Evgeniya Laritskaya writes:

Before I begin this story, I should clarify that we are now
safe in Forbes. Hopefully we will be flying from today on. When the wind is
wrong, the smoke from the fires all over NSW can be noticed here in Forbes (they
even reach New Zealand). When the wind is right, however, it looks like our
usual hot hang gliding paradise.

30th of December, the fourth day of the Corryong comp, was canceled due to
strong winds.

The day promised to be an ordinary rest day. First of all, Judi organized a
contest for the best flying paper airplane (which Andrey won). Then there was a
meeting on deploying reserve chutes. Then some pilots went to view the
waterfalls, some rafted along the Murray River, and a few others, like us,
decided to swim in it.

16:12 Our meet director Karl sent us all a message: “Just a note to everyone a
fire is NW of Walwa. We’re not in danger but keep an ear to the ground”.

Walwa is 32 km away from Corryong and behind two small mountains. A strong wind
was blowing directly from that direction. I have no idea how fast a fire like
that can move, but the local pilots were calm. In a way, we were already used to
the smoke from the bushfires circulating all over the country, so we were not at
all surprised when, while swimming, we saw lots of smoke obscuring the sky above
us and making the sun red. But we still went a few kilometers towards Walwa to
see what was going on and observed thick columns of smoke coming from behind the
second mountain where Walwa is.

18:31 On the way back to Corryong we received SMS “Bushfire Emergency Warning
from FFMVic. Walwa and surrounding areas. LEAVE NOW. DO NOT USE SHELLEY-WALWA
RD. Check local radio or www.emergency.vic.gov.au”

I asked local pilots and they said we were good for the moment. If you looked at
the emergency map screenshot I am posting (thanks so much to those who made this
web-site and were updating it), you will see that, at 18:36, Corryong was in the
yellow area, which means “There is currently no threat to you, but you should
stay informed of the situation.” Oh, good. We went to the restaurant to have
dinner, but noticed that some local people were getting worried. No wonder. The
smoke from behind our closest Mitta-Mitta mountain was the worst I have ever
seen and the charred leaves of eucalyptus and ashes were coming down from the
sky.

After a rather short dinner, we decided to go back into our rented house and
prepare our things for possible evacuation. If nothing else, at least we would
load gliders on the cars.

20:33 I looked at the web-site again and now we were in the orange area, which
means “Don't wait, leaving now is the safest option - conditions may change and
get worse very quickly. Emergency Services may not be able to help you if you
decide to stay.“

It was not an “Evacuate right now!” black colored area, which was around Walwa
at that time. But we decided to take the good advice and be on the safe side,
though most of our fellow pilots decided to stay in Corryong, Colac-Colac and
Towong (all neighbouring little villages) and monitor the situation.

It was actually hard to decide to leave: we didn’t know where to go yet. The
emergency web-site advised going to Tallangatta, so we decided to move in that
direction and seek for a motel online while driving. Furthermore, we were not
sure we had to go - the local pilots were rather optimistic and planned a
briefing for the next morning. But, hey, this fire was not under control, the
wind was blowing towards us, and the next day the forecast was for the same
wind. On top of that, there were so many “not under control” fires in Oz
everywhere, why would this one be an exception? The scary part for me was that
even if the fire didn’t hit Corryong the next day, the escape routes will be
blocked. I heard a few recent stories about Australian villages and cities
trapped by burning roads all around with no means of escape.

So we decided to pack and go, even though some members of our team were
muttering that we all were being alarmists. While packing we saw not just
glowing smoke but fire coming closer and closer along the second ridge. It took
us less than an hour to pack everything and leave.

21:30 We left Corryong and headed towards Tallangatta, noticing many cars
driving in the same direction. Passing by Colac-Colac (6 km away from Corryong)
where some hang glider pilots were staying, we saw a full-on evacuation
happening, with emergency cars with their emergency lights.

22:14 Our fellow pilots reported: “SkyNet team has been evacuated from
Colac-Colac. We are heading to Tallangatta.”

On the way to Tallangatta, we noticed that police were blocking the way back.
The most frighteningly stunning part of the drive was passing the Walwa valley
on the right. The sky was glowing from the fires and it felt so close.

We didn’t find any place to stay in Tallangatta so we went all the way to Albury
to stay there overnight. We were still hoping this nightmare will be over in a
day or two and we would be coming back to finish our competitions.

23:31 I looked at the map and Colac-Colac as well as the road through it were in
a black “full evacuation” area.

00:58, 31st of Dec, Colac-Colac was already in a red area which means “The
safest option is to take shelter immediately. It’s too late to leave”. It is by
far the scariest advice I have ever seen.

03:12, 31st of Dec, Anna Wright, who was staying in Corryong, wrote in our hang
gliding chat group: “Yes well we have been evacuated from the house in town
where we were staying tonight and asked to go to the high school to be with
everyone. The wind has moved and they have fears that they will lose the lower
end of town! Stay safe people…”

The fire situation in Towong, where most pilots were, looked better still.

8:19, 31st of Dec, Karl sent a message that the final days of the Corryong cup
were cancelled and the comp is finished. We spend a day slowly driving to
Forbes, where we decided to await the start of the Forbes Flatlands competition.

16:06, 31st of Dec, Elena sent us news that “Fires hit Corryong eight hours ago.
A woman staying in the evacuation center set up in Corryong college said in a
Facebook post that the power was out and there was little to no mobile
reception. She said the evacuation center was safe but there were concerns over
supplies and sanitation.”

20:19, 31st of Dec, Judi said: “The fire was indeed ferocious, and circled the
town. Locals are fine. I think a couple of houses and a farm or two [are
affected]. We came back this afternoon. No electricity. Soot and embers all
through the house but all fine really. Still many people at the relief centre. I
think it’s all over now. Very smoky though.“

And Todd wrote: “I spoke with a lady at the fire refuge in Tallangatta this
morning and she told me that she lost her home along with 10-15 others in
Cudgewa”. Cudgewa is 11 km away from Corryong.

Random Instagram posts were showing Corryong reports such as:

“Over 1000 people are at the evacuation centre, which we were told to move to at
3am as the fire came over the mountains. Families are here with dogs, cats,
horses and birds and of course little children. All so worried about their
homes. Kaylie, Howard and I are safe with everyone. We are all so thankful for
the men and women fighting this enormous fire.”

Yesterday, the 1st of January, we had breakfast with Karl who was in Corryong
yesterday. He said that six or seven houses were gone in Corryong, there were
fires starting here and there in the city, and people are fighting it hard. Karl
had to drive all the way to Tumbarumba to get petrol for his car, and on the way
back to Corryong he saw a fast moving fire going across the road and cutting
this road off.

Jason Kath said “Toby and I stayed and defended Colac Colac. All good there but
prob no power for days.”

We don’t know what is going on there now. We are hoping that the fire has passed
and left Corryong. Hard to understand from the map, really:
http://tiny.cc/lid8hz

According to various reports, the Corryong city was hit by fire around 8 am on
the 31st of December. It was only 16 hours after we first heard rumors about the
fire, and 12 hours after the first advice about evacuation, which is when we
decided it was best to leave. It happens really, really fast. Life changes
really, really fast.

I apologize if you find this too long of a post, but mostly I just wanted to
clear my head. If you look at the map by the link I posted above, you will see
all the currently burning fires in the state of Victoria.

This site shows fires in New South Wales:
https://www.rfs.nsw.gov.au/fire-information/fires-near-me

People are fighting back, but still getting trapped and losing livestock,
property, and even lives. It is terrifying as just a concept alone, but when you
have just stayed in that house, flew from that mountain, talked to those people,
ate their food, and now it is all on fire - it is devastating. I so hope it all
stops, and that they all and their houses and pets and property survive the
fire, please.

More links on the subject:

http://tiny.cc/uid8hz

http://tiny.cc/cjd8hz

Our thoughts are with those who fight the fire.