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Kinglake-350
On 7 February 2009 Sergeant Roger Wood found himself at the epicentre of the worst bushfire disaster in Australia's history. Black Saturday.
Wood, who's a country cop with twenty years experience—and also a raucous, meditating, horse-riding vegan—was the only officer on duty in the small community of Kinglake. As the firestorm approached he was called out to numerous incidents including multi-fatality car accidents. He led a group of fifty people from a store west of Kinglake four kilometres to safety through burning bush. Minutes before it was completely destroyed.
Then, as the fire raged around him, he phoned his family ten kilometres away to warn them what was coming. When his wife answered, she screamed that the fire had already hit their property. Then the line went dead.
Black Saturday was a many-headed monster in whose wake stories of grief, heroism and desolation erupted all over the state of Victoria. This book is about the monster—and the heroism of those who confronted it.
Wood, who's a country cop with twenty years experience—and also a raucous, meditating, horse-riding vegan—was the only officer on duty in the small community of Kinglake. As the firestorm approached he was called out to numerous incidents including multi-fatality car accidents. He led a group of fifty people from a store west of Kinglake four kilometres to safety through burning bush. Minutes before it was completely destroyed.
Then, as the fire raged around him, he phoned his family ten kilometres away to warn them what was coming. When his wife answered, she screamed that the fire had already hit their property. Then the line went dead.
Black Saturday was a many-headed monster in whose wake stories of grief, heroism and desolation erupted all over the state of Victoria. This book is about the monster—and the heroism of those who confronted it.
272 pages, Paperback
First published August 1, 2011
22 people are currently reading
357 people want to read
About the author
Adrian Hyland
9 books106 followersAdrian Hyland spent many years in the Northern Territory, living and working among indigenous people. He now teaches at LaTrobe University and lives in the north-east of Melbourne. His first novel, Diamond Dove won the 2007 Ned Kelly Award for Best First Fiction.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 83 reviews
June 11, 2015
Australian author Adrian Hyland is a crime writer and lives in the small town of St Andrews which is near Kinglake in Victoria. His research into the terrible disaster which struck the vast bush in the area he calls home is meticulous. February 7th 2009 is etched into the memories of most Australians as the worst natural disaster by fire the country has ever known. But the memories of the survivors of that time are still filled with horror, nightmares and PTS – it will never go for the majority of them.
Centred around Roger Wood, (call sign Kinglake-350) the police officer who was stationed in Kinglake that day and mostly narrated in his voice, it focuses on the ferocity of the raging fire, the horror of the phenomenon which was nothing like any other and the heroism of Wood and his fellow officers, plus the CFA volunteers, SES (State Emergency Service) and DSE (Department of Sustainability and Environment) men and women. The fact that Roger Wood didn’t know if his own family was safe, but kept going for the sake of the community – there were many others like him.
173 people died and 2000 homes were destroyed on that dreadful day – the communities of Kinglake and surrounds were obliterated. Black Saturday of 2009 will always be remembered and even to this day there are people who are still coming to terms with their loss, the devastation and horror. Adrian Hyland has written a comprehensive and compassionate account of Black Saturday, and although the account is non-fiction, it reads as a thriller. I have no hesitation in recommending Kinglake-350 highly to all.
With thanks to Text Publishing for my copy to read and review.
Centred around Roger Wood, (call sign Kinglake-350) the police officer who was stationed in Kinglake that day and mostly narrated in his voice, it focuses on the ferocity of the raging fire, the horror of the phenomenon which was nothing like any other and the heroism of Wood and his fellow officers, plus the CFA volunteers, SES (State Emergency Service) and DSE (Department of Sustainability and Environment) men and women. The fact that Roger Wood didn’t know if his own family was safe, but kept going for the sake of the community – there were many others like him.
173 people died and 2000 homes were destroyed on that dreadful day – the communities of Kinglake and surrounds were obliterated. Black Saturday of 2009 will always be remembered and even to this day there are people who are still coming to terms with their loss, the devastation and horror. Adrian Hyland has written a comprehensive and compassionate account of Black Saturday, and although the account is non-fiction, it reads as a thriller. I have no hesitation in recommending Kinglake-350 highly to all.
With thanks to Text Publishing for my copy to read and review.
March 15, 2024
This is very confronting but compelling reading. The author describes the events of Black Saturday, February 7th 2009, that resulted in Australia's highest loss of life from bushfire. The bushfire of Black Saturday wasn't like any bushfire ever experienced before. Twelve years of drought and a three day heat wave of temperatures the week before had left the country in southern Victoria dry and ready to burn. On 7th February extreme conditions were predicted and with a total fire ban in place, everyone in fire prone areas was told to have their fire plans ready. A combination of a tropical low over WA and a monsoon trough in the NT pushing hot air south and a high pressure system sitting in the Tasman sea to the south of Victoria made for a lethal combination with hot air trapped over the south of the continent. The temperature in Melbourne that day reached 46.4C, the highest ever recorded and hot, dry NW winds gusted at over 100kph. When a fire started by fallen powerlines in Kilmore East it quickly spread and later combined with a second fire started at Murrindindi, to become the deadliest firestorm ever seen in post-European Australian history, killing 173 people and destroying 2000 homes.
The author, Adrian Hyland, lives in St Andrews, one of the towns affected by the bushfires and has carried out meticulous research on the events leading up this bushfire and the reasons so many lives and properties were lost. Even reading the horrific accounts of those who lived through and survived the day it's hard to imagine what it was really like. Rather than trying to encompass all the events of that day the author has centred his account around Roger Wood, an experienced Senior Constable at Kinglake police station and describes the events of his horrific day trying to save lives and properties. At one stage when the fire is at its worst, he receives a call from his wife who manages to say to say that fire has arrived at their property just before the line drops out. Somehow despite worrying about whether his wife and kids have survived he manages to carry on doing his job. He and many others made a real difference that day, making heroic journeys through the fire zone to rescue people, saving many lives. The CFA volunteers were also true heroes. The fire moved to rapidly and ferociously there was little a few fire trucks could do to contain the blaze but they worked tirelessly saving homes and lives where they could.
There has been a Royal Commission into why so many people died that day and much criticism of the lack of information on the status of the fire and the breakdown of communications. However, a chilling finding is the fact that the majority of people did not have a fire plan and that many of them went against the advice 'leave early or stay and fight' and tried to do both, dying at their property or trying to flee down the mountain and into the fire. Due to the ferocity of the fire even the best prepared were caught out, even some with water pumps and roof sprinklers and well cleared land. As the author points out, if you decide to live in a fire prone zone, the only person you can rely on during an inferno, like the one that occurred on Black Saturday, is yourself as there can never be enough fire trucks to save everyone.
The author also talks about the aftermath of the fire, the huge economic impact on the area as well as the social consequences, the survivor guilt, the fear and loss of confidence felt by the children, the increase in suicides and domestic violence. He also warns us of the future impact of climate change and the expected increase in catastrophic fires not only affecting rural areas but also the outer suburbs of cities. A very thoughtful and well researched account that I would encourage all Australians to read.
The author, Adrian Hyland, lives in St Andrews, one of the towns affected by the bushfires and has carried out meticulous research on the events leading up this bushfire and the reasons so many lives and properties were lost. Even reading the horrific accounts of those who lived through and survived the day it's hard to imagine what it was really like. Rather than trying to encompass all the events of that day the author has centred his account around Roger Wood, an experienced Senior Constable at Kinglake police station and describes the events of his horrific day trying to save lives and properties. At one stage when the fire is at its worst, he receives a call from his wife who manages to say to say that fire has arrived at their property just before the line drops out. Somehow despite worrying about whether his wife and kids have survived he manages to carry on doing his job. He and many others made a real difference that day, making heroic journeys through the fire zone to rescue people, saving many lives. The CFA volunteers were also true heroes. The fire moved to rapidly and ferociously there was little a few fire trucks could do to contain the blaze but they worked tirelessly saving homes and lives where they could.
There has been a Royal Commission into why so many people died that day and much criticism of the lack of information on the status of the fire and the breakdown of communications. However, a chilling finding is the fact that the majority of people did not have a fire plan and that many of them went against the advice 'leave early or stay and fight' and tried to do both, dying at their property or trying to flee down the mountain and into the fire. Due to the ferocity of the fire even the best prepared were caught out, even some with water pumps and roof sprinklers and well cleared land. As the author points out, if you decide to live in a fire prone zone, the only person you can rely on during an inferno, like the one that occurred on Black Saturday, is yourself as there can never be enough fire trucks to save everyone.
The author also talks about the aftermath of the fire, the huge economic impact on the area as well as the social consequences, the survivor guilt, the fear and loss of confidence felt by the children, the increase in suicides and domestic violence. He also warns us of the future impact of climate change and the expected increase in catastrophic fires not only affecting rural areas but also the outer suburbs of cities. A very thoughtful and well researched account that I would encourage all Australians to read.
October 13, 2011
In 2008 we decided to move - away from the most fire-prone area on the immediate outskirts of Melbourne - to somewhere where we had more room to move, and co-incidentally where we would feel safer. The possibility of catastrophic fire events had weighed heavily on our minds - as the countryside dried and dried after many years of a devastating drought, and as people moved more and more into places that, frankly, looked like death traps. We're not real old bushies, but we both are country born or raised, and it wasn't hard to see what would happen... somewhere in Victoria... soon. And so it was that on Black Saturday 2009 we sat, in a slightly less dangerous place, forewarned by increasingly dire forecasts and portents, listening to the police scanners and radio reports, walking the boundaries of our own property, sniffing the air for smoke and scanning the sky for plumes, and knowing that hell had broken loose.
In the aftermath of that day, as we watched the Royal Commission unfold, and listened to the stories from the area, we'd hoped that maybe some plain talking would eventuate. That the Commission would, against all the odds, give everybody a genuine understanding of what went wrong for some people, but more importantly what worked for many others. It didn't even go close. It went down the path that we'd hoped like hell it would avoid, but knew deep down inside it would rush down. The blame game. With very little in the way of why or real, genuine information that anybody living in the bush could take away with them ... an insight into the day, it came out with a set of recommendations that we've heard before. No insight, no guidance, no clues.
Instead, KINGLAKE-350 does what we'd hoped for and more. Of course, I knew that if Hyland was writing a book it would be done with aplomb, sensitivity and considerable thought and compassion. I did, however, avoid reading the book for quite a while. I'm not sure why - maybe despite my expectations I wasn't sure I could take another disappointment on a matter of such vital importance, on another level I suppose I was worried about an overly emotional rollercoaster.
KINGLAKE-350 isn't an unbearable emotional rollercoaster. Sure there are moments where things get fraught, where the stories being told are hard to read about - but Hyland balances that beautifully with scientific information and background. Just as things seem to be getting perhaps just a little too much for the reader, he sensitively and elegantly pulls you somewhere else, takes you away from the all consuming too muchness of the events into explanation or information. All of which leaves me in awe of what Hyland must have heard, seen and knows about. What he must have left out.
Hyland also takes the opportunity to raise vital points about Australian's and their relationship with their natural environment. It provides a gentle, but very pointed reminder that allegedly being safe in the cities (on that day there was the distinct possibility that they would have to evacuate the centre of Bendigo - another fire looked like it could lob into the suburbs of Melbourne), that pretending that we don't live in a hostile environment, that continuing with so little real and genuine knowledge about our relationship with the bush, and the bush's requirements to survive is not just unsustainable - it's insanity. It reminds all of us that there are basic basic basic elements to our joint survival - and that the joint survival of the bush and the people who live in, near or within ember flight distance of it requires observation, consideration, care, planning and accommodation. It can't be learnt sitting in air-conditioned comfort watching a screen - but learn it we absolutely must. We're in mandatory reading territory here.
In the aftermath of that day, as we watched the Royal Commission unfold, and listened to the stories from the area, we'd hoped that maybe some plain talking would eventuate. That the Commission would, against all the odds, give everybody a genuine understanding of what went wrong for some people, but more importantly what worked for many others. It didn't even go close. It went down the path that we'd hoped like hell it would avoid, but knew deep down inside it would rush down. The blame game. With very little in the way of why or real, genuine information that anybody living in the bush could take away with them ... an insight into the day, it came out with a set of recommendations that we've heard before. No insight, no guidance, no clues.
Instead, KINGLAKE-350 does what we'd hoped for and more. Of course, I knew that if Hyland was writing a book it would be done with aplomb, sensitivity and considerable thought and compassion. I did, however, avoid reading the book for quite a while. I'm not sure why - maybe despite my expectations I wasn't sure I could take another disappointment on a matter of such vital importance, on another level I suppose I was worried about an overly emotional rollercoaster.
KINGLAKE-350 isn't an unbearable emotional rollercoaster. Sure there are moments where things get fraught, where the stories being told are hard to read about - but Hyland balances that beautifully with scientific information and background. Just as things seem to be getting perhaps just a little too much for the reader, he sensitively and elegantly pulls you somewhere else, takes you away from the all consuming too muchness of the events into explanation or information. All of which leaves me in awe of what Hyland must have heard, seen and knows about. What he must have left out.
Hyland also takes the opportunity to raise vital points about Australian's and their relationship with their natural environment. It provides a gentle, but very pointed reminder that allegedly being safe in the cities (on that day there was the distinct possibility that they would have to evacuate the centre of Bendigo - another fire looked like it could lob into the suburbs of Melbourne), that pretending that we don't live in a hostile environment, that continuing with so little real and genuine knowledge about our relationship with the bush, and the bush's requirements to survive is not just unsustainable - it's insanity. It reminds all of us that there are basic basic basic elements to our joint survival - and that the joint survival of the bush and the people who live in, near or within ember flight distance of it requires observation, consideration, care, planning and accommodation. It can't be learnt sitting in air-conditioned comfort watching a screen - but learn it we absolutely must. We're in mandatory reading territory here.
July 24, 2013
”We were lucky at first. At the end of January 2009 the State of Victoria [Australia] sweltered through three successive record-breaking days of 109.4°F-plus heat. In Melbourne the mercury climbed to 113°F, the third-hottest day on record. Birds fell from the sky, bitumen bubbled underfoot…the next morning [the newspaper] the Age carried the prescient headline: ”The sun rises on the worst day in history.”
Black Saturday. Our luck was about to run out.”
This is the story of the 2009 bushfire in the state of Victoria in which 173 people died and countless homes were incinerated. In a twelve-hour span, the raging fire in the Kinglake National Forest north of Melbourne created wind speeds estimated between 90-120 mph, spreading the fire through a dry eucalypt and beech forest like a blow-torch.
Worst of all, perhaps, is the realization that at least one of the many fires that scoured the area that day was deliberately set. The air pressure systems over and around Australia that day turned the conflagration into the worst in the country’s history. The wind threw the flame to four points of the compass and surrounded people as they turned to flee.
Local fire volunteers tried struggled in vain against conditions that quickly overwhelmed them. Local police tried to locate and corral those outside their homes and find a safe place for them to shelter. State and national responses were very late due to the speed and fury of the blaze. TV commentators were still calmly reporting “hot weather” as the flames engulfed homes.
”It is hard to imagine a more dramatic illustration of the fact that, if you are going to make your home in a fire zone, the only person you can rely on in an emergency is yourself.”I would have to amend that and say that in an emergency [of any sort], expect to rely on yourself. Mobilizing forces, equipment, material is a time-consuming endeavor, and if, say, one does not live in a fire zone on a high-possibility-of-fire day but experiences a natural disaster of another sort (earthquake, tornado, flood), one must always manage for a while, sometimes a good while, without outside aid.
”The lesson of how to live with our environment has yet to sink into our bones. Rather than adapting to our environment, we are isolating ourselves from it, building barriers of plastic and steel between ourselves and the real world.”
Hyland has done us a great service, by telling us what happened that summer day in Victoria. His writing recounts (and reflects in some places) the confusion at the scenes. He did a herculean job of trying to interpret the necessarily hazy memories of the survivors who were so filled with anxiety and adrenaline that there is little they remember clearly. He highlights the extraordinary efforts of a few individuals who did the best they could for their community against overwhelming odds.
I felt the maps were painfully incomplete for someone unfamiliar with the lay of the land. While the first map gives some small indication of topography, latter maps would have been much more useful with contour lines indicating steepness of the slope. In his account Hyland tells us the flames moved up the mountains in minutes. It would have been useful to see where the mountains actually were, and where the concentration of dwellings lay. But Hyland did a very good job in showing us how the actual event played out in the eyes of those involved. What a horror show.
May 11, 2013
I don't think any review can do this book justice or even attempt to describe the emotions and reactions that it inspires. This non-fiction account of one of Victoria's worst natural disasters, the Black Saturday Fires 2009, reads like a thriller/horror story. It is very difficult to comprehend the events of that night in February and the total devastation caused, without having experienced them first hand. Even looking at the news coverage, photos and listening to stories from survivors and rescuers....all those in the frontline,it is hard to really understand and digest how truly horrifying this experience was. The whole time I was reading, I had goosebumps. It is truly amazing to think of the Australian spirit and the community that comes together in such horrendous circumstances. There are so many people through the Kinglake, St.Andrews, Strathewen and other nearby communities that must be commended and admired for what they endured and survived.And my heart goes out to those who perished or lost everything.Thank you Mr. Hyland for this book and for not allowing us to forget.
November 19, 2020
Look, this book was just great.
I read a /lot/ of disaster books. More specifically, I read an absolute TON of wildfire books. In the genre of "storytelling about past fires," Kinglake-350 is among the best.
Hyland follows the story of Roger Wood, a police officer, during the 2009 Black Saturday fires. This choice is fruitful: many disaster retellings try to recount the story from far too many perspectives simultaneously, sometimes with dozens of actors vying for the main role in the story. In this case, Wood becomes the main protagonist... but in a coherence-inducing way, rather than a self-centred one. Other characters weave through, and Wood isn't cast as a superficial hero or anything, but the choice to narrow down to a central actor and tell other stories in relation to his progression through the day is highly effective. It makes for a much more readable story than most tales.
Hyland also does a reasonable job of blending in a little fire science. It's not overbearing, but is illuminating for the average reader and does a good job of covering some key content.
It's not a definitive history of Black Saturday, but it's not meant to be. It tells a story that matters from one of the communities most deeply effected and it tells it an an unvarnished, engaging manner. It's a solid book and likely the best 'fire story' so far that I'd recommend for any reader willing to give wildfire stories a shot.
I read a /lot/ of disaster books. More specifically, I read an absolute TON of wildfire books. In the genre of "storytelling about past fires," Kinglake-350 is among the best.
Hyland follows the story of Roger Wood, a police officer, during the 2009 Black Saturday fires. This choice is fruitful: many disaster retellings try to recount the story from far too many perspectives simultaneously, sometimes with dozens of actors vying for the main role in the story. In this case, Wood becomes the main protagonist... but in a coherence-inducing way, rather than a self-centred one. Other characters weave through, and Wood isn't cast as a superficial hero or anything, but the choice to narrow down to a central actor and tell other stories in relation to his progression through the day is highly effective. It makes for a much more readable story than most tales.
Hyland also does a reasonable job of blending in a little fire science. It's not overbearing, but is illuminating for the average reader and does a good job of covering some key content.
It's not a definitive history of Black Saturday, but it's not meant to be. It tells a story that matters from one of the communities most deeply effected and it tells it an an unvarnished, engaging manner. It's a solid book and likely the best 'fire story' so far that I'd recommend for any reader willing to give wildfire stories a shot.
February 5, 2017
Kinglake-350 is a non-fiction account of the worst bushfire in Victoria's history (and there have been many), one that claimed 173 lives. I grew up in Victoria and knew many of the places mentioned in the book. Our neighbours where I live now have a brother from Kinglake who lost his business but thankfully survived with his family.
This was an incredibly moving account of the tragedy told through the accounts of many of the volunteers and others who worked tirelessly throughout the crisis to save lives and property. The book was beautifully written: I could feel the despair of the townspeople, I could feel the heat, hear the roar of the towering flames and see the terrible destruction wrought by the monster fire. I had tears in my eyes more than once while reading it.
Thankfully the author interspersed the harrowing account with relevant scientific facts and history, particularly the close relationship that Australia's Indigenous peoples have with fire.
This was as thrilling and suspenseful as any thriller could be but beautifully balanced by accounts of the heroism and resilience of those who fought the monster with all they had and then some. Many Australians owe heartfelt thanks to the tireless efforts of the volunteer rural fire brigades who risk their lives every time they go into battle. It was disturbing to read that about 50 of the deaths were attributed to arson. I hope that the lessons learned from this tragedy (and there were some telling ones) will save lives in the future.
The book is also a valuable resource for anyone living in a fire prone area, like my partner and I. We will surely be revising our fire plan.
This was an incredibly moving account of the tragedy told through the accounts of many of the volunteers and others who worked tirelessly throughout the crisis to save lives and property. The book was beautifully written: I could feel the despair of the townspeople, I could feel the heat, hear the roar of the towering flames and see the terrible destruction wrought by the monster fire. I had tears in my eyes more than once while reading it.
Thankfully the author interspersed the harrowing account with relevant scientific facts and history, particularly the close relationship that Australia's Indigenous peoples have with fire.
This was as thrilling and suspenseful as any thriller could be but beautifully balanced by accounts of the heroism and resilience of those who fought the monster with all they had and then some. Many Australians owe heartfelt thanks to the tireless efforts of the volunteer rural fire brigades who risk their lives every time they go into battle. It was disturbing to read that about 50 of the deaths were attributed to arson. I hope that the lessons learned from this tragedy (and there were some telling ones) will save lives in the future.
The book is also a valuable resource for anyone living in a fire prone area, like my partner and I. We will surely be revising our fire plan.
February 28, 2013
This is one of those books you feel compelled to read as a survivor. Not that I was anywhere within cooee of these fires...I was 1,000 miles away but still...bushfires are strong in the consciousness of Australians. I grew up in Canberra and had holidays in the Blue Mountains west of Sydney where the threat of bushfires was very real during summer. We live at the edge of the bush of Mt Coot-tha in Brisbane. I am perhaps foolishly consoled by the fact/urban myth??? that fire tends to race up mountains and we're at the bottom of the mountain. Anyway the footage of the Kinglake disaster in Victoria is still fresh enough in my memory to want more answers to what seemed to be the mother of all fires. It's a good read and goes at a cracking pace, with the local copper introduced as the central character going about his daily business as normally as he can given the circumstances. The CFA or Country Fire Authority play their role too. But of course the fire itself is the biggest character of all...and indeed one old timer is quoted as calling it "The Boss". I learned so much from this book - about the history of fires, the pyschology or sociology of how people behave in disasters, about fire creating its own weather, about the causes and about how ultimately, your survival is really as much about luck as about you looking after yourself and not relying on a fire truck to come and save you and yours. Read it. You won't be disappointed. I might add that while I write this, it is now teeming and we all look like being flooded....again.
January 21, 2018
‘A fire is regarded as unstoppable, even with the help of aerial bombardment, when it generates 3500-4000 kilowatts of energy per metre.
The Black Saturday fires generated something in the vicinity of 80,000 kilowatts per metre’
This book should be on the curriculum of Australian high schools. Not only is it an incredible recounting of disaster and heroism, it is an educational lesson on the extremities of Mother Nature.
The story of the fire is told very well via local constable Roger Wood as he selflessly navigates his way through the bushfire, literally going through the worst of it to save his community, whilst never knowing his family is even alive. I really think there should be a movie adapted from this book, it is all very shocking, visceral and emotional.
The Black Saturday fires generated something in the vicinity of 80,000 kilowatts per metre’
This book should be on the curriculum of Australian high schools. Not only is it an incredible recounting of disaster and heroism, it is an educational lesson on the extremities of Mother Nature.
The story of the fire is told very well via local constable Roger Wood as he selflessly navigates his way through the bushfire, literally going through the worst of it to save his community, whilst never knowing his family is even alive. I really think there should be a movie adapted from this book, it is all very shocking, visceral and emotional.
April 24, 2014
A terrific read. Hyland brings Black Saturday to life with gut-wrenching vividness.
January 25, 2020
I think the fact I took only 2 days to read this book (when others take me months) says a lot - I found it hard to put down and, when I wasn’t reading it, found my mind drifting back to it, wanting to read more.
The story of Black Saturday and what the communities of Kinglake and others went through is absolutely harrowing and the experiences described so eloquently in this book will no doubt impact the people involved for the remainder of their lives.
Seriously, I have few words - just read it. Be prepared to cry and gasp but I think it’s an important set of experiences for all of us to know about. Whether or not you live in a fire prone area, Australians everywhere are and will increasingly be affected by fires and need to consider whatever we can do to reduce the impact.
The story of Black Saturday and what the communities of Kinglake and others went through is absolutely harrowing and the experiences described so eloquently in this book will no doubt impact the people involved for the remainder of their lives.
Seriously, I have few words - just read it. Be prepared to cry and gasp but I think it’s an important set of experiences for all of us to know about. Whether or not you live in a fire prone area, Australians everywhere are and will increasingly be affected by fires and need to consider whatever we can do to reduce the impact.
August 19, 2012
Wow! So sad.
We were on the outskirts of this fire and so much in this book is true.The fire came 100 metres close to us. I know, I know, you're going to say 'yes, its a true account of the tragic event.' But the description of the embers..........the roar like a jet plane engine of the fire...........the panic..........the wind. Perfect description of what all these things were like. No over exaggeration AT ALL!!
Trying to describe these sounds to my friends was so hard as it sounded like I was over exaggerating.......too unrealistic to be true.
But it was all true and this author has described it how it really was.
I went back to that day while reading this book. I cried. Remembering what we had to deal with. Which was nothing like what these people had to do to stay alive.
A man driving his car passed our house to get back to his house 200 metres up the road was in a panicked state. He had jerry cans of fuel in his boot to run the generators to pump the water at his house, which also housed his elderly parents.
He fatally crashed and flipped his car out the front of our house. While we attended him, outbreaks all around our town were happening. Calling 000 was no use. There was no one around our area and if there was they were too busy with the fires surrounding our town. Our hoses lost water pressure so we turned to the buckets of water. It wasn't doing anything. We flagged down a passing truck heading to Christmas Hills, to put out the flaming car which lay on it's roof in the ditch and starting to set the paddock next to it alight, with an elderly lady living in the adjoining house. Once they put out the flames they left. But not before saying after my husband told us to leave, "the town is surrounded. You can't get out." And off they went leaving us all in stunned silence.
We kept fighting the enormous embers that floated down from the hills. I couldn't believe the size of them. Floating on the roaring wind.
Finally 4 hours later the road was blocked off because of the casualty in the car. Slow communication between the firies and the police. But understandable due to the circumstances.
We survived. Our house untouched. The local supermarket car park was crowded with people from up the mountain and locals of the town because there was just nowhere to go. The supermarket was giving out free bottles of water and offering inside to the elderly and parents with babies for the cooling and smokeless atmosphere. The town was surrounded and we could see the fires closing in. The main street was littered with people just walking around dazed. Many horses were also being walked around out of their floats. It was strange.
I really shouldn't have read this book. BUT I think it has helped me appreciate how lucky we were.
The casualty in the car turned out to be someone we knew in someone elses car. But we didn't find out for days.
In memory of those who lost their lives, loved ones and their possessions. And for those who had the unfortunate time of being fronted with this disaster. In Marysville also {the whole town was completely wiped out from the Murrindindi fire which was heading towards Kinglake to join up.}
We were on the outskirts of this fire and so much in this book is true.The fire came 100 metres close to us. I know, I know, you're going to say 'yes, its a true account of the tragic event.' But the description of the embers..........the roar like a jet plane engine of the fire...........the panic..........the wind. Perfect description of what all these things were like. No over exaggeration AT ALL!!
Trying to describe these sounds to my friends was so hard as it sounded like I was over exaggerating.......too unrealistic to be true.
But it was all true and this author has described it how it really was.
I went back to that day while reading this book. I cried. Remembering what we had to deal with. Which was nothing like what these people had to do to stay alive.
A man driving his car passed our house to get back to his house 200 metres up the road was in a panicked state. He had jerry cans of fuel in his boot to run the generators to pump the water at his house, which also housed his elderly parents.
He fatally crashed and flipped his car out the front of our house. While we attended him, outbreaks all around our town were happening. Calling 000 was no use. There was no one around our area and if there was they were too busy with the fires surrounding our town. Our hoses lost water pressure so we turned to the buckets of water. It wasn't doing anything. We flagged down a passing truck heading to Christmas Hills, to put out the flaming car which lay on it's roof in the ditch and starting to set the paddock next to it alight, with an elderly lady living in the adjoining house. Once they put out the flames they left. But not before saying after my husband told us to leave, "the town is surrounded. You can't get out." And off they went leaving us all in stunned silence.
We kept fighting the enormous embers that floated down from the hills. I couldn't believe the size of them. Floating on the roaring wind.
Finally 4 hours later the road was blocked off because of the casualty in the car. Slow communication between the firies and the police. But understandable due to the circumstances.
We survived. Our house untouched. The local supermarket car park was crowded with people from up the mountain and locals of the town because there was just nowhere to go. The supermarket was giving out free bottles of water and offering inside to the elderly and parents with babies for the cooling and smokeless atmosphere. The town was surrounded and we could see the fires closing in. The main street was littered with people just walking around dazed. Many horses were also being walked around out of their floats. It was strange.
I really shouldn't have read this book. BUT I think it has helped me appreciate how lucky we were.
The casualty in the car turned out to be someone we knew in someone elses car. But we didn't find out for days.
In memory of those who lost their lives, loved ones and their possessions. And for those who had the unfortunate time of being fronted with this disaster. In Marysville also {the whole town was completely wiped out from the Murrindindi fire which was heading towards Kinglake to join up.}
March 23, 2015
Hyland came to speak to us about this novel and his writing when I was at Uni, and I had always intended to give this one a read.
Perhaps this isn't the most ground-breaking literature ever, however this has been an incredibly insightful read and one I highly recommend.
It's fascinating to read accounts of the events of Black Saturday, and it is also a very personal one given Hyland's relationship with people from the Kinglake Ranges and surrounds. I also found it personally affecting, given Kinglake isn't too far from home and as many, I remember seeing the haze of smoke coming over the hill and thinking how terrible it must be on the frontline. I think many people don't realise just how bad it was.
A particular success of this novel is that Hyland explores more than just a play-by-play of the day. He digs deep and brings forth new perspectives on the event by incorporating insight from psychologists who discuss why people react the way they do in times of crisis. He looks at historical events and dreamtime stories to help explain and understand Black Saturday. What is most useful is the depth of research he undertook to understand the science behind a bushfire and the connectedness of our world and the environment to the seemingly extreme occurrence of bushfires. I almost feel like if I was to ever live in the bush, I would have a better understanding of what to do and not to do in the face of a bushfire. I feel like Black Saturday has now been lost within the blandness of the Royal Commission and almost repressed as a tragedy of the past. Hyland's work brings new light to the events and forces us to think about why it occurred, recognises the efforts of the Kinglake and broader community, and highlights the issues that need to be addressed to prevent such a thing happening again.
Perhaps this isn't the most ground-breaking literature ever, however this has been an incredibly insightful read and one I highly recommend.
It's fascinating to read accounts of the events of Black Saturday, and it is also a very personal one given Hyland's relationship with people from the Kinglake Ranges and surrounds. I also found it personally affecting, given Kinglake isn't too far from home and as many, I remember seeing the haze of smoke coming over the hill and thinking how terrible it must be on the frontline. I think many people don't realise just how bad it was.
A particular success of this novel is that Hyland explores more than just a play-by-play of the day. He digs deep and brings forth new perspectives on the event by incorporating insight from psychologists who discuss why people react the way they do in times of crisis. He looks at historical events and dreamtime stories to help explain and understand Black Saturday. What is most useful is the depth of research he undertook to understand the science behind a bushfire and the connectedness of our world and the environment to the seemingly extreme occurrence of bushfires. I almost feel like if I was to ever live in the bush, I would have a better understanding of what to do and not to do in the face of a bushfire. I feel like Black Saturday has now been lost within the blandness of the Royal Commission and almost repressed as a tragedy of the past. Hyland's work brings new light to the events and forces us to think about why it occurred, recognises the efforts of the Kinglake and broader community, and highlights the issues that need to be addressed to prevent such a thing happening again.
October 29, 2012
Kinglake-350 is a non-fiction account of the happenings in and around Kinglake during the Black Saturday bushfire disaster of 2009. Hyland creates a ripping story around the experiences of Acting Sergeant Roger Wood, on duty in Kinglake on the day of the fires.
The book centres on Roger Wood’s experiences as he fights to save what he can of a town under extreme attack from nature. He goes about doing his best for the locals in his community, all the while cut off from his own family, unable to find out whether they are alive or dead.
Woven through the story are plenty of interesting, scientific asides. Covering topics like how bushfires behave, climate basics or, of most interest to me personally, how people behave in disasters and what makes a hero do what they do.
There are some tremendously sad events described. Hyland very sensitively handles the tragedy of the day’s events and individual’s experiences as well as the psychological aftermath for the survivors.
I expected this book to be grueling. But it wasn’t. Yes, it is sad. But beyond the sadness, I found this book uplifting. An intriguing and inspiring portrait of the heroes, fighters and survivors in this little community.
Read the Herald Sun article: “Intimate Look at Black Saturday”.
Watch Adrian Hyland talking about Kinglake-350 on the First Tuesday Book Club website.
Kinglake-350
by Adrian Hyland
The book centres on Roger Wood’s experiences as he fights to save what he can of a town under extreme attack from nature. He goes about doing his best for the locals in his community, all the while cut off from his own family, unable to find out whether they are alive or dead.
Woven through the story are plenty of interesting, scientific asides. Covering topics like how bushfires behave, climate basics or, of most interest to me personally, how people behave in disasters and what makes a hero do what they do.
There are some tremendously sad events described. Hyland very sensitively handles the tragedy of the day’s events and individual’s experiences as well as the psychological aftermath for the survivors.
I expected this book to be grueling. But it wasn’t. Yes, it is sad. But beyond the sadness, I found this book uplifting. An intriguing and inspiring portrait of the heroes, fighters and survivors in this little community.
Read the Herald Sun article: “Intimate Look at Black Saturday”.
Watch Adrian Hyland talking about Kinglake-350 on the First Tuesday Book Club website.
Kinglake-350
by Adrian Hyland
November 22, 2011
This was a confronting read. Like Hyland, I live in St Andrews. We live a kilometre south of the "black belt" so the wind change that spared us is the wind change that took the fire back up the mountain.
The book is written like a blockbuster, and is immensely readable - I actually felt a little guilty at how gripping I found the narrative. Hyland uses key characters as focalisers, and the structure overall is very satisfying. Hyland reminds me of a police sketch artist, the way he draws together the relevant details in a few simple strokes, giving texture and dimension to individual experience in order to put a picture in the readers mind that they can comprehend. The forensic detail is amazing.
Occasionally I found the blokiness a little too blokey, almost contrived (which is why I didn't go the full five stars), though the perfect foil to this is Lisa Jacobson's heart-rending poem which acts as epigraph, 'Girls and Horses in the Fire':
Girls who run towards horses in the fire,
may you find your home in the equine stars:
Pegasus, Equulus. Hush, sleep now.
The book is written like a blockbuster, and is immensely readable - I actually felt a little guilty at how gripping I found the narrative. Hyland uses key characters as focalisers, and the structure overall is very satisfying. Hyland reminds me of a police sketch artist, the way he draws together the relevant details in a few simple strokes, giving texture and dimension to individual experience in order to put a picture in the readers mind that they can comprehend. The forensic detail is amazing.
Occasionally I found the blokiness a little too blokey, almost contrived (which is why I didn't go the full five stars), though the perfect foil to this is Lisa Jacobson's heart-rending poem which acts as epigraph, 'Girls and Horses in the Fire':
Girls who run towards horses in the fire,
may you find your home in the equine stars:
Pegasus, Equulus. Hush, sleep now.
December 4, 2011
You won't be disappointed in this well-written book about a terrible tragedy in Australia, 2009. This is only the second book where I've had a psycho-somatic reaction... yes, the author's THAT good he makes it as real as anyone can feel and not have lived the experience.
March 21, 2015
Gripping reading, a real thriller until you remember it was real. Very sensitive real life stories of people interspersed with related theoretical information on fire, crises etc. Highly recommended even though it's emotionally difficult to read.
June 22, 2015
4.5 - would have been 5 if there were less of those scientific terms - like three chapters, come on! Otherwise a very emotional and eye opening book that made me cry - it's awful how these people had to suffer through Black Saturday. The strength of these people are inspiring.
January 14, 2018
This is an outstanding book; almost essential education for anyone with any kind of link to the land we live on here in Victoria. This book is so well-researched; Hyland's interviews with survivors show the varied perspectives of those who survived, from firefighters who lived through burnovers in fire-trucks, to firefighters & police out in the bush who survived, to people inside structures, including community centres and houses. There's a lot of science about fire itself, how it behaves in the Australian context, and what it did on Black Saturday, February 7th, 2009. There's a section that talks about the psychology of disasters: what happens to your body in a crisis and what you can expect. Anyone who lives in bushfire zones should read this book, including those on the urban fringes of Melbourne. Melbournians should read this book, in recognition of what so many other Victorian people went through and in terms of understanding the landscape of the state we live in. 173 people died on that day in 2009, and over 400 were injured, with thousands more impacted psychologically. It is hard reading but I'll forever have huge respect for the locals when you drive down the Hume out of Melbourne and pass by the still-blackened turnoffs to these areas that are physically so close to the city (under 50km from the CBD), but were left so much on their own on Black Saturday, without even ambulances getting through to places like Kinglake. Hyland's quote struck home to me, “Our failure to engage with fire is a failure of our culture. The lesson of how to live with our environment has yet to sink into our bones.”
September 21, 2025
This is my first ever DNF and my first ever review, but please let me explain:
Firstly I LOVE Adrian’s books - extremely well written, sucks you into the plot but keeps you wanting more. LOVE, LOVE LOVE the Jessie Redpath series and I hope there is more to come.
I terms of Kinglake-350…… OMG from the parts I heard/read, AMAZING! The intensity, the emotion, the facts that normal people just dont understand….. AMAZING!
So why the DNF you ask? For that very reason. I’m the daughter of a rural fire fighter family (both mum and dad) from NSW. The accuracy, the intensity, the drama, the lack of breathing room before the next wave of fire hits - it’s all there and it’s all VERY real.
I’m not sure whether it was because I was listening to the audio book, and the narrator put another level of “human” and “emotion” to it but I just couldn’t.
Started and would get 15 mins in before the tears started. I’d stop and come back to it half to an hour later and still ended up in tears. I have no idea if Roger Wood and his family survived.
To Adrian Hyland - you are a phenomenal writer. The research and I’m sure first/second hand knowledge you have gathered is incredible. People don’t understand the sacrifices made by not only the first responders (Police, Ambulance and Firefighters) but the hundreds of VOLUNTEERS who put their lives at risk to help the communities they live in, with some of them victims to the fires they’re trying to stop.
I’m so sorry I couldn’t finish your book. But I can assure you in the part that I did hear/read (Libby said I was 25% through) you 100% did it justice. ❤️❤️
Firstly I LOVE Adrian’s books - extremely well written, sucks you into the plot but keeps you wanting more. LOVE, LOVE LOVE the Jessie Redpath series and I hope there is more to come.
I terms of Kinglake-350…… OMG from the parts I heard/read, AMAZING! The intensity, the emotion, the facts that normal people just dont understand….. AMAZING!
So why the DNF you ask? For that very reason. I’m the daughter of a rural fire fighter family (both mum and dad) from NSW. The accuracy, the intensity, the drama, the lack of breathing room before the next wave of fire hits - it’s all there and it’s all VERY real.
I’m not sure whether it was because I was listening to the audio book, and the narrator put another level of “human” and “emotion” to it but I just couldn’t.
Started and would get 15 mins in before the tears started. I’d stop and come back to it half to an hour later and still ended up in tears. I have no idea if Roger Wood and his family survived.
To Adrian Hyland - you are a phenomenal writer. The research and I’m sure first/second hand knowledge you have gathered is incredible. People don’t understand the sacrifices made by not only the first responders (Police, Ambulance and Firefighters) but the hundreds of VOLUNTEERS who put their lives at risk to help the communities they live in, with some of them victims to the fires they’re trying to stop.
I’m so sorry I couldn’t finish your book. But I can assure you in the part that I did hear/read (Libby said I was 25% through) you 100% did it justice. ❤️❤️
October 1, 2011
On the 7th February 2009, a combination of factors combined to create a disaster in country Victoria, Australia. Days and days of soaring temperatures (days peaking over 40, nights peaking around 30), two combined weather pressure systems, a 12 year drought creating the driest, most volatile conditions all culminated in the worst bushfire disaster on record. What made this fire so different was the enormous front when a cool change blew through in the afternoon and turned the fires back on themselves.
There were townships that were almost obliterated – Kinglake and several small surrounding communities, Whittlesea, Maryville all experienced catastrophic loss of life and infrastructure. The fire came so swiftly and was so intense that most people didn’t stand a chance if they chose to stay and defend their properties. Even those that had excellent fire plans and executed them to the letter still perished, utterly powerless against the strength and heat of these fires. People who left it too late were incinerated in their cars as the fires swept across roads leading out of the towns.
Adrian Hyland is an Australian crime author, who has written such books as Diamond Dove and Gunshot Road (neither of which I’ve read yet) who makes his home in St Andrews, a tiny town just near Kinglake. Kinglake-350 is the story of that fateful day etched into Victoria’s history that has come to be known as Black Saturday, mostly from the point of view of Roger Wood, the one police officer on duty that day in Kinglake. We follow Wood from the time he awakes in the morning all the way throughout the day until he finally gets to go home well into the hours of Sunday morning. Wood covered the sort of ground you can only imagine, setting up roadblocks, encouraging residents to flee if they were unprepared, rescuing other residents later on after the fires came through and being utterly bewildered at how so little information filtered through. Most people didn’t know the fires were hitting their town until they were right on top of them, burning through their houses and incinerating their land.
Woven into the narrative are other stories, stories of residents, of CFA volunteers, of people who work for the SES (State Emergency Service) and the DSE (Department of Sustainability and Environment). All people who chose or were bound to stay and defend the small towns under siege. It’s also a look at the human condition, the human spirit and what makes people react the way they do in a crisis, be it to fight or flee, why some people can calmly take charge and others cannot. A study into small communities and how they can band together to save their own, going above and beyond the call of duty to rescue, assist and give whatever they can. It also provides information on the weather conditions that caused the blaze and highlights the total lack of preparation and warnings that rendered so many residents unable to successfully fight and so many emergency services to be unable to render the necessary assistance, even after the danger had passed.
I first became aware of this book via Bernadette from Reactions To Reading’s great review here. In something that’s sort of embarrassing, Black Saturday occurred on my 27th birthday and I was utterly oblivious to all that had occurred until the next day. I don’t leave that close to the affected areas (some 3hrs away) and given that the temperature was 49 degrees Celcius in my small town (the state high for that day actually) I spent the entire day inside under an air conditioner that refused to do anything to contribute to cooling down the temperature and then we went out for dinner to celebrate my birthday which was combined with someone in the family’s 21st. When we came out of the restaurant at about 9pm, the temperature had plummeted close to 30 degrees and we went home to a deliciously cool house around midnight and it wasn’t until the next day and the morning news that we had any idea of what other people in the state had been going through. I forever count myself lucky because our area, like most of Victoria, was so far beyond dry after years of well below average rainfalls and having already experienced a fire tragedy of its own (Ash Wednesday in 1983) that it remains a minor miracle we had no fires burning in the area that day.
Not so lucky Kinglake and surrounds and this novel is a small collection of personal stories that are both utterly heartbreaking and also, at times, curiously uplifting. There’s so much in this book to render a reader speechless, such as the description of the intensity and size of the fire and the power it generated (more apparently, than the atom bomb dropped on Heroshima) but there’s smaller things too, things like desperately injured people struggling through burns and lung injuries but ambulances were unable to get through the devastated area to get to them. The woefully inadequate numbers of tankers dispatched to fight the fires – most of the smaller towns had one or two tankers and one is required during times of activity to always stay behind and defend home base. At times there were undertrained volunteers defending evacuation centres, people had to break into doctor’s surgeries to arm themselves with medical equipment to treat the injured when it seemed getting them to help (or getting help to them) was impossible. That was some of the hardest stuff to read, that after all these people had been through and survived, they were being told by emergency dispatch etc that they couldn’t get help to them and didn’t know when they would be able to.
Kinglake-350 is definitely the sort of non-fiction that I like to read. It reads like a novel – like these people could be characters and it could be a totally made up drama. It’s compelling, rather than clinical but that’s not to say that there isn’t plenty of information. There is, and it’s extensive. It deals with a history of fire and how humans view it, a general description of the weather patterns that contributed to the incident and other types of information that all give a better understanding on how this day came about. The fact that everything is real that the people are real, their plight was real, just lends it so much more power. It’s well written and researched without being overly dramatic but you never lose sight of that fact that although it reads like a riveting story, it isn’t one. It’s real life.
There were townships that were almost obliterated – Kinglake and several small surrounding communities, Whittlesea, Maryville all experienced catastrophic loss of life and infrastructure. The fire came so swiftly and was so intense that most people didn’t stand a chance if they chose to stay and defend their properties. Even those that had excellent fire plans and executed them to the letter still perished, utterly powerless against the strength and heat of these fires. People who left it too late were incinerated in their cars as the fires swept across roads leading out of the towns.
Adrian Hyland is an Australian crime author, who has written such books as Diamond Dove and Gunshot Road (neither of which I’ve read yet) who makes his home in St Andrews, a tiny town just near Kinglake. Kinglake-350 is the story of that fateful day etched into Victoria’s history that has come to be known as Black Saturday, mostly from the point of view of Roger Wood, the one police officer on duty that day in Kinglake. We follow Wood from the time he awakes in the morning all the way throughout the day until he finally gets to go home well into the hours of Sunday morning. Wood covered the sort of ground you can only imagine, setting up roadblocks, encouraging residents to flee if they were unprepared, rescuing other residents later on after the fires came through and being utterly bewildered at how so little information filtered through. Most people didn’t know the fires were hitting their town until they were right on top of them, burning through their houses and incinerating their land.
Woven into the narrative are other stories, stories of residents, of CFA volunteers, of people who work for the SES (State Emergency Service) and the DSE (Department of Sustainability and Environment). All people who chose or were bound to stay and defend the small towns under siege. It’s also a look at the human condition, the human spirit and what makes people react the way they do in a crisis, be it to fight or flee, why some people can calmly take charge and others cannot. A study into small communities and how they can band together to save their own, going above and beyond the call of duty to rescue, assist and give whatever they can. It also provides information on the weather conditions that caused the blaze and highlights the total lack of preparation and warnings that rendered so many residents unable to successfully fight and so many emergency services to be unable to render the necessary assistance, even after the danger had passed.
I first became aware of this book via Bernadette from Reactions To Reading’s great review here. In something that’s sort of embarrassing, Black Saturday occurred on my 27th birthday and I was utterly oblivious to all that had occurred until the next day. I don’t leave that close to the affected areas (some 3hrs away) and given that the temperature was 49 degrees Celcius in my small town (the state high for that day actually) I spent the entire day inside under an air conditioner that refused to do anything to contribute to cooling down the temperature and then we went out for dinner to celebrate my birthday which was combined with someone in the family’s 21st. When we came out of the restaurant at about 9pm, the temperature had plummeted close to 30 degrees and we went home to a deliciously cool house around midnight and it wasn’t until the next day and the morning news that we had any idea of what other people in the state had been going through. I forever count myself lucky because our area, like most of Victoria, was so far beyond dry after years of well below average rainfalls and having already experienced a fire tragedy of its own (Ash Wednesday in 1983) that it remains a minor miracle we had no fires burning in the area that day.
Not so lucky Kinglake and surrounds and this novel is a small collection of personal stories that are both utterly heartbreaking and also, at times, curiously uplifting. There’s so much in this book to render a reader speechless, such as the description of the intensity and size of the fire and the power it generated (more apparently, than the atom bomb dropped on Heroshima) but there’s smaller things too, things like desperately injured people struggling through burns and lung injuries but ambulances were unable to get through the devastated area to get to them. The woefully inadequate numbers of tankers dispatched to fight the fires – most of the smaller towns had one or two tankers and one is required during times of activity to always stay behind and defend home base. At times there were undertrained volunteers defending evacuation centres, people had to break into doctor’s surgeries to arm themselves with medical equipment to treat the injured when it seemed getting them to help (or getting help to them) was impossible. That was some of the hardest stuff to read, that after all these people had been through and survived, they were being told by emergency dispatch etc that they couldn’t get help to them and didn’t know when they would be able to.
Kinglake-350 is definitely the sort of non-fiction that I like to read. It reads like a novel – like these people could be characters and it could be a totally made up drama. It’s compelling, rather than clinical but that’s not to say that there isn’t plenty of information. There is, and it’s extensive. It deals with a history of fire and how humans view it, a general description of the weather patterns that contributed to the incident and other types of information that all give a better understanding on how this day came about. The fact that everything is real that the people are real, their plight was real, just lends it so much more power. It’s well written and researched without being overly dramatic but you never lose sight of that fact that although it reads like a riveting story, it isn’t one. It’s real life.
May 9, 2017
This is a very intense but fantastic book. All Victorians, all Australians, SHOULD read this one!
The Victorian Black Saturday bushfires on February 7th 2009, were devastating for the State on so many levels.
Adrian Hyland, a resident of the Kinglake area, has woven an easy to read narrative around the actual transcripts from Roger Wood's radio calls to Victoria Police communication centre on that day.
Wood, was the senior police officer on duty that day in Kinglake, when the firestorm hit. He worked tirelessly to do his job in unimaginable conditions while not knowing if his own home and family were safe.
There is absolutely no doubt that the conditions on that day were catastrophic; scientific facts about the nature of fire and how fires should react have been given but so too have the details of what the fire ACTUALLY did. It was no ordinary bushfire- it was Armageddon, it was unpredictable, it was catastrophic, it was a once in a lifetime "perfect storm" of events.
Lessons have been learnt from this, Victoria's worst ever natural disasters, but through it all we can see the Australian spirit of working together and uniting as one to support our fellow citizens.
The Victorian Black Saturday bushfires on February 7th 2009, were devastating for the State on so many levels.
Adrian Hyland, a resident of the Kinglake area, has woven an easy to read narrative around the actual transcripts from Roger Wood's radio calls to Victoria Police communication centre on that day.
Wood, was the senior police officer on duty that day in Kinglake, when the firestorm hit. He worked tirelessly to do his job in unimaginable conditions while not knowing if his own home and family were safe.
There is absolutely no doubt that the conditions on that day were catastrophic; scientific facts about the nature of fire and how fires should react have been given but so too have the details of what the fire ACTUALLY did. It was no ordinary bushfire- it was Armageddon, it was unpredictable, it was catastrophic, it was a once in a lifetime "perfect storm" of events.
Lessons have been learnt from this, Victoria's worst ever natural disasters, but through it all we can see the Australian spirit of working together and uniting as one to support our fellow citizens.
March 3, 2023
I give this 5 stars just for what the people of Kinglake and the surrounds endured. In November 2022 I drove through Kinglake and Kinglake West on my way through to Whittlesea. Driving through I had no idea what this area and the community had endured. The land I drove through showed no scars, although I did see a memorial for some of the people that I now know lost their life in that awful fire. I happened to come across this book at work just a couple of weeks ago and had to read it. I read it in complete disbelief. Disbelief that this area that was obliterated, that I drove through some ten years later, showed no sign of the loss of life and habitat beyond that memorial. Disbelief at what the community endured, at the loss of life - human, animal and nature. Disbelief at how a community did what they could together to try and survive an unforgiving inferno. I thought it was a well considered, respectful account of what was a horrendous situation and outcome. I pay my respects to all of those that were caught in that nightmare. May time have brought those who survived some peace and happiness.
June 17, 2025
A four star read for Kinglake -350.
Tells the story of the lives and bushfires on Black Saturday Feb 2009.
If only they did know of worse to come with our Black Summer of 2019/2020.
We, as Australians, just don’t seem to get the message of bushfires and what it can do. We leave it up to Government to fix the issue, or it’s simply someone’s problem not mine.
I do remember the story of Kinglake, when we were waiting around the tv for the last survivors to come down the Mountain from Kinglake, and the tv station refusing to show us footage of the township as it had been lost to fire. They never did come down the mountain, but there was so much anger when we found out a few fires were deliberately lit. They never did tell us the names of the arsonists for fear of their safety, if you can believe.
All Australians need to read this and learn, learn something even if it’s as simple as a fire plan. Making a plan and practicing it prior to our next Summer, which will be worse.
Tells the story of the lives and bushfires on Black Saturday Feb 2009.
If only they did know of worse to come with our Black Summer of 2019/2020.
We, as Australians, just don’t seem to get the message of bushfires and what it can do. We leave it up to Government to fix the issue, or it’s simply someone’s problem not mine.
I do remember the story of Kinglake, when we were waiting around the tv for the last survivors to come down the Mountain from Kinglake, and the tv station refusing to show us footage of the township as it had been lost to fire. They never did come down the mountain, but there was so much anger when we found out a few fires were deliberately lit. They never did tell us the names of the arsonists for fear of their safety, if you can believe.
All Australians need to read this and learn, learn something even if it’s as simple as a fire plan. Making a plan and practicing it prior to our next Summer, which will be worse.
December 14, 2019
This book left me in a bit of a quandary. I found the first third or so a little hysterical over written trying to wring to much out but midway through just describing from the people there what happened to them what they saw the horrors that unfolded before there eyes nearing the end it got very emotional and a couple of times I just had to stop reading it was just so heartbreaking. Finally at the end he got a little preachy and even though I agreed with about 90%what he said you have to be careful of overpreaching or you could lose your audience. Anyway who was alive on that day anyone living in area that is fire prone this is a definite read.
June 28, 2023
I picked this up because I find great comfort in the small (and large) acts if human kindness that are found in the worst moments, and Hylund goes out of his way to highlight as many of these moments as he can, which I appriciated.
He also goes into great detail on the history and science of fire, and the dry textbook feel of these sections felt jarring against the deeply human story of the fires. I also did not love he included historical quotes with all their racist termonology intact and unexamined.
He also goes into great detail on the history and science of fire, and the dry textbook feel of these sections felt jarring against the deeply human story of the fires. I also did not love he included historical quotes with all their racist termonology intact and unexamined.
January 7, 2024
This book is a stark reminder of the ferociousness Australian bushfires have on our land & the human & animals it takes in its ferocious path. It’s based on the real accounts of what happen on Black Saturday February 7 2009, told by the cop on duty at Kinglake at the time & other people’s true version of what they witnessed that day & the days that followed. A gripping, courageous, utterly moving story of Australia’s most devastating fire in history to date. A must read to understand the impact that bushfires have on our nation.
May 15, 2018
173 lives lost, 2000 homes burnt to the ground, 1000s of hectares of forest and farmland incinerated and millions of animals dead. This was the physical toll the 2009 black Saturday fires took on the Kinglake area. The mental, emotional and economic toll would play out for years to come. This book explores all of this in the most gripping and compelling and personal way. It has invaded my thoughts and taken over my dreams. A must read.
February 9, 2022
Compelling and insightful look into the background, events and aftermath of the Victorian fires in 2009.
Centered around one town/area that was hit hard we connect with the individuals as their lives are forever changed. You feel you are there in the moment. Well written, factual and emotionally moving.
Centered around one town/area that was hit hard we connect with the individuals as their lives are forever changed. You feel you are there in the moment. Well written, factual and emotionally moving.
January 29, 2018
A short and quite scary look at the Black Saturday fires from the accounts of those who lived through the worst of it. It gave me a new appreciation for the sheer speed and ferocity of Australian bushfires on the worst of days.
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