<
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/jan/16/life-in-the-ashes-lisa-lost-her-grampians-home-to-a-bushfire-ten-months-later-it-almost-burned-again>
"There are two garden sheds nestled on Lisa Ashdowne’s acreage home in the town
of Pomonal in Victoria’s Grampians region. A large tarp hangs between them,
forming a makeshift home decked out with a toilet, shower, sink, fridge and
outside washing machine. “It’s tight and a bit awkward, but it’s home,”
Ashdowne says.
The 62-year-old lost her house in the Pomonal fires in February 2024, just
after separating from her partner and two weeks before she had a heart attack.
She wasn’t adequately insured and says her casual work at a nearby prison does
not provide enough money to pay for permanent accommodation elsewhere.
“I am back on my land, which I love,” she says. “It’s incredibly difficult. The
land is still fairly parched. Our sandy soil and the reduced tree canopy means
it is now very sparse. It feels a lot hotter.”
The first time
Guardian Australia tries to speak to Ashdowne, it’s a 40C day
in early December. There are fierce winds and an extreme fire rating in most
parts of Victoria so she has to tend to her home and can’t talk. “I don’t find
myself feeling consciously anxious but it does put the pressure on because
everything feels like it’s dying again and all the hoses and taps are gone,”
she says. “The other thing is, there is no one else here. It doesn’t feel like
it used to feel. It’s strange.”
Late that month, her home is under threat again from a fire in the Grampians
(Gariwerd) national park, which burned out of control for three weeks and moved
across 76,000ha before it was contained in early January.
Ashdowne is one of hundreds of people in western Victoria living without a
house in a bushfire-prone area. According to Victoria’s peak body for
homelessness services, the Council to Homeless Persons (CHP), there were 2,049
people without a home in the region in 2022.
People experiencing homelessness in those areas are at risk, says the CHP chief
executive, Deborah Di Natale, particularly with some regions, such as
Gippsland, having no access to specialised outreach workers.
For the past two summers, the organisation has been calling on the Victorian
government to boost assertive outreach in bushfire-prone regions. “We were
lucky to avoid a catastrophe last summer,” Di Natale says. “We can’t risk it
again this year.”"
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
