in the hills around Cooma and as the year ticked over, Cooma was visited by an unexpected disaster.

Guests:

• Yvi Henderson
• Sujeed Bosco
• Louise Jenkins
• Jodi Brooks

Credits:

• Producer Lisa Burns
• Executive Producer and Sound Design Sarah Mashman
• Production Management Team Vicky Rouse and Abe Killian
• Engineering Tegan Nichols
• Script consultant Zoe Ferguson
• Theme Oliver Beard

This podcast has been brought to you by the Community Broadcasting Association of Australia and is supported by The Judith Neilson Institute for Journalism and Ideas and The Paul Ramsay Foundation.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Early in the bushfire season, the town of Mongarlowe was encircled by flames and cut off from outside support.  The town was facing encroaching fires so vast and severe, that in any other circumstance support teams of extra fire trucks and crews, emergency services and much more would have been sent to aid the town - but in this season of fires, there was no extra support to give.

So the town spawned a grassroots firefighting collective to assist the local Rural Fire Services Brigade - the Mongarlowe Mosquito Army.

Guests:

• James ‘Bolj’ Bakerboljevac
• Hollie Bakerboljevac
• Paul Bott
• Rowena Hall

Credits:

• Producer - Alice Ansara
• Executive Producer and Sound Design - Sarah Mashman
• Production Management Team - Vicky Rouse and Abe Killian
• Engineering - Tegan Nichols
• Script Consultation - Zoe Ferguson
• Theme - Oliver Beard

This podcast has been brought to you by the Community Broadcasting Association of Australia (CBAA) and is supported by The Judith Neilson Institute for Journalism and Ideas and The Paul Ramsay Foundation

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.