Absolutely shocking. I also lived in the Adelaide hills at the time of Ash Wednesday and though moved away for some years I'm back there again. With yesterday's extreme temperatures and wind I packed up the vital paperwork and was certainly going to evacuate at the slightest wiff of smoke or a warning. A few years ago I lived out bush and was in Perth due to a family illness with my home being many 100s of ks away. An arsonist lit a fire and I received a call, 'I think your house is burnt down' from a mate! Such is the way of folk in that area they, rellies and friends, converged on our property and were fighting the fire. They did it with wet sacks, hoses and some even brought their tractors and made fire breaks. We were lucky with just 3/4 fencing, and some blocks of crop destroyed but the house still there undamaged. I've always been incredibly thankful to those people for saving our property while we weren't there. They risked their lives doing it and really was utter madness, thanks again guys but next time ...get the h*ck away. Lives are more precious than anything..I have a few ideas what to do with arsonists!
