Blazing fires sweep across Victoria as Pomonal residents return home
In the states west, a small-town Pomonal has reopened to residents. As they return, some are seeing for the first time the destruction that has been wrought on their homes, on their businesses and their community. It is estimated that 44 homes have been lost so far.
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00:00 Driving into the small township of Pomona.
00:05 Tuesday's destruction is all around you.
00:10 Over the last 24 hours residents have returned to assess the damage.
00:15 44 properties have now been confirmed lost. Homes like Damon Henrickson's.
00:20 Yeah this was actually two dwellings so it was all my family but there's 8 people in total in here.
00:25 So it's a lot of people that are now looking for somewhere to sleep.
00:29 His dad's motorbike untouched. The bushfire is hard to make sense of.
00:34 Everyone sort of rushed out and got as much as they could but everyone was leaving with the expectation that we were actually coming back.
00:41 Down the road Bila and George's home and accommodation business is in ruins.
00:46 It's just moment by moment. It's stressful for us obviously and the kids pick up on that stress.
00:52 They took it over just 5 months ago.
00:55 It feels unfair. We know now to be better prepared for next time.
01:01 Blackened trunks now scar the land. Swathes of burnt land stretching for kilometres.
01:07 Local firefighter Stuart Thorpe describes the blaze as a direct hit.
01:11 I knew it was coming down fast and I rang my wife and said get out now.
01:17 And then all of a sudden the wind just came from every direction. The flames went 40 foot in the air and it became undefendable.
01:25 We had whirlwinds of fire spiralling up in the air.
01:29 He left his home to fight the fire not expecting it to survive.
01:34 We slowly went to each home and the first one we went to, the first firefighter sitting next to me, his house was gone.
01:41 Went to the second one, his was gone and then it was my turn and I said well mine will be gone.
01:47 We drove up the road and there was the house.
01:50 Mark Sleeman's home was also saved.
01:53 It's pretty emotional to know the community members have put their lives on the line protecting our houses and they've lost their own.
02:04 You know it's really hard to deal with.
02:07 The question for so many here in Pomona in this recovery is where to begin.
02:13 Just days ago they were in their homes, they were running their businesses and now this landscape, their properties, their community is just so unfamiliar.
02:23 You know it's going to be a long recovery but I know that we'll get through it.
02:27 [BLANK_AUDIO]