Inside the Firestorm

I was in Geelong on Black Saturday, February 7th, 2009. I remember the unusually quiet streets, the dust and dry leaves blowing violently in the strong gusty hot winds of the 47C (116F) plus heat. I remember the strangeness of the day, it was not bright and sunny, but dusky, everything was cast in a dusty golden hew under the smoke in the atmosphere that had cast its shadow over the whole south of the state of Victoria. It was a strange and memorable day already, and we knew from the sporadic news reports that the bushfires were bad, but no one who wasn't directly in the path of the monster fully understood just how bad. No one fully understood the full horror that was unfolding across the state, it was only later, into the evening, and into the night... We were transfixed by it, the speed, the ferocity, the scale, the terror, the total desolation... Loved ones were gone, whole towns were gone, we saw cars strewn upon roads as if a bomb had blasted them, streams of melted metal across the road. Unless you were in Victoria on that day, I'm not sure you can fully appreciate this documentary. But for me this brings back memories, and it brings tears. This is simply the most harrowing documentary covering any bushfire disaster ever.