Black Saturday 2009 Victorian Bushfires Tribute- Theres a hero sung by Kaitlyn Thomas aged 9

Light a Yellow Candle as a mark of respect 7th February 2010 1 year rememberence day.
3582 firefighting personnel were deployed across the state on the morning of February 7 in anticipation of the extreme conditions. Black Saturday will always be remembered as a day where Victoria banded together to fight the biggest bushfires Australia has had. Black Saturday resulted in Australia's highest ever loss of life from a bushfire. 173 people died as a result of the fires and 414 were injured. As many as 400 individual fires were recorded on this day.

The fires destroyed over 2,029 houses, 3,500+ structures in total and damaged thousands more. Many towns north-east of the state capital Melbourne were badly damaged or almost completely destroyed, including Kinglake, Marysville, Narbethong, Strathewen and Flowerdale. Many houses in the towns of Steels Creek, Humevale, Wandong, St Andrews, Callignee, Taggerty and Koornalla were also destroyed or severely damaged, with several fatalities recorded at each location. The fires affected 78 individual townships in total and displaced an estimated 7,562 people, many of whom sought temporary accommodation, much of it donated in the form of spare rooms, caravans, tents and beds in community relief centres.
There was not much you could do, except wait and hope that the people you knew and loved were safe. It was one of the longest Saturday nights Kaitlyn and I had ever experienced as we had family and friends in the fire effected areas, not to mention our own area close to home. We evacuated at 5pm, packed up all of our belongings and headed back towards the city to stay with my sister and her family. There we just waited out the night trying desperately to call friends who lived close by to the fires to see if they were ok. The following day Kaitlyn donated a lot of her clothing her favourite pillow and her favourite toy to the relief centre as she said 'mum, i dont really need all of these clothes... some little girl who has lost everything can have them'. My heart sank... I took her down to the town centre where a relief centre was set up for people who had lost everything. Thank god for volunteers, not only the fire fighters but the volunteers who helped set up the relief centres and people from around the area, donating time and blankets, beds, toys, clothing. It is amazing how Australians can band together in a time of need and it makes both Kaitlyn and I proud to say we are Australian.

#21 - Most Discussed (Today) - Entertainment - Australia
#98 - Top Rated (Today) - Australia
#15 - Top Rated (Today) - Entertainment - Australia

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• Black Saturday
• Victorian Bushfires 2009
• kaitlyn thomas
• billy gilman
• theres a hero

[SnickerFizz123]

Sharing this video up in San Diego, CA. We know what you have been through and we are praying for you. May God be with you.

P.S. You are an awesome singer, Kaitlyn.

Keep up the good work.

[kaitlynthomasaust]

@SnickerFizz123 wow thanks soo much. MUm was telling me about the CA fires and said they were as bad as what we had. I hope everything is ok now. Fire is scarey I know I was scared that day. Thanks for the lovely comment

[SnickerFizz123]

@kaitlynthomasaust You know how I found this video? I was looking up videos of 2009 Victorian Bushfires. I saw this one, thought it might be interesting, just clicked on it lol. I just stared at the computer while the video of you singing was playing, I thought "Whoa...Why didn't I ever look up this viedo before...?".

[kaitlynthomasaust]

@SnickerFizz123 i'm so glad you liked my video for the bushfires... it meant a lot to me to do this video.. its not the best recording as we only used to record with a camera. i'm so glad you found it

[Hannahbabiixo]

I remeber this happening i was like 11 when it started and i was at a friends house for her birthday. the fire wasnt close to us then but all you could smell was the burn trees and the heavey smoke. i hope everyone okay now.

[LegoFanatic1508]

@SnickerFizz123 No shit, man. This IS totally awesome.

[SnickerFizz123]

@kaitlynthomasaust Also, I never knew about those bushfires until a year later, after it happened. I was shocked to find out that so many people died.

[SnickerFizz123]

@kaitlynthomasaust Yeah. I hope my city doesn't have to experience fires like what you saw in Victoria. We got lucky because the Santa Ana winds did not blow as strong and lasted only a few days.

[kaitlynthomasaust]

@motabikeboy thats sooo goood to know!!!