Last Thursday started like any normal working day. We drove up to Sedona Estate to work in the winery bottling all day. The aircon was running on high for the second consecutive hot day in Victoria. While watering the garden in the morning, I picked up the unpleasant smell of smoke.

The Longwood fire was travelling towards Caveat and Yarck! Change of plan! We activated our fire plan. Paul set-up the fire truck. I got our protective fire fighting  gear ready. At that point, the Longwood fire was still on the small scale having burned through around 10,000 hectares. Hence, we decided to bottle as planned.

Things turned ugly quickly on Thursday afternoon. Winds became erratic. The emergency warnings were upgraded for Killingworth (north of Yea) to LEAVE IMMEDIATELY. Not long after, the WATCH & ACT  reached the Murrindindi Valley. The body’s fight or flight response kicked in.  With our past experience of Black Saturday and the catastrophic conditions ahead of us, we made the decision to leave the property on Thursday evening.

As predicted, the Longwood fire turned into a monster on Friday moving fast and spreading in multiple directions. The Murrindindi Valley was under direct threat. What spared Sedona Estate and our beautiful valley was the wind change to a southerly on Friday evening and the self-less hard work of the CFA getting nearby fires in Limestone and Molesworth at the base of the Black Range under control!