Dog Rescue ~ Mission Accomplished

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Last Thursday was another terrible fire day, and a large one broke out north of us.

Our skies were full of smoke most of the day, and at one stage I took this photo outside our front door:

We were relieved when the wind changed and blew away from us, but of course, it wasn’t good for those in the way of the fire…

On Friday afternoon my friend Liz came over and said she had to go and rescue 7 dogs… Friends of hers had to evacuate and couldn’t their dogs out. They were so worried and were not allowed back in, but since Liz is in the CFA (Country Fire Authority) they wondered if she could get through.

Liz said she would try, and I told her there was no way she was going alone, so we went off on a road trip.

Liz knows about fires, so I was confident that we would not be taking risks.

When we hit the first roadblock, we told them what we were doing and they said we were ok to go through.

Along the way there were lots of burnt-out bits in the paddocks, and some burnt down sheds:

(not the best photo, you can see my reflection in the window – I was wearing one of Liz’s official vests)

We came across quite a few fire trucks and checked with them as well if we could get through to our destination…

There were more than 1000 firefighters out there fighting the fire, so it wasn’t surprising for us to bump into numerous trucks and strike teams. (A strike team is composed of 5 fire trucks)

The firefighters above told us we were safe to get through to the house we were heading for – they said the fire was heading north away from us, so we kept going…

We were heading towards this:

Right about where that smoke is….

We had a bit of trouble finding the house because we had no internet, but we finally got there… and would you believe – of all the houses we could be going to rescue dogs from, there happened to be a spot fire at that one – about 5 meters away from the dog kennels!

I wanted to take a photo, but of course, sense prevailed and we ran for the dogs. As we were loading in the dogs, two fire trucks came down the driveway – much to our relief!! Although the grass around the dog kennels wasn’t high, and it was only burning slowly, it was still so great to see the trucks turn up and start putting it out.

They put out the fire closest to us (the black spot above) and then headed to the other paddock

It is really hard to tell, but the fire was only 5 meters away from us, to the left of the fencing and dog kennel… and then there was more in the back paddock where the truck is.

The poor dogs didn’t know what was going on. Two total strangers were getting them into a strange car… We had a bit of trouble and ended up carrying most of them..

As soon as we got them in the car we waved our thanks to the fire trucks and headed home…

…. with 7 beautiful dogs in the back…

We took the dogs to another friend’s house to stay until they are able go home again safely:

So far our Vic Emergency advice is that no one is allowed home… and with next Wednesday predicted to be another catastrophic fire day, who knows when these puppies and their owners will be able to get home?

I am amazed that we got to them just in time, as the flames were only meters away from them. And that the fire trucks also turned up just in time… we heard today that the neighbor had spotted the fire and called the CFA… I do believe Someone was looking out for us, and the dogs…

We were fortunate to be able to get the dogs out and go home – leaving a thousand firefighters still battling the blazes. What they do is amazing, they are truly heroes as they fight to keep us safe.

They say so far 10 houses have been lost…. I hope and pray that they will be able to get it under control before next Wednesday.

Please say a prayer for our state as well…