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Stories
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Friends
united in loss
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Squadron Leader Greg Newland with Wing Commander Chris Mills
and his wife Sue and eight-month-old daughter Alexandra
at the ruins of his house in the Canberra suburb of Duffy.
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The
letterbox and some brickwork are all that remain of the
home where Wing Commander Mills’ and his family lived.
Photos
by LACW Simone Liebelt
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WING
Commander Chris Mills and Squadron Leader Greg Newland first met
on a posting 30 years ago.
Now they are both picking up the pieces after a devastating firestorm
ripped through their homes in the Canberra suburb of Duffy on January
18.
WGCDR Mills lost virtually everything when his rented property in
Burrendong Street – one of the worst affected streets in Canberra
– burnt to the ground.
SQNLDR Newland watched his own home go up in smoke a couple of kilometres
away in Brewster Place. The property had been in his wife Judy’s
family for 28 years.
Both men and their families escaped with their lives – but
very little else.
WGCDR Mills’ first inclination that something was wrong on
that fateful Saturday was when he switched on the radio just before
3pm and heard the emergency announcement accompanied by warning
sirens.
“The sky was yellow, then it started to go red and get very
dark,” WGCDR Mills recalled.
“I can remember one of the air cranes flying over about 200m
from the house, then it headed this way and I thought
‘This is not good’,” he said.
All of a sudden the sky went from red to black and a strong gust
of wind estimated at about 100 knots blew fist-sized embers into
the yard, setting it ablaze.
WGCDR Mills and his wife Sue grabbed their eight-month-old daughter
Alexandra, along with the cat, their wallets, keys and mobile phones,
and left in one of their cars, leaving another in the car port to
burn.
Within half-an-hour of first turning on the radio, they were driving
through the blackness that had enveloped their suburb, wondering
whether they’d ever see their house and belongings again.
“I looked over my shoulder and I could see flames as high as
the power lines heading towards us,” WGCDR Mills said.
“The scariest thing was not knowing whether you were driving
away from it or driving into more of it,” Sue said.
The family sought refuge at a relatives’ house.
Later that night WGCDR Mills managed to return to his home. All
that was left was the letterbox and a pair of rubber gumboots.
The main fire front had swept through Duffy just minutes after they
had fled and, once the windows of the house had exploded and fire
had gotten inside, it stood little chance.
He drove back to where he was staying and told Sue everything was
gone.
Similarly, everything was gone at SQNLDR Newland’s home.
When flames began to lick at his roof and singe his garden, and
visibility dropped to below 30m, he told his wife Judy
and daughter Emilie to leave with the dog and cat while he stayed
and attempted to battle the blaze.
Using a garden hose, he and his son-in-law were quickly overpowered
and they were forced to stand back and yield to the inferno.
“I just stood in the front yard and watched the house burn
down,” SQNLDR Newland said.
To make matters worse, he couldn’t find his wife and daughter
at a nearby evacuation centre, but eventually tracked them down
at a friend’s house a few hours later.
Both WGCDR Mills and SQNLDR Newland were full of praise for the
support they received from Defence and the broader Canberra community.
The Defence Housing Authority (DHA) assisted both families, quickly
finding WGCDR Mills a new townhouse; workmates helped with donations
of clothes and even toys for Alexandra; and the Defence Community
Organisation
pitched in to help where it could, offering access to computers
and other services.
Both families also expressed gratitude towards charity organisations
such as the Salvation Army and St Vincent de Paul and the many Canberra
businesses that came to their aid.
“Everyone’s just been superb,” SQNLDR Newland said.
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