BRIT HEROES OF THE BUSHFIRES
Volunteers helping to rebuild lives
BRITISH volunteers involved in the Australian bushfires recovery effort have told of the hope and heartbreak they have seen as they help piece together broken lives.
Photographer Carrie Hill, 43, and former Royal Navy officer Phil McRae, 51, have put in many hours of graft deep in the Adelaide Hills.
The infernos may have subsided but the intense struggle continues for many of the people who have been affected, including those whose homes have been reduced to rubble.
Sleeping on camper beds in a community hall in Lobethal Bushland Park, the British duo rise early and head in different teams to communities ravaged by fires. Phil said: “It’s the most fulfilling thing I’ve ever done.”
They are volunteers with disaster response charity Team Rubicon UK. Carrie, also an industrial abseiler, said: “Sometimes you go to a property where everything’s gone.
“They have metal roofs here and there’s just a crum
Alice Cooper performs
Carrie and Phil during clear-up pled pile of rubble where their house and all their belongings once were.” Carrie, of Kingsteignton, Devon, added: “It’s not only the physical act of trying to help them move and clear the land, it’s
OLIVIA Newton-John smiles as she rolls back the years at yesterday’s Fire Fight Australia concert.
Olivia, 71, who has breast cancer, sang solo then joined fellow Aussie pop legend John Farnham for the finale of the 10-hour show.
The Grease star had vowed not to sing live again, but came out of about considering the people themselves and being there for them.”
Talking about a destroyed home, dad-of-two Phil, from Corsley, Wilts, said: “When we finished clearing it, all that was left was a halfmetre tall brick perimeter.
“We met the owner’s close friend – to listen retirement to raise funds after the country’s devastating bushfires.
Alice Cooper, Ronan Keating, and Queen also performed for the 75,000-strong crowd in Sydney.
Some £5million had been raised by the end of the show to support fire crews and charities, including the Red Cross and the RSPCA.
Ronan Keating and crowd to what had happened was so harrowing. When the owner came and saw what we had done, you could see in his eyes it had restored a bit of hope.
“To hear his story and understand what he’d gone through – he’d lost his property and his livelihood – it was a privilege to be able to help.”
More than 27 million acres have burnt in the fires which have killed at least 33 people. Go to teamrubiconuk.org to donate to the charity.