This is when the adrenaline kicked in. We drove through the police check and made our way up Widgiewa Road, about 15 minutes outside Queanbeyan. The rural street was dotted with homesteads and would become one of the worst hit areas of the fire. The blaze ran fast and low across the dry grassland, only taking height when it engulfed trees, sheds and houses. Aircraft hovered low, refuelling at nearby dams to battle the fires from above.  The air was heavy with heat and smoke, and the colour of the sky changed within minutes from bright blue to dark red. As the wind changed, firefighters became more frantic, yelling at us to pull back. I could see flames on a ridge about one kilometre away, but when the wind turned so did the direction of the flames and this time it was towards us. 

(Reporter Jesse Dorsett and cameraman Ian Cutmore interviewing a resident affected by the Carwoola fire - Photo: Alkira Reinfrank)

I spoke to one resident of Widgiewa Road while she was standing outside her front gate. About 15 minutes later she would lose her property and livelihood. It was as we watched on, a few hundred metres away from her house, that the ferocity of the fire hit me.  Small explosions could be seen coming from the direction of her property. All she could do was watch from her car.

(A home in ruins - Photo: Alkira Reinfrank)

For three hours we were constantly being pushed back down the road by the firefront. I would stay behind the wheel of the car, ready to make a quick getaway, watching Toby closely to make sure he wasn’t blindsided by the blaze. When the fire started getting close, Toby would jump into the passenger seat and we would drive to a safer vantage point. 

At 5:15pm we headed back to where we could get a strong mobile signal to send the vision to ABC News’ Northbourne bureau for the 7pm bulletin. On the way, we met up with other crews. My colleague Tom Lowrey had a close encounter, as seen from his singed mobile phone.

(Tom Lowrey’s scorched phone - Photo: Alkira Reinfrank)

Tom accidently dropped the phone on the ground when he and cameraman Nick Haggarty made a speedy retreat. When they returned after the fire had passed, they managed to find Tom’s phone and, despite it being a little charred, you’ll be surprised to know it does still work. 

(The damaged phone still works! - Photo: Alkira Reinfrank)

Once the vision had been sent, we went to the evacuation centre in the heart of Queanbeyan and I did a live interview with ABC Radio Canberra, followed by a live phone cross to News 24 (my first). I ran into the woman I’d met whose house was lost on Widgiewa Road. She and her husband were visibly distressed as they showed me a photo of their home and office going up in flames. 

Then at 6.50pm, just when I thought my day was wrapping up, I received a call from the Day Editor who asked me to do a live report during the 7pm News. I quickly scribbled down some notes and tried to compose myself. This was it. My first TV live cross. I didn’t have enough time to be nervous and even if I did, everything I had seen in the hours before had put a one-minute cross into perspective. I thought I made it through relatively unscathed for a first-timer and then almost immediately after went into another cross with News 24.

(The aftermath of the fire - Photo: Alkira Reinfrank)  

I returned the following day to Widgiewa Road to report on the impact of the fire and took photographs of a landscape transformed. The rugged bushland that had greeted us the day before was now just charred trees and scorched earth. Blackened front gates were marked with brightly coloured tape, signalling the fate of the property within. Residents waited anxiously at the entrance of the road for hours before they were allowed to enter and survey their homes or what was left of them. 

Going behind the lines of the fire and then covering the aftermath was a foreign experience for me. I was just a child when the 2003 Canberra bushfires ripped through the city and since then I have never been so close to an out-of-control blaze. It was a really intense experience. At times I felt quite shaky, trying to manage my anxiety and the adrenaline triggered by being in an emergency situation. I was constantly trying to calmly think through the best way of filing to all platforms, while keeping Toby and I safe.

Luckily, the Carwoola fire was contained after it burned through 3,500 hectares. Still, it destroyed 11 homes and damaged 12 others and razed 45 outbuildings. Miraculously, no lives were lost. It was a day I learnt a lot as a reporter and a day I will never forget.

A PHOTO ESSAY ON CARWOOLA FIRE BY ALKIRA REINFRANK