We didn't hear a lot in the media but the Walla Walla/Gerogery fires that occurred a week before Christmas were quite significant in the amount of personal trauma and damage that was caused. Five families lost their homes, including one family with 8 young children, a number of people found themselves in life-threatening situations, over 100 properties were burnt, 1000 sheep, 300 head of cattle were killed or had to be destroyed and a number of families lost their beloved pets and horses. As well as this many families were without electricity for two days and lost a lot of food they'd purchased for Christmas. All in all a pretty devastating time.
I was asked to come to the area by the Drought Support Worker from Industry and Investment NSW just before Christmas to help with some of the Chaplaincy work that we as needed and was pleased that I was able to get there. At a public meeting at Gerogery Hall on the Wed before Christmas I met a number of people who just needed to talk about their experiences, and then I was able to visit some families the next day. Whenever I do this sort of thing I am always amazed by incredible stories of heroism of ordinary people who find themselves in extraordinary situations.
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