INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
It is more than a decade since Black Saturday
In February 2009 a bushfire ripped through the area surrounding Kinglake, a town not far north of Melbourne
It killed 173 people and remains Australia's deadliest bushfire incident.But Kinglake is at risk again.Image:Kinglake is home to Australia's
deadliest bushfire incidentMikey Libreri has lived in the town his entire life
He takes me through the dry bush around his house and points to the ridge."The flame height about 300 metres from here was up to half a
kilometre high," he said."A fire of that intensity - nothing could have stopped what happened."Australia Bushfires: Wildlife clings to
lifeThe fires scorched the area
But the bush has regrown, making conditions as dangerous as they have been since Black Saturday."We've ended with so much more fuel now," Mr
"Because we've got standing dead timber, fallen dead timber, and then we have all the saplings coming up that are now 10 years old and big
enough to be decent kindling."So you've really got the perfect tinderbox."So if it was something slow burning, yeah, we're
stuffed."Image:Kinglake was destroyed by bushfires in 2009The threat of the return of fires has unnerved people in Kinglake, who have worked
hard over the last decade to put their town together.As towns and villages across Australia have been devastated in the current bushfire
season, Kinglake is an example of how places recover.A new Country Fire Authority station sits in town - when we visit, its flag is at half
mast - and conducts regular drills.Image:Locals have rebuilt the town over the past 10 yearsThe houses that replaced burnt out properties
were built to much higher standards
Mr Libreri's house slopes down to present a small front - and hopefully greater protection - against where fires are likely to come
The glass in his windows is extra thick and completely sealed.In town, the petrol station was replaced
But some shops never reopened
Recovery is not necessarily a linear process."A lot of people who lived here in 2009 have since moved away." Mr Libreri says
"For various reasons of course
Some people just couldn't deal with it
others cut their losses in some respect
But we've had a lot of new families move into the town."Image:The fires in 2009 killed 173 peopleThere is also the psychological recovery
The hardest part can come long afterwards, once the cameras have gone away and the relief operation is at an end.Sylvia Thomas worked as a
counsellor for the victims of Black Saturday, eventually moving here from Melbourne."When life is supposed to go back to normal, and
nobody's taking notice any more - yes, absolutely [that's difficult]."A lot of marriages broke down, there were suicides, and probably in
that aftermath period more than anything."The memory of Black Saturday hangs over Kinglake
Now there is a the new, grim fear that memory might become reality once more.
