9/15/2009 10:00:00 PM Brush with disaster brings perspective to prescribed burns
Matt Hinshaw/ The Daily Courier Gerald Harris, an Australian native who splits his time between Prescott and Australia, witnessed and experienced the "Black Saturday" brushfires that hit his home country's state of Victoria on and around February 7.
AP Photo
The "Black Saturday" fire took the lives of 173 people, destroyed more than 2,000 homes.
Few people support prescribed burns in Prescott with a stronger passion than Gerald Harris.
That's because Harris, a native of Australia, recently survived a wildfire that killed more people than any in U.S. modern history since 1918.
The "Black Saturday" bushfires that ignited on Feb. 7 across the southeast Australian state of Victoria took the lives of 173 people, destroyed more than 2,000 homes and torched 1.1 million acres before they ended in mid-March. Wind speeds of 100 mph fanned the flames in temperatures of 110-120 degrees.
Harris, 71, was hauling a second load of water to firefighters near his hometown of Bacchus Marsh during the Black Saturday fires when he came upon a car wreck. He helped the woman and her child get out of the vehicle, but the woman's brother was trapped behind the wheel and Harris was unable to get him out.
"The next thing I knew, flames were on top of us," Harris recalled. "The woman said to me 'Look! Fire is in the air!'"
Already wearing a wool fire suit, Harris grabbed some wool blankets from his truck cab to wrap around the woman and child, then helped them crawl under the truck as he opened a valve to let the water pour out onto them.
He was able to save the woman and child but saw after the flames passed that the woman's brother, who was trapped unconscious behind the car wheel, had burned beyond recognition.
"I had nightmares for weeks after that," he said. "They say it can't happen, but it does. I'll never forget that day."
People tried to give Harris an award for bravery, but he didn't want it.
"I don't believe in that sort of thing," said Harris, who served as a truck driver for 42 years. "If you are there, you do something. That's it."
He mourns the loss of human as well as animal life in the huge Black Saturday fires. Harris felt lucky to suffer only burns to his face.
Harris spends about half his time in Prescott and half in Australia, after meeting Prescottonian Louise "Rusty" Neely on a cruise in 2005. They now enjoy traveling around the world together.
Whenever Harris sees Daily Courier readers complaining about prescribed burns in letters to the editor and online comments, he gets upset.
"I say, 'I'd love to tell them what happened to me,'" Harris related. That prompted Rusty to call the newspaper so he could tell his story.
Anyone who lived through what he did would support prescribed burns, Harris said.
Harris wants local governments to conduct more prescribed burns and encourage people to remove more vegetation from their properties.
Prescribed burns are a relatively new Australian procedure, said Bruce Shindler, a professor at Oregon State University's Department of Forest Ecosystems & Society.
He recently spoke at a workshop in Australia and toured the areas that burned in February.
"It looks a lot like a forest fire would here in the U.S.," Shindler said. Other things, such as Australia's heavy reliance on volunteer firefighters, are different.
While record heat and a longstanding drought clearly contributed to the Black Saturday fires, a group called the 2009 Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission is reviewing policies to help prevent such a catastrophe in the future.
The report will include recommendations about prescribed burns.
It also will re-examine the Australian government's unique "leave early or stay and defend" wildfire policy, which relies on the theory that properly trained homeowners face less risk if they seek shelter instead of being on the roads during a wildfire.
Reader Comments
Posted: Sunday, November 08, 2009
Article comment by:
Katherine from Canada
Sitting inside a home in Jerome making sure everything is locked tight so the smoke won't get in is NO PICNIC - especially if I am only here for a short stay. The smoke smell is disgusting and it falls all over Jerome ..and does not rise up as some people wrote before me...maybe from Prescott; however, it travels over the mountainside into Jerome and down into Clarkdake and Cottonwood---UGH@!! AND WHAT ABOUT THE ANIMALS that use all that brush for their homes???
Posted: Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Article comment by:
Fire guy
The Devil Guy is says prescribed fire is better then the wildfire. We don't meed 100 mph winds in Arizona to do what happened there. Did we all forget about the Indian Fire where 1,400 people were evacuated,"my how we forget over time,"
Posted: Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Article comment by:
James
I am glad Mr. Harris was able to save two others and himself. This was a nice human interest story. However, I don't see the connection to prescribed burns here in the Prescott area. I can't recall the last 100 mph winds we encountered. The largest arguement against prescribed burns is that too many times they become uncontrollable and are then full blown forest fires. Usually because not enough manpower is on hand to keep them under control, or mother nature fools the weather readers and the wind picks up, pushing the flames beyond control. Lets not compare "the perfect storm" in Australia to what happens on our own turf. Thats apples and oranges.
Posted: Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Article comment by:
these people are bored!!
Devil Guy: Very out of touch! Controlled burns are supposed to prevent massive forest fires that DESTROY cities. Move out from behind the devil keyboard. It is only making you stupid.
Posted: Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Article comment by:
whome
shouldn't the article say he survied the worst brush fire in Australian history? the fire was not in the U.S. so its not US History. I guess it could be, but then it would also be true for Canada, Japan, or whoever, so you could say in almost any country.
Posted: Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Article comment by:
Pat
Has anybody actually driven those areas in the prescribed burns? It looks like hell. I've seen the forest service in Canada do the same thing,and they don't tear up the whole area to clean the debris. I've also seen the debrise (branches & trees) mulched and either used on mountain sides to stop water runoff, or shipped out and sold.
Posted: Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Article comment by:
Common Sense
You can't chop and haul thousands of tons of carbon containing forest debris, then having to put it somewhere (probably burn it). Devil Guy has no clue. It's gonna burn someday, so pick a day with little wind and just do the thing. If not you're gonna be watching it happen at a time when you can't control it. This really isn't rocket science they're dealing with here. It's common sense.
Posted: Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Article comment by:
Prescott truth
"Devil Guy" what is your solution to the problem of over growth in the woods ?It used to be that nature was allowed to do its thing but now we stop forest fires.Control burns are necessary for the safety and stability of our town.
Posted: Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Article comment by:
CarhartPrincess
The beauty of a controlled burn is that it is done on days when the smoke will rise upward and away from populated areas. During an actual wildfire, you have no control over that and often the fire will create it's own weather systems, trapping smoke and heat under an inversion. As for inmates doing work, here in Oregon we have a lot of inmate work crews in the forest. But have you ever tried to rake away 2 feet of duff? Or try and control blackberries, or salmonberry? Yes, sometimes controlled burns get out of hand, you can't predict everything. But the loss of life and property are MUCH less in a controlled burn escape than a natural wildfire. And I'm not just blowing smoke, I have a bachelor's degree in Forestry (including a semester in Australia studying forestry and fire succession), and several years wildfire experience.
Posted: Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Article comment by:
American Citizen
THE BIG QUESTION IS ARE THERE ALTERNATIVES TO PRESCRIBED BURNS?? IF SO, WHAT ARE THEY AND HOW MUCH DOES IT COST? SUBJECT FOR THE COURIER TO INVESTIGATE AND DO AN ARTICLE???
Posted: Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Article comment by:
Concerned resident
I completely agree with Mr. Harris. I've seen the smoke in Sydney from fires in the mountains. Think of a fire in Phoenix and smoke being seen in Prescott. It's time to do either controlled burns or bring in the goats, but please do something. You don't want to be a witness to the type of fires that happen in Australia and could happen here.
Posted: Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Article comment by:
The Devil Guy
Anyone with half a brain that thinks a "controlled burn" is good; ask the Dr's. in this area. Not only is burning dangerous (the out of control burn a couple of years ago), but deadly to anyone w/compromised health issues/problems. In any other civilized city or town, this would NEVER be allowed. Funny, I see jail trustees basically doing nothing all around the S.O. Bldg and Courthouse; why can't they go out and chop down and rake up the supposed mess in the forest? Another fine Prescott crock...
