Life underground after Vic Black Saturday
Edd and Amanda Williams lost their home in Victoria's Black Saturday bushfires and they'll be damned if they lose another.
The couple was forced to stand by and watch as the devastating and deadly February 2009 fires ravaged their Steels Creek house. But the tragedy didn't prompt them to leave town. Instead, they've changed the way they live.
"You can't defend a two-storey house with two people, so we decided to build a house with one side," Amanda said.
"And I decided that the more sensible thing was to build underground after everything in the cellar was perfectly fine."
So with practicality and sustainability at the forefront of their minds, the Williams set to building a new home on a piece of nearby land where their animals survived the devastation on February 7, 2009.
Featuring double-glazed windows, and a kitchen positioned so the sun hits the back wall, the house stays a comfortable 22C in both summer and winter.
Using repurposed bricks the Williams were able to cut costs by using what they could from the ruins of their former home.
A decade after the fire, they don't plan to attend any Black Saturday commemorative events because the pain continues.
"Some (people) are still grieving because they lost people since the fires," Edd said.
"We lost our next-door neighbour and we've lost people to cancer since. There is still a bit of sadness around and we are still affected by it."
Stopping short of describing themselves as victims, Amanda says they are fire survivors.
They had no plans of staying and fighting the fire to begin with, but there was no warning.
The blue sky quickly became a tsunami of fire roaring like a jet plane as a sheet of flames raced down the hill.
"It was like watching a movie," Amanda said, describing their firefight as an out-of-body experience.
They fought for hours, under constant ember attack, before Edd said there was nothing more they could do.
"He went into the kitchen and got a bottle of beer and a bottle of wine and we ran into our paddock," she said.
"And we watched it burn as we drank a bottle of wine and some beer. We couldn't do anything.
"I thought to myself 'how often do you see something dramatic like this, I've got a bottle of wine and I'm alive'."
The experience was devastating, but it taught them much about the goodness and generosity of humanity.
Arriving in Australia as British migrants with three young children, Edd and Amanda never expected to receive any help after the fire and set to work almost immediately.
"There were goats to be milked, so we had to continue on with life as best we could," Edd said.
But the support they received from locals, churches, donations and grants were invaluable.
They were even given an old portable school building to live in while they rebuilt their home.
"The feeling was, if you're going to have a disaster, be in Australia."
