Fed: Book on this year's bushfires launched in Canberra

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Fed: Book on this year's bushfires launched in Canberra

By Sharon Mathieson

CANBERRA, April 29 AAP - When Roy Arnould entered the world on January 18 his parentshad no idea if they still had a home in which to raise him.

Hours earlier, his father had been ordered to evacuate their Canberra house as a ragingfirestorm engulfed the backyard.

Lee Arnould is one of more than a hundred stories of people affected by the Januaryfirestorm compiled in a book launched today by ACT Chief Minister Jon Stanhope.

The firestorm, which ripped through the national capital, killed four people and destroyedmore than 500 homes.

Just before Mr Arnould was forced to leave his fire-ravaged suburb of Duffy on January18, he watched his neighbour's home engulfed in flames as he fought blazes on his ownproperty.

"My backyard was fully ablaze," he said.

"The back fence had already gone.

"The gazebo was alight and the cubby house was starting to ignite.

"I grabbed a hose and protected the house as the fire moved towards the back door.

"The cubby had collapsed and now the shed was ablaze and ignited the neighbour's garage.

"This fire ran along the side fence to the corner of both our houses ... I tried tostop the fire spreading to our houses."

Then the police arrived, threatening arrests if homeowners did not evacuate.

Mr Arnould left and headed to his brother's house where the rest of his family hadearlier gathered.

But his heavily pregnant wife Takako had been taken to hospital.

"When I arrived, Takako was in labour. She looked up at me and said, `Do we still havea house?'," Mr Arnould said.

"I had no idea if we did.

"We held each other and cried."

Soon after, their healthy baby boy was born and they later received the good news thattheir house was still standing.

The title of the book - How did the fire know we lived here? - was inspired by a questionfrom four-year-old Hazel Bennett to her mother.

Upon hearing Hazel's question, the book's publisher decided to use it for the titleof the collection of stories, poems and photographs.

"Anyone who reads the book will find it a very moving experience," Mr Stanhope said.

"Individual writing evokes a full range of emotions, from terror to anger to sorrowto great love to compassion, to humour and finally to hope for the future."

AAP sm/sb/mg

KEYWORD: BUSHFIRES ACT (PIX AVAILABLE)