The Yarroweyah fire stole a lot from Lyn Barnard, her home of seven years and everything she owned, but it hasn’t extinguished hope.
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The total destruction of Lyn’s house is raw and real, with only remnants of melted roofing iron in a heap, but she has resolved to rebuild.
Lyn was at home alone when the fire alert went out, escaping with only the clothes on her back, her dog Banjo Bubba and cat Isabella Squeak.
“I just switched into fight or flight mode,” she said.
“It was coming really fast, and I could see the smoke ... then I saw flames and I said, ‘That's too close for my liking with the wind.’”
Escaping in the car with just her animals, Lyn ended up at a friend's place later in the evening helping to put out spot fires.
Luckily, her friend’s house was still standing after being water bombed four times, but spot fires began sparking up across the road, with the wind blowing towards the house.
“So with no water hose, no pumps and just a drizzle of water coming out we were filling soup pots up and running across the road at night to keep putting out the little fires that were starting,” Lyn said.
“I was up for 36 hours before I even thought of going to bed.
“I was exhausted.”
When Lyn returned the next day, she found their home of seven years was nothing but a pile of rubble.
“I was pretty confronted,” she said.
Lyn was gutted to discover all her photographs were gone, along with everything else.
“I did save a Buddha that my daughter-in-law gave me years ago that just melted a little bit on the bottom, but other than that it's still intact,” she said.
Lyn also managed to save two little teddy bear statues she had got many years ago in remembrance of one of her great nephews who passed away just after his first birthday.
“They're burnt and a little on the black side,” she said.
“But hopefully, they’ll clean up a bit.”
Lyn and her husband also lost two bee hives and a caravan they had just bought to go travelling.
“I had just finished setting up my yoga room too,” she said.
“Which is now gone.
“I'm still processing, I don't think the shocks actually hit me yet.
“I'm missing home, I just keep thinking to myself, I want to go home.
“I just want to go home.”
Lyn said she had fond memories of Cobram growing up and when she and her husband found the house in Yarroweyah they knew they had found the perfect home.
Despite such a devastating loss, Lyn and her husband are focused on moving forward, one day at a time.
“We are definitely rebuilding,” she said.
“I love the area, I love the community, I love our street.
“You’re allowed to remember the past, but not to dwell on it.
“Always look toward the future and always live in the here and the now.
“So here I am now.
“This is what I have.”
Lyn is currently living with her husband in a caravan at their son’s place in Melbourne, but remains positive.
“I'm thinking, on a nice day, I’m going to go down and just sit on the beach and let the salty air heal me a bit inside,” she said.
“I’m just finding little things to look forward to.”