From one extreme to the other

Expats’ fear as fires continue to rage Down Under

A FORMER Oldham couple have described the hell of the Australian inferno they fear could spread to their home.

Arnold and Elizabeth Andrew’s town has emerged unscathed from the worst fires in the country’s history which have claimed at least 173 lives — but a simple spark could instantly put them in danger.

As Oldhamers face arctic conditions, the expats are enduring near-50 degree temperatures.

They left Scouthead as a young couple in 1967 to fulfil a dream of making it in a pioneering country, but still consider themselves Oldhamers and catch-up on local news through the Evening Chronicle’s website.

They now live in Clifton Springs in Victoria — the state where 80ft-high flames have destroyed hundreds of homes and wiped out some towns as thousands of firefighters battle blazes across 850 square miles.

Thirty years ago, they survived similar fires which raged around them.

Mr Andrew (62) said: “I’m not having flashbacks but I can empathise with the people involved. We’ve not been threatened where I live so far but I do have friends in areas that are risky. It’s just a matter of luck and where you are at the time. We are fortunate. Thirty years ago, it was all around us. Touch wood — we are fine, but we are not out of it. Everything around us is very much kindling.

“The fires are not far away either side. They’re around 50 miles away but in Australia that’s nothing. The fireballs can jump something like 20 miles.”

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has described it as an appalling tragedy, adding: “Hell in all its fury has visited the good people of Victoria.”

Mr Andrew tells horrific tales of loss as people try to escape an inferno moving as fast as a speeding train.

“Six people crammed into one car but a fireball came over the top of them and there was only one survivor,” he said.

To get to a recent funeral, the couple had to pass through a town that had been turned to ash.

Mr Andrew said: “People have tried to get out but it’s been too late and they have perished in their cars. It suddenly went from 24 people losing their lives to hundreds.”

Mr and Mrs Andrew, who can see the glow of the fires from their home, are struggling to sleep in a furnace-like heat that at times has reached 49 degrees and is predicted to continue. They are having to take regular swims to cope.

Victoria residents have turned to the internet to search for missing relatives, condemn arsonists who have contributed to the fires and praise the heroic County Fire Authority volunteers who are battling the flames.

Mr Andrew urged Oldhamers to contribute to emergency appeals for aid.

He said: “Even if it totalled just a couple of hundred pounds it would be welcome over here, just to show that there are networks around the world that know the story and share the grief.

“Chronicle Online is great as we still feel part of the community.

“But it just shows how opposite we are in the spectrum — you are suffering from snow and we are sweltering.”

Mr Andrew is a former toolmaker who is now a university lecturer and his wife is a care worker. They have two sons and five grandchildren in Australia but often visit friends in Oldham.

The Red Cross bush fire appeal to help families who have lost everything has been set up at www.redcross.org.au