By Melissa Meehan
FIGHTING fires is a family affair for the Hicks clan.
Black Saturday brings up a flurry of memories for the family, who each played an important part in the CFA fire fighting efforts.
Lisa and Steve Hicks were based out of the Incident Control Centre (ICC) in Pakenham planning actions and strike teams.
While they were busy finding ways to contain the fires, their daughter Kelly and her partner Jason Kettingham were on the frontline.
“We were already working two days before Black Saturday,” Lisa said.
“There was a fire already going in Bunyip State Park and we were aware of the weather conditions predicted for the weekend.
“So we had time to organise where the trucks would be positioned, when we would close down roads and that sort of thing.”
She said that the ICC was a “crazy” place to be on the Saturday, with over 100 personnel on site.
“It was great that we could all work as one team.”
Steven said his 30 years as a volunteer for the CFA had prepared him for the fateful day.
He worked in the operations department at the ICC.
“My main role was to assist the operations manager,” he said.
“We worked out where to send the strike teams, where to move our resources. It was a highly stressful time, everything was moving so fast.”
He said that while many fire fighters believed they were prepared for the disaster, it really depended on how each person coped.
“You can’t practise for something like that,” he said.
Their daughter Kelly said nothing prepared her for a trip into Kinglake.
“I had four tours,” she said.
“We did prescribed burns in Bunyip, I was a crew leader in Jindivick on Black Saturday and then looked after spot fires in Kinglake and St Andrews.
“The reality of the fires has never hit me as hard in my nine years at the CFA as Kinglake did.”
She said the aftermath of the Black Saturday fires was different than anything she had experienced.
“We were dealing with the aftermath, normally we go in, fight the fire and get out,” Kelly said.
“But in Kinglake we were going in after the fires.”
She said while volunteers didn’t do what they did for medals, it was good that the council had organised a day.
“It really is for the family and friends we left behind,” she said.
“Luckily for me my partner Jason was with me on the strike team on the Sunday.
“It’s probably the most time we spent together over that month.”
