HELL AT YOUR BACK DOOR
Australia fires – Family caught in firestorm as brave dad-of-two tries to defend their home
A TERRIFYING video has captured the ferocity of Australia's out-of-control wildfires, showing a raging firestorm engulf a family home while its owners were trapped inside.
A deadly bushfire has been tearing across picturesque Kangaroo Island in South Australia for over a week - as record temperatures and drought stricken land across the nation sees the crisis continue to worsen.
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More than 220,000 hectares - around half of Kangaroo Island - have been burnt, decimating tens of thousands of the native koala population and destroying at least 50 homes - one of those belonging to local firefighter, Peter Davis.
Mr Davis and his two sons, Ben and Brenton, recorded their heroic attempt to defend their Kangaroo Island property on camera, during the peak of the blaze last Friday.
Footage of their heart-stopping ordeal has emerged as fourth firefighter is confirmed killed while battling a bushfire in Victoria, bringing the national death toll to at least 27.
Mr Davis, a veteran firefighter of nearly 50 years says he has never witnessed a more intense fire than one that tore through his home.
The 73-year-old told the : “We were in the middle of the biggest firestorm I’ve ever seen and we survived.”
Armed with a video camera, the father-of-two endured the inferno for more than four minutes as the firestorm moved over his home.
Mr Davis described the intense firestorm as an ‘unbelievable power’.
He said: “You see huge amounts of embers, you see things flying through the air and these twisters where flames go up like a tornado.”
“It picked up a trampoline and threw it on the corner of the house and the car and then it picked it up again and threw it another 20m.”
The video footage also shows a swing set in the background engulfed by the fire and whipped across the yard.
Cars and trucks sat destroyed and alight.
The recording captures the true reality of Australians trying to save their livelihood in what is the nation’s worst ever bushfire crisis.
As the noise of the fire echoes behind them, one of the men can be heard saying: “Burn and p*ss off will you.”
When one of his sons suggests they need to go to the bathroom, a protective Mr Davis can be heard yelling at them not to.
He said: “You don’t go into a room you can’t get out of.”
“You go down the back...stay away from the glass mate.”
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The video shows the men trying to fight the surrounding flames with a hose, but it was a battle that could not be won.
Trapped inside, Mr Davis and his sons quickly grabbed a few personal belongings before the roof became a blaze.
It was then they knew they had to make a dangerous escape – and fast.
He said: “We had to cut the fence to get out because every other way was blocked.”
“While we were doing that, the roof fell in and the eastern part of the house that we'd had the vehicles sitting by exploded. We just drove away.”
Mr Davis said: “Unfortunately, we were unsuccessful and lost everything including the house, farm, over 400 sheep, over 400 beehives and Brenton’s ute.”
He added he is still coming to terms with the enormity of the experience, saying it “doesn’t hit you until afterwards.”
“Like the doc says, tears are the best lubricators for eyes so if you have shit in your eyes, you need to cry, and I’ve done a bit of that.”
Theirs was one of fifty homes destroyed on Kangaroo Island during the firestorm.
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A version of this story originally appeared on .
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