‘You can’t think straight’: lessons from six households who evacuated before the Harcourt bushfire

Sam Downing, the owner of Chewton’s Heron cafe, and her daughter Romy Ratcliffe with the few belongings they took with them when they evacuated. Photograph: Steve Womersley/The Guardian

There is a precise moment when a person realises how quickly bushfire conditions can change. They’re unlikely to forget it. For Louise Cook-Tonkin, the moment was also ridiculous. The power had gone out, cut by a fire which started 15km north at Ravenswood, so she was trying to toast gluten-free bread on an outside table in 42C heat. Half an hour earlier she had driven through Ravenswood to their home in North Castlemaine and confidently told her husband, Bernie: “I reckon we’re good, it’s looking really clear.”

Now, as she turned the bread, she looked up and saw the first plume of a spot fire a kilometre away. Turning around, she saw another in the opposite direction.