By Shelby Brooks
When fire ripped through Cockatoo 40 years ago, quick-thinking kindergarten teachers opened their circular building to allow people refuge.
About 200 residents, along with their pets, had 360-degree views of the devastation around them on that long night on Wednesday 16 February 1983.
CFA captain in 1983, and current committee chairperson of the education centre, Graham Simpson was out fighting the fires when his wife and children took shelter in the kindergarten building, which years later was saved from demolition and heritage listed.
It is now the Ash Wednesday Bushfire Education Centre (AWBEC).
“They opened the building and people gravitated there,” Graham said.
“A couple of blokes got on the roof and were putting the embers out while the people were inside.”
Graham had joined the Cockatoo CFA Brigade five years earlier and had made captain only three months prior to Ash Wednesday.
He recently celebrated 45 years with the service.
Graham had returned home from work on Wednesday 16 February 1983 when the call came in at 7.28pm that a small fire had started on Baileys Road, Cockatoo.
The brigade’s main tanker was out helping in Upper Beaconsfield, so Graham and his crew took the smaller truck with a 600L tank.
While putting out the fire in Baileys Road, the firefighters spotted smoke from Wright Forest.
“I walked into the forest and all along the track was a fire burning. We decided to make a stand up the hill where there were a few houses,” Graham said.
“Next thing we got a call saying the wind had changed. We got off the hill and came back to Cockatoo. Our main tanker had just gotten back into town.
“That was the start of it. It was sheer bedlam.
“Traffic was everywhere. My hair was singed at the back of my head from the heat while I was trying to get the traffic cleared to get the trucks through.”
The fire in Cockatoo was the last one to start on the day, so the town did not have much external support.
It took many years for the town to recover, though it could be argued recovery is still occurring.
Graham served as captain for a total of 12 years before taking a step back.
He said he never considered leaving Cockatoo.
Graham said not everyone understands why he is so passionate and invested in the AWBEC.
“It’s history. It’s part of not only the town’s history, but the state’s history,” he explained.
Having a plan for fire season is essential, according to Graham.
“The message is to have a plan. Whether your plan is to leave early in the morning and visit Aunt Mary in the suburbs, or stay and defend your house which is probably not the best plan, but have a plan,” he said.
Preparing your property is also important by cleaning out gutters of leaves and moving firewood from being close to the house.
