Reporter's courage in the face of Victoria bushfire threat

World lauds reporter's courage in the face of Victoria bushfire threat | The Australian

NEIGHBOURS of Gary Hughes yesterday praised the journalist's bravery in saving their home, as his story reverberated online around the world.

Hughes's selflessness in saving another's home after having lost his own drew almost 70 responses from Europe to the US, as his report was republished in The Times, The Sun and on the London newspapers' websites.

"Today I will put your story on the bulletin board of our school ... both to show the courage of the author and as a warning about how bad bushfires can be," Hilary Martin of Berkeley, California, told The Australian Online. "We have forest fires, too, inCalifornia but nothing to compare with this. You can start all over again, you can do it. Ozzie hang on."

In Britain, The Times Online said, "Australia ablaze: 'Hell in all its fury' brings death to Victoria".

The CNN website said, "Scores killed in Australia's worst fires", while The New York Times headlined its story, "Death Toll in Australian Fires Climbs to 108".

In a region that frequently battles its own severe wildfires, the LA Times said: "Death toll hits 108 as Australia fires rage."

On the front page of The Australian yesterday, Hughes described his frantic struggle to save his family as the bushfire rapidly advanced on his home.
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"They warn you it comes fast," he wrote. "But the word 'fast' doesn't come anywhere near it."

As Hughes fled under a hail of embers, his car buffeted by gale-force winds, the police reporter risked his life to alert the Country Fire Authority that his neighbour's house was under threat.

"The house of our nearest neighbour, David, who owns a vineyard, has so far escaped. But aportable office attached to onewall is billowing smoke," Hughes wrote. "I leave the safety of the car and cross the fence. Where is the CFA, he frantically asks. With the CFA's help, perhaps we can save his house. What's their number, he asks me. I tell him we had already rung 000, before our own house burnt."

Yesterday in an email, Cathy Lance, wife of his neighbour, David Lance, thanked Hughes for his actions. "Dear Gary, Words cannot express how grateful we are to you and your dear family for alerting the CFA to help David just before our attached office was about to explode in flames," Ms Lance wrote.

"They couldn't save the office, but this quick action saved ourhouse ... We send our love and heartfelt thanks. The Lance Family."

Hughes last night said his family had "had enough of living in the Australian bush".

"When we drove down that hill on Saturday afternoon, it was a moonscape," Hughes told the ABC's 7.30 Report.

"I mean fully mature trees were just burning stumps. It will take a generation to regenerate."