By Lia Bichel
FIGHTING fires is a staple for the Love family.
Pakenham CFA third Lieutenant Graham Love joined his first brigade when he was 18 years old, despite his childhood fear of fire.
“A friend suggested that we join the brigade, so we did,” he said. “My mum thought it was crazy because I used to be scared of fire as a child.”
Three years later he married Pauline and together they raised three children, Kylie, Michael, and Jodie.
On Black Saturday, like hundreds of Victorians, their lives were thrown into a whirlwind. Combined, the family spent an excess of 100 hours combating the infernos and contributing to bushfire relief efforts.
“I was around for the Ash Wednesday fires,” Mr Love said. “But Black Saturday was far worse.”
He had a hectic role as duty crew leader on Saturday and fought the Jindivick infernos on Sunday.
Kylie attended local jobs on Saturday and was on tanker two strike team at Labertouche on Sunday, while her husband Adam Rosier was with the communication MCU van at the staging area.
Jodie attended nine local fires on Saturday before joining her father on the front lines at Jindivick on Sunday.
Alongside Pakenham CFA captain Vince Ingram on tanker one, Jodie’s husband Scott Wells was first to arrive at Labertouche fires on Saturday.
Twenty-two-year-old Michael Love drove for a sector commander at Labertouche, while his girlfriend Stacee babysat 11-year-old Courtney Rosier, seven-year-old Nathan Rosier and 18-month-old Blake Wells.
“Stacee babysitting the children was crucial in allowing our family to go out and do our jobs,” Kylie said.
While her family was battling blazes, Mrs Love co-ordinated the kitchen in the incident control centre in Pakenham and said she was too busy to worry about her family’s safety.
“There were about 80 to 100 to feed so I didn’t have time to think,” she said. “It wasn’t until I watched the news that night that I got emotional and scared, not knowing if my family would come back alive.”
The emotional impact did not hit Mr Love until he was off-duty.
“While we are out there, we are running off an adrenaline rush. You do what you have to do,” he said. “You get emotional afterwards. I got emotional when I read people’s personal stories in the newspaper.”
The family said their mental and physical strength endured Black Saturday, and they learnt how resilient they were.
They said they were thankful the community was holding an event in appreciation of all the firefighters and people who contributed to the relief efforts.
“We don’t expect to be honoured, and we don’t do it to be recognised,” Adam added. “But it is nice to be appreciated.”
