Reason why woman whose home burnt down rebuilt on same fire-prone land
Leisa Tague, 50, chose to rebuild her family home in the exact same place it was burnt down less than four years ago.
After enduring wet and cold conditions for the last few consecutive summers, Aussies now face the looming impact of an El Niño weather event. And while some welcome the approach of a hotter summer, most fear a repeat of the Black Summer bushfires, especially those in regional areas prone to bushfires.
"We were gone for about two hours and when we came back it looked like the moon. There wasn't a leaf left on the ground," Leisa Tague, who lost her home to bushfires in 2019, told Yahoo News Australia.
The property at Mogo on the NSW South Coast was completely destroyed, forcing her, partner Chris and their children to live in a makeshift shed for over 18 months while they rebuilt the exact same home on their five acres of land.
Why take the risk of living in the bush?
Tague recalled the bushfire event, saying "giant fireballs travelled through the sky" before savaging her home. After experiencing the significant risk to life and property, many Australians question why people choose to remain living in the bush. However, Tague didn't give it a second thought.
"It's the lifestyle we love. We love living in the bush. We love the birds, the frogs, the kangaroos. And we love living out of town," she said. "The thought of going through it again makes me cringe but I'd do it again."
Tague moved to the South Coast from Wollongong with Chris when she was in her 30s, and now aged 50 she has no intention of living the city life again.
"Losing everything teaches you what is important... you begin to appreciate what you can and can’t live without," she said.
Family plans to 'be prepared' ahead of bushfire season
"The likelihood of any house ever being burnt down I would imagine is quite low. So I'd like to think it wouldn't happen again," Tague said, but confirmed her family are doing as much as possible to "be prepared" ahead of the hot summer.
"We cleaned up all the property. We have hoses, we have pumps, we've got a dam. We've wet everything. We've done everything that you could do," she said, sharing she also has used professionals from Airtasker to help. However, she also admitted these preventative measures did little to help in 2019.
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'Extreme risk' forces fire victim to seek safer home
The experience of having his property destroyed "in front of his eyes" and losing neighbours in the infamous Black Saturday Bushfires in 2009 was more than enough reason for Ray Dahlstrom to relocate his family out of Steels Creek in Victoria.
"We were living in an area which was later verified with the extreme possibility of being impacted again by a bushfire," he said. "That became one of the major reasons why we decided to not delay the move to somewhere else safer... It was an extreme risk to stay."
Dahlstrom respects it is a "personal decision" whether people choose to stay or leave bushfire-prone areas but noted there was "considerable community pressure" to stay in the area, despite hundreds of locals dying.
"We attended a community meeting where a minister got up and made a speech to the effect that everyone should just stay and support each other. We were told we'd be letting the community down if we moved away," he said.
"I'm a big believer in climate change and wanted to protect my family."
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