"It was so close, yet far enough to be fatal. Five firefighters died in the truck ... now just a shell," read a report on the front page of The Courier on Friday, December 4, 1998.
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"Only 13 metres away, the truck of a fellow crew was barely touched.
"A strike team led by a bulldozer was making its way along a fire trail on the outskirts of Linton ... on Wednesday when a sudden wind change turned the fire on the Geelong West truck."
The report came in the aftermath of the tragedy that had hit the town two days earlier on Wednesday, December 2.
December 2, 2023 marks the 25th anniversary of the Linton bushfire where five Geelong West firefighters - Matthew Armstrong, 17, Jason Thomas, 25, Chris Evans, 27, Stuart Davidson, 28, and Garry Vredeveldt, 47, - died after a sudden wind change left them caught in their tanker and up against a wall of flames.
A 2001 coronial investigation described the weather on the day of the fire as "a fairly typical Victorian summer day around Linton".
A forecast issued at 5.05pm on December 1, expected a maximum temperature around 30 degrees, low humidity, winds of 40 to 45 kmh in a north-north-westerly direction and "a south-westerly change, with winds of 25 kmh arriving at Ballarat between 7.00pm and 11.00pm".
It was also declared a day of very high fire danger.
The fire sparked at 36 Rowlers Road, Snake Valley (a private property) about midday, but was not "observed" until about an hour later. CFA tankers from Snake Valley were the first to the scene, before units from region 15 and 16 were also called in.
By 2.45pm the head of the fire reached Pittong-Snake Valley Road where it crowned over the road and continued south before entering the state forest, north of the Linton township.
The investigation also found about 12 CFA tankers were "engulfed in flames" in the process of the fire crossing the road as well as Snake Valley "A" tanker - which issued a mayday message as it was hit by flames in the forest south of the road.
Just after 3pm, a request was made to Region 7 Headquarters in Geelong for a "mobile communications van" and two strike teams. The Geelong strike team - Geelong West and Geelong City - were assembled and sent to the scene.
At 5pm the head of the fire was contained near the northern edge of Linton. About 5.40pm the Geelong strike team arrived at the staging area at the Linton Football Ground.
Over the next few hours bulldozers worked along the eastern flank of the fire.
The Geelong strike team was tasked with following the bulldozer south of the eastern flank and set off about 7.30pm. Strike teams from Ballarat went north.
At 8.30pm the Geelong City and Geelong West Tankers needed to fill up with water. It was then Senior Station Officer Simon Scharf, in discussion with a colleague, gave the okay for them to attempt to get to the cemetery along the Homestead Track Extension.
About 15 minutes later the Geelong City and Geelong West tankers stopped while proceeding along the track to consider their position. It was then an unexpected wind change caused the the eastern flank of the fire to turn into the head - which then caused a wall of flame to engulf both tankers.
The crew of the Geelong City tanker went into "survival mode" and survived, but the crew of the Geelong West tanker perished. Their truck was incinerated.
Mr Scharf said news of a wind change due for about 9pm had come through to the fire command centre, but not been given to him and his team.
He said his first concern was for the safety of a bulldozer driver who was also out on the track.
"Once we got him out of danger I quickly put in an emergency call to the Geelong City and Geelong West tankers. They would have only been about 150 metres away but were out of my sight line," he said on the tragedy's 20th anniversary.
"I had no contact with them until several minutes later when Geelong City made a mayday call, letting me know that two trucks were surrounded by fire, that they were trapped."
The perimeter of the fire was controlled about 1.20am on Wednesday, December 3, after crews continued to work on backburns and containment lines.
The coronial investigation found poor management of the two firefighting agencies - the CFA and the-then Department of Natural Resources and Environment (DNRE) caused the deaths.
Then-coroner Graeme Johnstone said the CFA and the DNRE did not properly manage the fire because they were using two different systems side-by-side.
"This led to dysfunctional command and control,'' Mr Johnstone said in the report released in 2002.
"Vital safety information was not efficiently and appropriately disseminated.''
Mr Johnstone said the Geelong strike team was not properly supervised and the strike team leader did not have sufficient training for the situation.
Twenty-five years on, the CFA's Chief Officer Jason Heffernan said the tragedy lead to the biggest change to training for members in the agency's history.
"Minimum skills for firefighters were introduced as part of that change and are now mandatory for all new firefighters," Mr Heffernan said.
"Critical crew protection system research was undertaken and crew protection systems are now included on every CFA truck.
"Training in these systems is mandatory for all operational firefighters every year to ensure familiarity with how they work and the procedures to follow in the event of a burn over situation.
"There were many learnings about safety and procedures from this tragic incident used by firefighters today.
"Our communication, training and equipment have changed as a result of this fire and the legacy of this incident continues to drive our ongoing training, development and practice.
"We will always strive to improve the way we train and support our firefighters to ensure the legacy of this day is never forgotten."
Geelong West CFA captain Paul Cockerill, who started his CFA career as an 11 year-old in the junior program in 1998, said Saturday's anniversary is a significant day for the brigade's community.
"It's just remembering our colleagues ... and we don't want to ever forget them," Mr Cockerill said.
He said a new memorial wall will also be unveiled on Saturday in Geelong, after months of work.
"On one side it's a rustic, metal sign with our brigade logo, the names of each of the five firefighters who passed away on that day, and also a bit of information on the day," he said.
"On the other side we've actually got a painted mural, with a bit of brigade history - in multiple different paintings."
"They (Matthew, Jason ,Thomas, Chris, Stuart and Garry) were a big part of our brigade, and might still be a part of the brigade if the tragic event didn't occur when it did."
