Yesterday we went for an afternoon run around 4pm. We could see smoke from bush fires less than 15k away. We were told it was fine, so most of us relaxed and went on with our day. I returned home to shower and prepare dinner when Jamie Turner knocks on my door.
“You need to be ready to leave in 2 minutes”
“What? Why, Jamie?”
“You need your two minute evacuation plan. Be prepared to leave in two minutes in case we need to.”
“But what about Pat? He’s not here.”
Jamie didn’t seem to bothered by this, but I was nervous as Pat out for an afternoon spin without his phone (this is why one should always ride with a phone.) Meanwhile, this is what happened to Pat:
I went out for an evening spin, and to check out where the smoke from nearby fires had traveled to. At the beginning of my ride I bumped into a young junior triathlete who was visiting Falls Creek for the training. We chatted for the next thirty minutes. During our ride back, the kids father came looking for him, “there’s a fire warning”. This was the first I have ever been in a fire warning, and honestly didn’t think much of it. If one were to look in the other 270 degrees you would only see blue skys. However, within my 20 minutes of being home, I was packing my bags.
I finished packing my things, just as Pat arrived. We remained calm as we were told it was just precautionary measures to pack. After our things were set, we went upstairs to have dinner. We were about to eat when Jamie informed us that we needed to pack up the cars and leave.
Two hours later, 12 bikes, 14 people, two dogs, and enough luggage to last a few months were packed into three cars and one van. We headed to Albury where we stayed last night.
This morning I woke up thankful we were all safe. I went for a light jog. The most interesting thing I saw was what looked to be a 50m pool. Hope we get to cool off in the water later today.