Humble face of fires

By Melissa Meehan
IT’S the image that typifies Black Saturday for many.
A CFA volunteer talking to a worried resident, surrounded by dense smoke, highlighting the importance of fire crews on that day.
Joe Aitken, first lieutenant of the Dandenong CFA, said he was both surprised and humbled to learn he had become the face of Black Saturday for the Cardinia Shire.
The image was a key component to advertising the shire’s Thankyou Firies event at the Lakeside Amphitheatre in Pakenham on Sunday 19 April. Posters were strewn all over the district and the image adorned the big screen on the day.
“It was a bit of a surprise to be honest,” he said. “We were able to save a lot of property that day.”
The photograph, shot by fellow Dandenong CFA member Keith Pakenham, was taken on the corner of Princes Way and Potters Road, Longwarry North.
“I remember it well,” Mr Aitken said. “We were just about to head back into the fire, down by the powerlines.
“And the guy who owned a nearby farm was getting worried about it all, so I was trying to calm him down.”
Mr Aitken said that the man, known only as Sean, settled down once they had a chat.
“It’s a bit different actually, not a commonplace kind of thing for us,” he said.
“In a situation like that people normally have left already or you just don’t get a chance to talk to people.”
Luckily for Sean, Mr Aitken and his crew stood between the fire and the dairy farm and, with the help of Elvis, were able to save the property.
Sean told the Gazette that that the firefighters did an “outstanding job” on that day.
“People take it for granted, but I’m telling you that if you want to be an individual hero you are going to die,” Sean said.
“If you’re smart you’ll pack up and go.”
He said he and his wife were working when the fires started.
“We were actually called and told the fires were coming so we headed back to the property,” he said.
“It’s hard to explain it, how I felt and all that, a lot of people were worse off than us.”
Alarm bells rang when Sean went down the road to check where the fire was.
“I turned around and the fire had jumped the road, I couldn’t get back to the house,” he said.
“I was separated from my wife, that’s when the photo was taken.
“I was trying to get back to my wife, that’s when the adrenaline kicked in.”
A firefighter for more than 40 years, Mr Aitken said Black Saturday was the most devastating he had seen.
“It was on par with Ash Wednesday,” he said. “But … the devastation was the worst.”
He said the day started off locally with crew sent to Harkaway.
“We were called there about 9.30am and could see the smoke from Bunyip and knew it wasn’t going to be a good day,” Mr Aitken said.
“It ended up being horrendous.”
By 11.30am the crews were called to the Nar Nar Goon staging area and then sent to Labertouche.
“Once we saw it we knew we would be in for a fight,” he said.
“We worked from 12.30pm to 2am that day – just at Labertouche and surrounds.”
When he was asked how his crew could work under the tough conditions of the fire for such a long period of time Mr Aitken said adrenaline kicked in.
“About 10pm we started to feel a bit rusty,” he said.
“But it’s built into you – something you get used to.”
While looking after the safety of his crew, Mr Aitken had another thing at the back of his mind.
“My 18-year-old son Joey was with me, it was his first major fire,” he said.
“It was in the back of my mind, but you always try not to place yourself and the crew in danger.”
With the fire season coming to an end, life has settled down for Mr Aitken since the fires that affected the state but he said the Dandenong fire station was as busy as ever.