Since the horror year of 2009, we've been blessed with mild summers. Of course it gets hot every year and dries out to some degree - but the summers of 2010, 2011, and 2012 were pretty easy to deal with. Although there were fire incidents for the CFA to deal with from time to time, it was nothing like what we had in 2009.
But the memory of Black Saturday and the days surrounding it live on, this year more vividly than at other times.
Over the past couple of weeks we've had some terrific heat waves, at one point even as high as 46 C in the city. It didn't get quite that hot on Mount Dandenong, but it's really the wind we worry about more than the heat - and on the day it was 46, well, the wind was howling.
Night after night we see coverage of bushfires which have raged for days and days - both here in Victoria and in Tasmania and New South Wales. Each morning we awaken to radio news reporting the number of fires still burning out of control, and listing the communities which are at risk.
It's sobering, to say the least.
Thankfully, there've been only minor fires in our area - grassfires which the local CFA volunteers pounded with everything they've got - and put out quickly. But we're only halfway though January, and there's been only a little rain.
Grass fire sounds like something that should be easy to catch and put out, doesn't it? I wish it were so. But we're talking about grass that is as high as your knee or higher - grass that seems to be everywhere - even in the middle of the forest - and which ignites incredibly easily and burns hot and fast.
Like other people here, we have our "fire plan" and have a place we can run to if the need arises. We've already taken some things - precious photographs, Aunt Mary's table cloth, my wedding dress, and a few other irreplaceable treasures - off the mountain for safekeeping. And we've got a place to run to if we need it.
We fervently pray that all these preparations - and those being made by our friends and neighbors - will never actually be needed.
We hope and pray for a quiet, safe, and fire-free summer.
