The Black The City Knows Not Cameron Alexander
2006 Coopers Creek Smoke, The Polar Express, Burnt Houses, Flames We only had a few days left of the school year. Since it was our final year in primary, we were enjoying it. Dad was off fighting a fire to our east, but that was rather normal. However, during the lunch break, a few of us noticed the smoke growing from white to black. All of us, being country kids, knew it wasn’t a good sign, especially since many of us had some form of association with the CFA. We heard the bell even though we knew it wasn’t the end of lunch yet. Everyone was gathered into their classrooms and movies were put on. The Polar Express was the movie chosen for my class. The classes of grade four/five were joined with us filling the room with forty-five kids. I did say it was a country school, right? I was chosen, along with a few school captains to go to the younger years and try to keep their spirits up. We had to make sure they weren’t too scared. Student after student left, often in groups of either relatives or people whose parents were close. Then my mother arrived. We got home and got everything ready, packing up the important items. Ash and embers blew over our house and we would later find out that houses in town had actually burned from this. A few days later, I attended a friend’s birthday. We stood out back talking and having fun as the bulk of the danger had passed, looking up to the hill where the smoke was coming from. The flames stared at us, sitting at the hilltop, filled with hate and threat. We watched and waited.
2009 Black Saturday Sweltering Heat, Like Curtains It Spread, Twilight, Fire Radio I was in the pool with my brother, sister, and a few of their friends. Mum and Dad were off fighting fires. I had gone to fight one a few days earlier, despite being underage. But these flames were a bit bigger, so I was to stay home and relax as well as be the person in charge of any fire safety of the house. It was a swelteringly hot day. It had been a hot summer. We could see the plumes of smoke to the south. Slowly we noticed the smoke grow and move. Like curtains, it spread east and west. The smoke crept around the sky until it reached a point north-east. As soon as the two blankets met the light disappeared and twilight took us. It was around 3 pm, yet after the two smoke points left it could have been 8 pm. We knew this was bad. I can still remember the worry that gripped us. Ash fell despite us being forty kilometres away as the crow flies. We covered the pool with the blanket to try to keep the water clean, went inside, and turned on the news and the fire radio. We waited.
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