Tiny newborn Caspar doesn’t know it as he sleeps in his Kiwi mum Emma Smetham’s arms, but he’s a symbol of hope for the future amid the desolation and horror of the Australian bushfires.
The baby boy arrived just hours after his parents Jonathan Densem, also from New Zealand, and then heavily pregnant Emma fled their newly renovated Buxton home with their son otto (3) shortly before the terrifying inferno tore through the area.
Talking exclusively to New Zealand Woman’s Weekly from the student hostel that is a temporary shelter, Jonathan and Emma, both professional musicians from Christchurch, are still coming to terms with how close they came to tragedy.
“If we had stayed, the reality is that we would have been fighting that fire and delivering the baby at the same time,” says Emma (40). “I suspect the two are mutually incompatible.”
Hoping he could keep the flames at bay, Jonathan (39) followed “stay and defend” protocol and had installed special fire- fighting equipment in advance. “I had a big plan for fighting the fire,” he says.
“I’ve spent thousands of dollars and 50 hours installing an underground pipe from the river, and a 40m fire-fighting hose. Everything was working and then the fire came over the ridge and I went, ‘Right, bugger the house, let’s go!'”
Everyone at the house, including Emma’s parents, Buffy and Michael Smetham, from New Zealand, only had time to grab a pile of clothes, photos, some vital documents, a computer hard-drive and Emma’s pre-packed maternity bag.
Dinner had just been put on the table but Jonathan insisted there was no time to eat – and Emma was happy to agree. “I’m a stubborn woman but I didn’t argue when Jonathan said we were leaving,” she says. “I looked at the house, paused for a couple of seconds and said goodbye. We’d just finished renovating it two weeks before.”
Even though her baby was due the following day, Emma hardly gave her pending labour a second thought as they raced away from the fire zone. “It wasn’t a fear for my life but more for the unknown – where are we going and are we doing the right thing by leaving, given that wasn’t our plan?” says Emma, who lost her wedding ring while helping Jonathan set up the fire-fighting equipment. “I was climbing ladders and moving sprinklers until we decided to go. I wasn’t even particularly aware of being pregnant until later, when we were driving away and making decisions about where to go and what roads to take.”
After having a Cesarean for her first birth, Emma needed to be at a larger hospital with more services in case she required another one. So the family decided to head for Melbourne, until they discovered all five highways to the city were closed by the 27 fires burning across the region.
Deciding to head north to Shepparton in horrendous 46C temperatures, Emma says her fear level rose sharply when they started to drive through smoke. “It was two hours into the journey when we hit thick smoke, and our petrol was getting low. The power was out in a couple of townships and if the power is out, the petrol can’t pump.
“It would have been quite terrifying for my parents, because they haven’t had the background education that Jonathan and I have had from living in Australia about preparing for bushfire and what to expect.
“We know what to do when a fire front comes through and the speed at which it can travel, how to get ready for it, and when to get into the house as the fire front comes, knowing it will pass in a few minutes.” But, tragically, the “stay and defend” policy that the couple had learned, like many Australians living in bushfire zones, is under review as many of the 181 people who lost their lives died in their homes.
Arriving in Shepparton after a four- hour journey, the family was relieved when a luxury hotel offered them their last room at half price.
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