Tandara
On Tuesday 13th February, Victoria was forecast to and experienced a “Catastrophic” fire danger day, particularly in the west of the State.
As part of our risk management plan, on Monday afternoon (12th) both Tandara Lutheran Camp and Trinity Lutheran College Mildura postponed the scheduled camp which was due to start on Tuesday 13th February at Tandara in Halls Gap.
Our staff members were evacuated, but Camp Manager Justin Cozens remained in Halls Gap, as he is the captain of the local Country Fire Authority’s Halls Gap Fire Brigade. The featured photograph was taken at 1.00am on Wednesday 14th Feb, from the driveway of Tandara, looking southeast. The fire was a little under 1km away, but at a slower approach as winds had dropped, and it was travelling down the mountain (slow) rather than up a mountain (fast).
There was no loss of life in the west of the state – for this we give thanks. There were, however, some 44 properties lost on other side of the mountain around Pomonal, and we pray for the affected families. Part of the Barney’s complex – the eating and drinking part of the hotel – has been and continues to run community meals at no cost. Tandara was able to donate some surplus food for this cause.
On the bright side, at short notice we had the opportunity to host some of the team from Forest Fire Management Victoria for 6 nights, so we were kept busy demonstrating Christian hospitality.
Mary McKillop College from Swan Hill were due to come to Tandara last week (21st-23rd February) but postponed due to the Extreme fire danger condition, plus existing fires and roads were still an issue. They originally postponed to this week, but have now postponed again to late March, due to this Wednesday’s Extreme/possibly Catastrophic fire danger forecast. We are grateful for the resilience and flexibility of our customer groups and staff.
On another bright note, the Western Hub of the Lutheran primary schools’ leadership team are meeting at Tandara as we write – Monday 26th February and Tuesday 27th February – with Emma Graetz from Australian Lutheran College (ALC) leading the Teaching Leadership Skills program.
