Andrew Guild has written a poem to mark the anniversary of the February 2014 fires in Warrandyte. The fires were contained by CFA crews and they stopped the situation from becoming a repeat of the 1939 bushfire which burnt half of the Warrandyte township to the ground.
Dedicated to the brave men and women of the Country Fire Authority.
Fire and Fidelity
The sun is hazy in the sky
It is a saddening sight
For the air is full of ash-grey smoke
From the trees at Warrandyte
The CFA crews battled hard
To bring the enormous flames to heel,
To stop the dreadful hellish blaze
That many homes had begun to feel
Fighting a raging inferno,
Plugging away with hose-borne waters,
Volunteers fought hard to save the lives
Of Warrandyte’s sons and daughters
The locals returned to homes, now safe,
And watched the embers fade;
Once again, many people owed so much
To the courage of the fire brigade.
Andrew Guild
To read about the 1939 fire, see “100 houses lost at Warrandyte: Half township razed”, The Argus (Melbourne, Vic.), 14 January 1939, p2.
Author: Duncan Russell