What does it look like to Loose Everything?

(image: Jesusita Fire Smoke- Anne-Marie, 2009)

*we didn't know things were burning so badly, some of us hadn't evacuated yet

Word: Loss- 1. The act or and instance of losing. 2b. The condition of being deprived or bereaved of something or someone. c. The amount of something lost. 3. The harm or suffering caused by losing or being lost (pg. 1034, The American Heritage dictionary of the English language).

Date: Black Saturday- January 28^th, 2009. One fourth of the Australian state Victoria burns, 173 lives lost.

Article: The New Yorker, October 26^th, 2009

“The six hundred fires that started that day were not just the deadliest that Australia had ever known but among the worst the world has ever seen for decades” (pg. 48, The Inferno by Christine Kenneally, the New Yorker October 26^th, 2009).

“Firefighters described the Black Saturday firestorm as “alive,” and said that its behavior was completely unprecedented. In some area it was apparently cyclonic, coming at them from all sides, burning up a road in one direction and then, minutes later, burning in the opposite direction…the energy from all the fires that day was the equivalent of fifteen hundred Hiroshimas” (pg. 50, The Inferno by Christine Kenneally, the New Yorker October 26^th, 2009).

“Leaving at the last minute is the worst possible strategy. By the time you can see the firewall, you exits may be blocked, and by fleeing your forfeit the heat shield of your home. Often bodies were found between house and car, keys in the ignition.” (pg. 52, The Inferno by Christine Kenneally, the New Yorker October 26^th, 2009).