Usually in summer we hear sirens, jet skis and illegal fireworks, brought on by the influx of Sydney tourists, but this summer I can only hear the relentless wash of the waves on Collingwood Beach.
It’s almost a relief, until I remember why.
Relentlessness is what characterizes this summer’s fire emergency.
It’s not a single event where the plane has crashed, the waters have risen, and you can be pretty comfortable that the recovery phase is what comes next.
A month ago during our regular treatment trips to Children’s Hospital Westmead, the ward was full of smoke.
On New Years Eve I was on a pontoon boat with my husband and daughter getting home to our other daughter, because the Princes Highway was closed at South Nowra.
This time last weekend I was setting up our little room at St George’s Basin Country Club evacuation centre.
On Thursday I was prepping in case it happened again.
Last night the southerly buster threatened to push more fires up to us.
So far in Jervis Bay?
Nothing
The embers were defended by the unsurpassable New South Wales Rural Fire Service at Sussex Inlet, Basin View and Tomerong.
Our trees are standing, our kangaroos with joeys happily grazing on my green front lawn, our roads are open.
But here’s the thing - we have fires to our North, South and West.
We have dense bush that hasn’t been burned since 2001.
We have 2 months left of the longest, scariest bushfire season we have ever experienced.
We watch, in a bizarre mix of survivor guilt and vicarious trauma, while our friends and colleagues around us burn and struggle.
And we wait, hoping we will get through unscathed.
Dr Kate Mandelson, GP
January 11, 2020 #AustralianBushfires
First published on the private Facebook page, GPs Down Under
