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JOURNALIST REFLECTS ON COVERING FIRST BUSHFIRE

(Cameraman Toby Hunt filming Carwoola bushfire - Photo: Alkira Reinfrank)

When Canberra based digital journalist Alkira Reinfrank tried her hand at television reporting, she had to learn fast after being diverted from covering a festival to an unfolding fire emergency and was called on to do the first live cross of her career.

By Alkira Reinfrank

With excited anticipation I came to work on a warm Friday morning in February preparing to do my very first TV live cross from Canberra’s vibrant Multicultural Festival. As the 7pm bulletin went to air that night, I did indeed do my first live cross, but the events I was covering and how I got there were markedly different to what I had planned.

(Alkira Reinfrank at the scene of the Carwoola bushfire - Photo: ABC News)

About 2pm that afternoon, while out on a job in the city, cameraman Toby Hunt and I were asked to head to a fire near Queanbeyan, just across the border from the ACT. At first it was just a routine check, nothing to worry about. However, when we crossed the ridgeline above Queanbeyan, we saw how bad it was. Plumes of dark smoke billowed into the sky and the warning broadcasts blaring out of the radio turned to ‘Emergency’. I quickly ditched my newly purchased and impractical Multicultural Festival outfit for a heavy yellow fire suit. Despite being only 10 kilometres outside of Queanbeyan, we lost mobile phone signal almost immediately. So, after a quick chat to our COS, we then relied on ABC Radio Canberra and surrounding firefighters to guide us and keep us safe.

(Homes damaged by the blaze - Photo: Alkira Reinfrank)

This is when the adrenaline kicked in. We drove through the police check and made our way up Widgiewa Road, about 15 minutes outside Queanbeyan. The rural street was dotted with homesteads and would become one of the worst hit areas of the fire. The blaze ran fast and low across the dry grassland, only taking height when it engulfed trees, sheds and houses. Aircraft hovered low, refuelling at nearby dams to battle the fires from above. The air was heavy with heat and smoke, and the colour of the sky changed within minutes from bright blue to dark red. As the wind changed, firefighters became more frantic, yelling at us to pull back. I could see flames on a ridge about one kilometre away, but when the wind turned so did the direction of the flames and this time it was towards us.

(Reporter Jesse Dorsett and cameraman Ian Cutmore interviewing a resident affected by the Carwoola fire - Photo: Alkira Reinfrank)

I spoke to one resident of Widgiewa Road while she was standing outside her front gate. About 15 minutes later she would lose her property and livelihood. It was as we watched on, a few hundred metres away from her house, that the ferocity of the fire hit me. Small explosions could be seen coming from the direction of her property. All she could do was watch from her car.

(A home in ruins - Photo: Alkira Reinfrank)

For three hours we were constantly being pushed back down the road by the firefront. I would stay behind the wheel of the car, ready to make a quick getaway, watching Toby closely to make sure he wasn’t blindsided by the blaze. When the fire started getting close, Toby would jump into the passenger seat and we would drive to a safer vantage point.

At 5:15pm we headed back to where we could get a strong mobile signal to send the vision to ABC News’ Northbourne bureau for the 7pm bulletin. On the way, we met up with other crews. My colleague Tom Lowrey had a close encounter, as seen from his singed mobile phone.

(Tom Lowrey’s scorched phone - Photo: Alkira Reinfrank)

Tom accidently dropped the phone on the ground when he and cameraman Nick Haggarty made a speedy retreat. When they returned after the fire had passed, they managed to find Tom’s phone and, despite it being a little charred, you’ll be surprised to know it does still work.

(The damaged phone still works! - Photo: Alkira Reinfrank)

Once the vision had been sent, we went to the evacuation centre in the heart of Queanbeyan and I did a live interview with ABC Radio Canberra, followed by a live phone cross to News 24 (my first). I ran into the woman I’d met whose house was lost on Widgiewa Road. She and her husband were visibly distressed as they showed me a photo of their home and office going up in flames.

Then at 6.50pm, just when I thought my day was wrapping up, I received a call from the Day Editor who asked me to do a live report during the 7pm News. I quickly scribbled down some notes and tried to compose myself. This was it. My first TV live cross. I didn’t have enough time to be nervous and even if I did, everything I had seen in the hours before had put a one-minute cross into perspective. I thought I made it through relatively unscathed for a first-timer and then almost immediately after went into another cross with News 24.

(The aftermath of the fire - Photo: Alkira Reinfrank)

I returned the following day to Widgiewa Road to report on the impact of the fire and took photographs of a landscape transformed. The rugged bushland that had greeted us the day before was now just charred trees and scorched earth. Blackened front gates were marked with brightly coloured tape, signalling the fate of the property within. Residents waited anxiously at the entrance of the road for hours before they were allowed to enter and survey their homes or what was left of them.

Going behind the lines of the fire and then covering the aftermath was a foreign experience for me. I was just a child when the 2003 Canberra bushfires ripped through the city and since then I have never been so close to an out-of-control blaze. It was a really intense experience. At times I felt quite shaky, trying to manage my anxiety and the adrenaline triggered by being in an emergency situation. I was constantly trying to calmly think through the best way of filing to all platforms, while keeping Toby and I safe.

Luckily, the Carwoola fire was contained after it burned through 3,500 hectares. Still, it destroyed 11 homes and damaged 12 others and razed 45 outbuildings. Miraculously, no lives were lost. It was a day I learnt a lot as a reporter and a day I will never forget.

A PHOTO ESSAY ON CARWOOLA FIRE BY ALKIRA REINFRANK

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