DAY OUR HEARTS BROKE
CFA strike force leader in charge of the Geelong West crew of five who perished speaks of harrowing day for the first time
A VIOLENT wind change turned a smouldering blaze into a wildfire at Linton 20 years ago, trapping a Geelong West CFA crew and claiming the lives of five brave souls.
For family members and former strike force leader Simon Scharf, the scars of that tragic day remain raw. REPORT:
THE CFA strike force leader in charge of a crew killed in the Linton bushfires has spoken publicly for the first time, on the eve of the 20th anniversary of the tragedy.
Simon Scharf was in charge of five fire trucks tasked to mop up at what was deemed a small bushfire in Linton on December 2, 1998.
By 8.30pm the fires were largely out and two crews — one from Geelong West and one from Geelong City — headed from the fire ground to refill their tankers with water.
Suddenly the unexpected happened.
A violent wind change picked up small, smouldering flames causing them to double in size and spread like wildfire.
“When the wind change hit the fire really took off,” Mr Scharf said.
“It took the flame height from about six or seven inches to a raging inferno within seconds.”
Mr Scharf had no visibility but immediately realised two trucks were trapped.
The Geelong City crew managed to make a Mayday call but frantic calls to the Geelong West truck were left unanswered.
“I couldn’t see the trucks the fire took off that quickly. I didn’t have any vision,” Mr Scharf said. “I thought I’d lost two trucks and 10 people.”
The trucks surrounded by fire were just metres apart but the Geelong West pumper took the brunt of the heat.
“I had the Corio crew actually wanting to go and make a rescue attempt,” Mr Scharf said. “There was no way I was going to stand there and let that truck make a rescue attempt. I had to stop that truck from going in there and losing more lives. It was difficult to do in an intense situation.”
All five members of the Geelong West crew — Matthew Armstrong, 17, Jason Thomas, 25, Chris Evans, 27, Stuart Davidson, 28, and Garry Vredeveldt, 47 — lost their lives in the fire.
They were a schoolboy, an electrician, a taxi driver and two public servants.
“I couldn’t do anything for them,” Mr Scharf said.
“Knowing your crew is in trouble, as firefighters you want to save lives.
“It’s really hard, it tears you in half.”
The deaths of the five men shook Victoria and led to a coronial inquest that changed modern firefighting in the state.
As soon as Mr Scharf realised lives had been lost he became determined to create change and find out why the men died. A 107-day extensive inquest into the five deaths followed. The coroner made 55 recommendations.
Every recommendation was adopted by the CFA and enforced by 2007.
Max Davidson, father of Stuart, still remembers what he was doing on the day.
“At about 11.45pm I heard on (ABC radio) 774 … that five people got killed at Linton,” Mr Davidson said. “I thought, if it had been Stuart we would have known, because it was on the news.
“About an hour or so later I heard the fire truck (pull up).
“I went over to my wife and said, ‘I think you are going to hear the worst news that you have ever heard’.”
Bill Thomas’ son, Jason, was just 27. Mr Thomas and his wife were in Melbourne when their son-in-law called.
“We were in Melbourne and got a call to say that Jason went on a fire truck that afternoon and he just got word from a colleague that the Geelong West fire truck had been lost,” Mr Thomas said.
“I said, ‘how the hell do you lose a fire truck’, thinking it had wandered off.
“Then I learned it had burned and five boys had died.”
Mr Thomas, Mr Davidson, their wives and the families of
Mr Armstrong, Mr Evans and Mr Vredeveldt attended nearly every day of the inquest into their sons’ deaths.
The process was gruelling but an essential part of the grieving process.
“We’re parents and we just had to hear what happened to our sons,” Mr Davidson.
Some key recommendations included introducing a low water alarm to inform truck operators when water is low; introducing minimum skills training for all firefighters; introducing procedures around the wearing of protec- tive equipment or protective clothing and introducing new procedures warning when a wind change is imminent.
Mr Thomas said for the families who lost their sons, brothers and family members on that day, one of the most positive aspects to come from the tragedy is the Linton staff walk.
Each year staff members drive through Linton, retrace the steps of the firefighters who died and determine how different decisions could have resulted in a different outcome.
“My daughter was one of the first in our family to do it and she said, ‘Dad, I now know how my brother died’,” Mr Thomas said.
Time has not healed the crippling pain for the families of the lost firefighters.
But the significant changes made to the fire services have helped the families learn to live with their pain.
“The emotion never goes away, there is not one day that the boys are not in you mind,” Mr Thomas said.
Mr Davidson said Linton was now a peaceful place where he and other family members could reflect.
“Now they are doing this stuff (the staff walk) — the lessons learned out of these have been absolutely brilliant,” Mr Davidson said.
Geelong West Brigade will hold a commemoration service for the five firefighters’ sacrifice tomorrow, 6pm at Geelong West Memorial Park.