DEREEL’S Robert and Loretta Butler knew they didn’t want to be separated as a bushfire bore down on their Paynes Bridge Road property.
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Unfortunately that’s exactly what happened, as Robert suffered a diabetic attack and was helped by the CFA to an ambulance and then to Ballarat Base Hospital.
“I was telling the police: ‘What are you just standing there for? I’ve lost a husband’,” Mrs Butler said.
Two hours after losing each other, they were reunited once again, much to their relief.
Mr Butler told the story of being caught in the path of the fire as the CFA came to help save his house.
“We were virtually trapped in the end. We couldn’t see. It was pitch black,” he said.
“I shit myself. We were scared as bloody hell.”
When they returned to their house yesterday they found a note left by the Grovedale and Geelong West firefighters who protected their property.
“We closed your windows and put your house out at 3.30,” the note read.
The Butlers said they were the only ones in their area whose house was still standing.
Their neighbour’s property had been demolished by the fire, with only the chimney left protruding from the smouldering ash.
“All our sheds are gone. It’s just a disaster. We were lucky – very, very lucky,” Mr Butler said.
Shaun White said he didn’t regret staying at his house on Moffats Road, which he managed to save from the roaring blaze.
“When it came through here, it was just a wall of heat. I had a hose. When it stopped, I looked around and the pump was on fire,” he said.
As the fire approached, Mr White ran and hid under his neighbour’s house to wait for the blistering heat radiating from the flames to die down.
“Your skin was cooking, you could just feel it. I was just thinking how I was going to survive,” he said.
After sheltering for about 10 minutes, he came out from his makeshift bunker expecting to find his house in flames.
First, he helped his neighbour save his house before checking on his own property, which he was surprised to find intact.
He said he was pumped up on adrenaline, trying anything to put the flames out.
“You do what you can. Just put out the little pieces. The house is still here, I’m still here.”
Geelong’s Frank and Lisa Degroot lost their holiday house in the fire.
“To see the flames coming out, it was a bit awful,” Mrs Degroot said.
Mr Degroot said he built the house with his father, who was upset to find out it had burned down.
They say they won’t rebuild the property, which was up for sale and insured.
After such a devastating turn of events, Mr Degroot said Dereel residents would help each other out in the adversity.
“It’s a really good community, it bands together,” he said.
tom.cowie@fairfaxmedia.com.au
