A decade on, the sight of smoke still brings back terrible memories of Esperance fires

A decade after one of WA’s deadliest fires, the sight of smoke rising from the distance brings back memories for Esperance locals of the terrible events in 2015 that claimed the lives of four people.

The Esperance fires are considered among the most devastating in the state’s history, responsible for the deaths of local farmer Kym Curnow, 45, Norwegian student Anna Winther, 29, British man Tom Butcher, 31, and German woman Julia Kohrs-Lichte, 19.

Only the Willow Springs/Nannup fire of 1958 is considered comparable in terms of loss of life, when four people were also killed.

According to a Department of Fire and Emergency Services report, the fires were ignited by lightning on November 15 and fuelled by catastrophic wind conditions.

The burn zone consisted of three separate areas; the Cascades fire that destroyed roughly 128,000 hectares, the Merivale fire that burnt around 18,000 hectares and the Cape Arid complex that covered 164,000 hectares.

On November 17, the Cascades fire was estimated to have reached a fire intensity of 45,000 kilowatts per metre at its leading edge. According to the DFES report, it was thought to be the hottest grassland fire in WA’s recorded history.

“As the bushfire season approaches ... when people are harvesting, it is something which makes people take extra care.”

Shire of Esperance President Ron Chambers

It was that day when the four deaths occurred. Tom Butcher’s car was found on Grigg Road near Scaddan where he and his two passengers, Julia Kohrs-Lichte and Anna Winther, had died trying to transport a horse to safety from a nearby farm.

Earlier, volunteer firefighter and local farmer Kym Curnow’s car had been found just 300 metres away, where he had crashed into a tree in what was believed to be an attempt to escape the fire.

By the time the fires were brought under control, 19 properties had been lost – including three homes – 30,000 hectares of crop and 4500 heads of stock had been destroyed, and there had been significant damage to public infrastructure.

Victoria Brown was the Esperance shire president at the time and recalls the enormity of the situation.

“I remember stepping out of council chambers in the early afternoon, having been inside in an air-conditioned, windowless room to see this black sky, sort of backlit with orange and the atmosphere was so eerie,” she said.

“It was still ominous. It felt threatening, and it felt like the oxygen was being sucked out of the air as we stood there. I have never experienced the atmosphere of that day or the colour of the sky.”

Brown said another vivid memory was the response from the local community.

“We always think that we live in a very special community down here in Esperance, geographically, we are cut off from a lot of the state, so we have to be pretty self-sufficient,” she said.

“We had people who were sitting up all night monitoring phones. We had the Shire CEO pull in all his staff to make sure that everybody that might be in the fire path was contacted and told to evacuate.

“We had the usual people saying, ‘What can we do? How can we help? Do you want food? Do you want clothes?’ All the community wanted to do was help.”

Current Shire of Esperance President Ron Chambers said the loss of the four lives had impacted the local community.

“That’s something that I have talked about and discussed on a reasonably regular basis, whenever anyone sees the smoke go up,” he said.

“In a relatively small community like Esperance, the significance of an event like that has a huge impact.

“As the bushfire season approaches, and we are sort of there at the moment, when people are harvesting, it is something which makes people take extra care.”

Chambers has been a member of the local Quarry Road Bushfire Brigade for nearly 20 years and previously served as captain of the unit. He said there had already been a number of fires this season in the region.

“We went into prohibited fire season as of midnight [Tuesday] night. We’ve had two fires down here (Wednesday), we had a fairly big one up north about a week and a half ago, and that was a fire that they went into the bush,” he said.

“So, it’s certainly going to be a danger after the reasonably wet winter that we’ve had.

“I think it’s certainly really highlighted the dangers of it. I believe that some of the changes that have been made, especially around training.

“We’re better prepared nowadays.”

The shire is holding a memorial on Monday at the Jetty Headland to commemorate the events from a decade ago, and to remember the loss of the four people who died.

Chambers said he understood some of the victims families would be attending.

“It is also an opportunity to thank our volunteers, their professionalism, their ability and the determination in which they look after our community,” he said.

Brown said the idea of the remembrance on Monday was one of acknowledgement, not only of those who lost their lives, but to also recognise the volunteers and those who were there to aid the community.

“I remember saying on that terrible day when the families arrived in Esperance, I said to them at the time, ‘You can rest assured that your children’s names will always be spoken here. They will always be remembered here, and you will always be welcome here’,” she said.

“We’ve kept in touch with Tom Butcher’s family and Anna’s family, who live in the UK and in Norway.

“We actually went and saw Tom’s mum on her farm in Wales when we went back to the UK for a holiday a couple of years ago, and it was lovely to sit in her farmhouse, talk to her about her dog, look at her sheep, and just do normal things.

“So whilst on Monday, we will all gather to reflect on the tragic deaths. We will also be renewing friendships.”

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