From Australian bushfire ashes, a community rises in solidarity

 Cobargo, Australia 
 Photography by Alkis Konstantinidis. Reporting by Martin Petty. 
 Updated Yesterday.
 widerimage.reuters.com/story/from-australian-bushfire-ashes-a-community-rises-in-solidarity

For two weeks, builder Rod Dunn (pictured below) has been living at a showground in a borrowed caravan, wearing an old coat donated by a friend.

Rod Dunn who is a builder, stands outside a borrowed caravan that he is now living in with his wife Kath. 

His house, car, sheds and work tools were wiped out by the ferocious New Year bushfires that swept through the Australian town of Cobargo, killing three of its residents and destroying dozens of homes, farms and vehicles.

Though he has lost everything, he counts himself lucky.

"We live in the best place in the world," he said, nodding his head with certainty. "This has united people like you'd never have imagined."

Standing outside a shabby caravan with plastic chairs and dogs roaming around, Dunn recalls how a friend risked his life to rescue him from his blazing property, and how strangers from a town 70 km (43.5 miles) away gave him and his wife a tent to sleep in.

"That tent saved us," said Dunn, a 62-year-old with an unkempt white beard that reaches his chest. "I'm totally overwhelmed by what we've seen here, the generosity of mankind."

The remains of a car, burnt by a bushfire, stands in front of a destroyed structure. 


 Wildfires on a massive scale have killed 29 people since September in Australia, fuelled by record temperatures and tinder-dry conditions, turning swathes of farms and woodlands black, and blanketing the sky in haze.

While residents of many of the fire-threatened towns and villages heeded advice to leave and head to evacuation centres elsewhere, Cobargo's less than 1,000 people chose not to abandon their town.

 A man sits on a bench as caravans and tents of evacuees are parked at a showground that was turned into an unofficial evacuation centre.

A handful of fleeing locals set up their caravans and tents at Cobargo's showground, defying orders by police to move to designated locations outside the town in New South Wales state.

Word quickly spread that a commune was forming. Caravans in tow, more evacuees arrived, among them farmers, some bringing horses.

People select donated goods at a showground. 

A kitchen, laundry facilities and a food bank were set up, and medics, a counsellor and a chaplain joined to support the displaced. Meetings were nightly and trucks rolled up daily, bringing water, food, animal feeds and huge hay bales for farms.

"We made the call that we stay as a community," said Tony Allen, a former mayor in the district. "We knew then that was a big risk, it's breaking every rule in the book, but this is the way to do this. We keep the community together."

                 Donated clothes and blankets are piled outside an unofficial donation point. 


 In Cobargo, a town known for its bookstores, century-old buildings and its annual folk festival, shops opened to accept donated goods, putting up signs that said "open to everyone" and offering clothes, linen, blankets and "free hugs".

                                     A firefighter's suit hangs on the fence of a property.


A set of amber-coloured firefighter overalls was hung on the fence of one house, with a sign saying "thanks guys".

Volunteers from elsewhere in Australia helped to clean solar panels, repair farmers' fences and clear debris from rural roads.

 

    

Philippe Ravenel poses for a photo in front of the remains of his house after it was burnt in a bushfire. 

A teapot salvaged from the house of Philippe Ravenel who's home was burnt in a bushfire, stands amongst some his other belongings. 

"There has been so much help and support. Everybody looks after each other. There are so many good people here," said Philippe Ravanel, a Swiss blacksmith, standing in the rubble of a 150-year-old home that he bought in 2006, of which only the fireplace remains.

Children play inside an Australian Army forces vehicle that was expedited to help with the              recovery of the town following the bushfires, during a gathering at the town's pub. 

Hundreds of people flocked to a fundraiser at the local pub, The Cobargo Hotel, cheering and embracing firefighters as army personnel opened their vehicles to children and former sports stars mingled with evacuees and farmers.

David Moran, a community worker from Dalmeny, climbs down a ladder as he is helped by volunteers Daniel and Stephanie Galileos to clean the solar panels on Peter Hisco's (right) house. 


Homes are already becoming available. Peter Hisco is moving to Sydney, Australia's largest city, and will rent his two-storey house to two displaced families. “My wife has a new job in Sydney so we’ll rent both floors out at a reasonable price."

Former butcher Barry Parkes, 68, who lost his house, two vehicles and his Harley Davidson motorcycle, said friends had asked him to house-sit for them. “We’ve had a lot of people offering us places,” he said.

 Rod Dunn, the builder, said a friend had kindly offered him use of his property, rent-free for a year. 

"It's a good place too," he said, smiling. "I should know, I built the bloody place."

  

  PHOTO EDITING MARIKA KOCHIASHVILI; TEXT EDITING MARK HEINRICH; LAYOUT JULIA DALRYMPLE