Everything to Live For: The Inspirational Story of Turia Pitt

by Pitt, Turia

FIVE

  THE AFTERMATH OF HELL

  THE HELLFIRE WAS OVER IN MINUTES.

  When Michael emerged he found he was between Kate and Turia. He first saw Kate, who was standing up with her back to him. Where her clothes had been burnt off, he could see skin and flesh literally melting off her. He didn’t know Kate; she turned and looked at him, wide-eyed and in pain, and he knew she was in a bad way.

  Turia was on the ground; she had stopped screaming but Michael couldn’t look at her after seeing Kate. He could not speak; words would just not come out of his mouth and he collapsed in shock. His legs, arms, fingers and ears were burnt and he had a large open gash on his lower leg.

  Almost simultaneously, Martin arrived back, having picked himself up from the smouldering ground and headed to where he had heard the screams for help. The first person he saw through the smoke was Turia, lying on the ground, silent; he saw she was still alive. Martin introduced himself and asked her name. To his relief she answered ‘Turia’.

  Martin’s plastic water bottle had fallen from its separate pack holder and burnt out, even though it had still had water in it, and as he struggled to remove his backpack to get at more water, Martin was suddenly hit by waves of nausea; overcome, he dropped to the ground next to Turia. His legs were burnt to his thighs and he had burns to his right hand; his ear was also bleeding from where it had been split open during his fall.

  Once the nausea passed, Martin tried to move Turia a little to make her more comfortable and gave her two Panadol tablets and some water from a container in his backpack. He thought about putting some of his water on her burns but judged that as the area of her burns was so extensive, it was better to save any water to keep her hydrated.

  As the smoke cleared, Martin saw Michael, lying down some distance away, and Kate, who he saw was also seriously burnt.

  A few minutes later, Hal appeared through the smoke and heat. He had run into an already burnt-out and blackened area, miraculously escaping the fire but suffering from smoke inhalation. Hal had climbed back around the hill, adrenalin still pumping, to see if anyone was alive; he was expecting to find bodies. To his amazement they were alive but the scene was confronting; he immediately saw how severe his friend Kate’s burns were. Michael, lying a few metres away, at first glance didn’t seem too bad. Martin – though clearly not in good shape himself – was administering to Turia.

  Hal went to Kate and gave her Neurofen from his pack and tried to make her more comfortable. He asked if anyone had something soft for her to sit on as her buttocks were badly burnt. Martin gave them a sleeping bag cover from his backpack – it was thin but at least it was something.

  Next, Hal checked Michael; he now seemed to be in a lot of pain. Michael’s Lycra compression leggings had burnt into his skin below the knees so the extent of his burns was not fully visible. But he had no broken bones. Miraculously, no one had broken bones. Hal gave him Neurofen; Michael impressed upon him that he was able to manage his own injuries.

  ‘Look after the girls, mate,’ he said. It was obvious that they were in need of urgent medical help.

  Martin sat with Turia, helpless in the face of the seriousness of her burns with his anxiety growing about the whereabouts of Shaun.

  ‘How badly burnt am I?’ Turia asked.

  Heartbroken at this polite question in the face of her horrific burns, Martin couldn’t bring himself to tell her the truth. ‘You’re okay and you’ll heal well,’ he told her, in the most comforting manner he could muster. Her legs were throbbing and she asked Martin if she could raise them and place them over his stretched-out legs. He helped her do this.

  At this stage it became apparent to Hal that as the least injured of the five, he was the only one in a position to take on the burden of decision-making. They had survived; they didn’t know where Shaun was; the fire had moved on. His priority quickly moved to the problem of raising the alarm. Did anyone know they were there, let alone that two race competitors were critically injured? They were beyond mobile reception and no one had a satellite phone. Assuming the organisers would be alerted when they didn’t turn up at checkpoint three, there was still no way of knowing how long this might be. They didn’t know how far the fire had gone or if the course markers were still there or even if anyone else had been affected by the fire.

  It seemed clear to Hal that he was the only one capable of walking out, so he said it would be best that he went for help and Martin, who at least seemed to be capable of moving around, stayed and applied whatever first aid he could with the supplies they had.

  ‘No, man; I will come with you,’ Martin insisted. ‘Two is safer than one in this situation.’

  Hal was impressed by the stamina of this older man, who was obviously injured and in pain, and that he was prepared to walk maybe several kilometres for help.

  But Martin was also becoming increasingly concerned about his missing son; finding Shaun was uppermost in his mind. If Shaun had not come back to look for Martin – which Martin was felt sure he would do if he were able to – then he had to be either injured or dead.

  ‘Can you help me find Shaun first?’ Martin asked Hal.

  Knowing that Martin should save his strength, Hal told him to stay put and said he would go and have a look. Hal spent about ten minutes walking around the cliffs, blowing his whistle and shouting but heard no answering whistle or shout. He returned to give Martin the news.

  ‘This is not necessarily bad news,’ Hal said, trying to reassure him. ‘He may have gone too far to be heard.’

  By then nearly forty-five minutes had passed since their horrific encounter with the fire.

  The terrible image of the fire engulfing Turia and Kate had been witnessed by other competitors. The three young men from Newcrest Mining – who Turia had chatted with on the bus and had run with for the early part of the race – emerged from the gorge shortly after the fateful six had congregated and were discussing their options. They were still too far away to see the group through the bush but they saw the fire; it was a confronting sight. Two of the mining men had fought outback bush fires before but nevertheless they found the sight of the wide sweep of this fire quite frightening.

  The men, Brad Bull, Wade Dixon and Trent Breen, retreated about 100 metres up the dry creek bed, knowing they couldn’t go back into the gorge or follow the creek bed out. Trent climbed up the side of the gorge and found a way to escape; Wade and Brad followed him up the escarpment. From their vantage point on this ridge they suddenly saw some of the others and watched, horrified, as the fire sweep up the hill, engulfing the girls, and heard their screams. They also saw Shaun running down the other side into the next gorge.

  From where they were, it was quicker to get to Shaun first so they carefully made their way down through the steep, rugged terrain to where he was sitting holding his shirt over his face.

  Relieved and gratified to see them, Shaun told them how worried he was about the others; his father was among them. It was clear that Shaun was in shock. The Newcrest men did not tell him exactly what they had witnessed. But they knew they all had to compose themselves for what might lie ahead so they sat quietly for a few minutes. Then they zigzagged back up the burnt-out gorge, each man bracing himself for the possibility of a gruesome find.

  On the way Shaun’s shoes melted on the smouldering ground but he ignored the heat on his soles and kept climbing, blowing his whistle, hoping. Suddenly, he heard the faint sound of Hal’s whistle somewhere; ‘Thank God, at least one person is alive,’ he thought.

  So, shortly after Hal arrived back and told Martin he hadn’t found his son, Shaun appeared, followed by the Newcrest men minutes later. It was an emotional father-and-son reunion; both having thought the other dead, they hugged and cried tears of relief.

  Next Martin told Shaun how bad Turia and Kate were. Accompanied by the three Newcrest men, they picked their way over the hot, blackened earth and stones to where Turia and Michael lay and Kate sat crouched over.

  Shaun and th
e Newcrest men quickly assessed the situation and went into the emergency action they’d all been trained in as mine workers. They spent the first few minutes checking everyone. They pooled their limited supplies to administer dressings, Panadol and water to Kate and Turia. Shaun also gave Turia some ibuprofen tablets. Unequipped for serious burns, they nevertheless did what they could by soaking their crepe bandages with water from their supplies to try to keep the burnt skin moist.

  This was the Australian outback; by this stage it was after 2 pm and the temperature was 37 degrees and climbing. Hydration was a serious issue; even pooled, water was limited. There were now nine people on the ridge and no one knew how long it would be before they were rescued.

  It was obvious that the heat from the sun was exacerbating Turia’s and Kate’s burns so the Newcrest men, helped by Shaun and Hal, set about shading the girls by stringing up their space blankets and silk bag liners between sparse trees. It was decided not to move Turia but to build a shelter over her where she lay.

  Trent, who had assumed a leadership role, compiled a manifest of the names and race numbers of everyone present. It was imperative that word get out about the seriousness of Turia’s and Kate’s injuries and about half an hour later, Wade headed down to the valley with the manifest; the plan was for him to walk back towards checkpoint two, blowing his whistle to see if there were any other competitors still on the course.

  Trent switched his focus to looking after Turia, who lay uncomplaining, with the hot wind blowing over her. Shaun attended to Martin’s injuries, dressing his father’s legs with some crepe bandages. Fortunately Martin’s rolled-down compression leggings and woollen socks had prevented his melted shoes from burning his feet and ankles but when Shaun poured saline water over his right hand, his father didn’t flinch. Shaun thought he must have sustained third-degree burns, which would have killed off the nerve endings and probably meant Martin would lose his hand. Shaun gave him some juice but they had run out of pain-killers.

  Everyone heard a very small voice out of the blue: ‘Excuse me, please.’

  It was Turia. ‘Can someone please get the ants off me?’ Turia had fallen on an ants’ nest and big ants were crawling all over her.

  It was decided to move her to the shaded area next to Kate. When Shaun and Trent first took hold of Turia’s arms to assist her to walk, they were horrified to discover her skin peeled off to the touch and they quickly took her by her underarms instead.

  Belatedly, Hal went into shock and felt incapable of even speaking. Once he realised the Newcrest guys knew what they were doing he switched off and commenced the wait for help, sitting between Kate and Turia, giving them sips of water and hoping they remained conscious.

  Kate’s back and buttocks were too badly burnt to allow her to lie down. She would sit for as long as she could then when the pain got too much, she would stand up. Hal was silently concerned about the girls’ airways swelling up and although Kate did not appear burnt on her face, he was sure she stopped breathing a few times.

  Shaun helped Michael wet his visible burn areas and then sat with Turia, giving her occasional sips of water. She spoke a little and several times asked him if her face was okay. It wasn’t, but Shaun felt it was the last thing he could tell her.

  Knowing that the Beyond Action helicopter was out there somewhere, the men placed space blankets across the rock ledge, hoping the reflective shining surface would attract attention if it flew near. Time ticked by and Martin raised the subject of their rescue again. Even though Wade had been sent to raise the alarm, Martin was still keen on walking out to get help.

  ‘Dad, you’re not going anywhere. Sit right there. We have to wait,’ Shaun told him firmly, even prepared to forcibly restrain him if necessary.

  So they waited. And waited.

  SIX

  DELAY

  AS REVEALED IN THE 2012 WESTERN AUSTRALIA GOVERNMENT Inquiry into the Kimberley Ultramarathon, many people knew about the fires in the region that day.1 So why did it take so long for alarm bells to be heard?

  The first person to raise the alarm about the fire on the day of the race was John Storey. John had, in fact, been concerned about fires in the region in the days before the race. On 26 August, John had flown RacingthePlanet’s course director, Carlos Garcia Prieto, over the region in his gyrocopter and had seen a fire in the Dunham Valley, which was part of the course. The following day he sent an email to the then president of the Shire of Wyndham East Kimberley (SWEK), Fred Mills, regarding the potential of the fire to impact on competitors:

  ‘. . . The fire that has been burning in that valley has been allowed to come unchecked right across from the main road completely annihilating the country that they will pass through. Its present position and the rate of travel will put it on the track that they will be running on the Durham Valley on about Friday when they will be coming through. Even now the fire could be put out with two passes of Lance’s plane. It will make great headlines in the paper when we see “International Race Cancelled due to disinterest by Shire”. The charred landscape will make a good backdrop for the film’s tourist promotion too.’2

  John was not a volunteer for the 2011 race and was assisting in the preparation of the course as a friend. The committee did not establish whether RacingthePlanet sought his opinion about the potential impact of the fires or whether he discussed with them his view that the race should be cancelled if the fires were not suppressed.3 RacingthePlanet did not change its fire risk assessment at that point.

  As subsequent emails presented to the inquiry revealed, Mary Gadams and the company’s event manager, Riitta Hanninen, asked the Kununurra Visitor’s Centre (KVC) on 30 August who they should contact about the fires. Nadia Donnelly, the centre’s marketing manager, advised them it was Tony Stevenson at the local office of the Fire and Emergency Services Authority (FESA). Nadia left a message for Tony on 31 August notifying him of the event and asking what should be done about the fires; she also spoke to Luke Bentley at the Department of Environment and Conservation (DEC) about the fires in the region. Luke said he would be happy to look at the fires but would need a map of the course. Later the same day, Tony contacted Nadia and suggested that the local hospital, chemist and St John’s Ambulance be notified of the race. Nadia noted that Tony did not have a map of the course. Nadia emailed Mary on 1 September letting her know she had spoken to Tony of FESA the previous evening and he was now aware that Mary would be in touch with him; Nadia gave Mary Luke and Tony’s telephone numbers and email addresses.4

  It transpired that RacingthePlanet did contact the DEC but not FESA. They were later to explain they thought Tony Stevenson was obliged to contact them.

  After starting the race, John and his wife had coffee at the Emma Gorge Resort and then set off for home in their gyrocopter, deciding to first fly over the route to wave to competitors. John believed FESA had been notified of the fires and had a map of the course. But as he flew over the east ridge of the Tier Range to the valley, which the course passed through, John was horrified to see that a large part of the country to the southeast was on fire and flames were racing up the northeast end of the range.5

  Straight away he turned back towards checkpoint two, trying unsuccessfully to contact RacingthePlanet as he went. He then used his VHF radio to call Nathan Summers, the Heliwork WA pilot of the helicopter the Beyond Action team had chartered for aerial sequences of the race. He told Nathan to land at checkpoint two and tell officials that a fire ‘coming over the range about 2 kilometres away will be on you in two hours’. He repeated the message twice.6 John Storey was unable to land himself, as a gyrocopter is not equipped to land in rough terrain. At this stage John believed he had done all he could to warn the organisers; his fuel was running low and he headed for home.

  But the bush-covered terrain at checkpoint two had made it impossible for Nathan to land near enough to pass the message on personally, so he landed as close as he could, which was on the other side of the Gibb River Road. He jumpe
d out of the helicopter and shouted the message across to a member of the media team on the ground; this message was then conveyed to RacingthePlanet’s event manager, Riitta Hanninen, at the checkpoint at about 10.30 am.7 Nathan then resumed his job of flying the Beyond Action camera crew around the region, assuming the message would be delivered and appropriate action would be taken to ensure the safety of the runners.

  John Storey’s two-hour calculation would put the fire at checkpoint two by about 12.30 pm. The cut-off time for competitors to reach checkpoint two was 2 pm, which meant there was potential for competitors to be caught in it.

  When the message regarding the fire was relayed to RacingthePlanet at checkpoint two, the course director, Carlos Garcia Prieto, was still at checkpoint one; it was here he noticed a large plume of smoke in the direction of the Gibb River Road section of the course. Video footage presented to the inquiry by Beyond Action showed two other smaller plumes, one either side of the main one.

  Garcia Prieto then left for checkpoint two with the aim of monitoring the fire, which he believed was near the Gibb River Road. As he drove to checkpoint two he kept an eye on the Gibb River Road smoke and determined the fire was no danger to competitors, who were passing through without incident.8

  By the time he arrived at checkpoint two at about 11 am and was given John Storey’s message by the checkpoint captain, Dr Brandee Waite, who was also the event’s medical director, it appears that the detail of the direction of the fire – that it was coming over the ridge – was missing from the message.9

  Garcia Prieto’s interpretation was that the message he’d been given by Dr Waite – ‘There is a fire coming towards us and it may be at checkpoint two in two hours’ – referred to the Gibb River Road fire and not a new fire. Neither he nor Hanninen made any attempt to determine the exact location, direction and severity of the fire as relayed in the message from Nathan or to hold competitors at checkpoint two until they had done so.10