Locals shop by torchlight as Yea remains without power; family shelters in shipping container
Worker Adam Kupke said the supermarket had a generator but it broke down overnight.
“We’re just trying to do what we can for the people that need help, basically. It might get to a point where we’re gonna have to close, [but] we’re just doing this for the moment,” he said.
Kupke said words could not describe the horror the region had experienced since the fires started.
“I know so many people. I grew up in the area. It’s devastating, mate,” Kupke said.
While hundreds of buildings and homes have been destroyed, no lives have been lost – but there have been many stories of close calls.
Just north of Yea, at a remote property on Caveat-Dropmore Road, police made a dramatic air rescue, evacuating two generations of a family, including a 92-year-old man and the family’s cat.
Police rescued a family at a remote property near Yea after their home was razed by fire.
Police said on Sunday morning that they used the Air Wing on Saturday to evacuate the family, who had lost their home while trying to defend it and sought shelter in a shipping container on their property as the fire raged around them.
“Two women, aged 59 and 82, and a 92-year-old man called emergency services Friday afternoon seeking assistance to evacuate their isolated property on Caveat-Dropmore Road,” Victoria Police said in a statement.
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“After trying to manage the conditions for two days, including the complete loss of their home by fire, the 59-year-old woman called for help with concerns for the health of her mother and uncle.
“Police have been told the family bunkered down and sought safety in a shipping container on their property as the fire swept through the area on Wednesday, 7 January. The trio also slept in their vehicle Friday night.”
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