Everything to Live For: The Inspirational Story of Turia Pitt

by Pitt, Turia

  Turia, Kate, Hal, the Van der Merwes and Michael all came through checkpoint two after 11.30 and, had they been held there, it’s safe to say they would not have been trapped by the fire a little over an hour and a half later.

  At about 11.40 am, Kate’s friend Andrew Baker, Nathan Dyer, a reporter from the Kimberley Echo, and Hanninen left checkpoint two and drove along the Gibb River Road to a point in the course called The Barrels, about 20 kilometres from checkpoint three. From here they planned to monitor competitors emerging from the Tier Gorge. After they arrived at around 12.15 pm, competitors coming through told them that fire was getting close to the track; as Andrew listened to what the runners were saying he was worried; Kate and Hal were not yet among them and he could see the smoke in the direction of the Tier Gorge seemed to be getting thicker.

  Hanninen told the inquiry she noticed flames and smoke but wasn’t sure how big the fire was; she said her main concern was that the fire would burn the course markers and competitors would get lost.11

  Garcia Prieto, along with another volunteer, Scott Connell, and Mary Gadams’ husband, Alasdair Morrison, headed for checkpoint three to start putting up the glow sticks for runners traversing the course after dark. On the way Prieto saw a lot of smoke and flames in the vicinity of the course and, concerned that if the markers got burnt the competitors would get lost, immediately turned the vehicle around to head back to checkpoint two.12

  About 2 kilometres from checkpoint two he stopped when he saw a local volunteer, Lon Croot, who was ‘sweeping’ the course with another RacingthePlanet official. (Sweepers are race officials who walk with or behind the last competitor; when the sweepers reach a checkpoint, the checkpoint officials know that there are no more runners coming and they can close the checkpoint. They are also a safety backup – so that if someone is injured, at the very least they will be found by the sweepers.) It was Lon’s first time volunteering for an event like this. Lon, a thirty-two-year-old forestry worker, had been helping the RacingthePlanet team set up in the preceding few days and knew there were fires in the area. Everyone he was working with knew there were fires because they had to go back and re-mark the course in certain places after fires burnt out the pink markers.

  Lon was extremely worried about the fires. Even though they were spot fires, he was conscious that if a hot wind got up, the fires could rage out of control very quickly and he had mentioned this to members of the RacingthePlanet staff. ‘Aren’t you worried about that?’ he had asked them.13 They were all racing to get everything set up and appeared not to be concerned about the fires.14

  Garcia Prieto drove Lon back to checkpoint two and asked him to go into the area where the fire was to help the runners stick to the course; he gave Lon his GPS to help him find his way and some pink tape to re-mark the course if it had been burnt.15

  That was at around 1 pm.

  After sending Lon into the gorge, Garcia Prieto, Scott and Morrison headed back to checkpoint three, arriving at just after 2 pm. By then only twelve competitors had come through – this left twenty-eight competitors somewhere in the no-man’s-land between checkpoints two and three.

  Two other competitors, Brenda and Martyn Sawyer, had arrived at the top of the gorge just before 1.20 pm; straight away they saw thick smoke and fire ahead. They then heard a male voice shouting from the valley floor, ‘Don’t come down. Fire!’

  This call was from fellow competitor Ellis Caffin, who – with his partner, Dr Heather Scott – had seen a huge wall of smoke, which they thought was about 2 kilometres in front of them as they came out of the narrow part of the gorge. They had dropped down into the valley and were following the pink markers. As they walked along the dry creek bed they could smell smoke, and even though they had also come across several small grass fires earlier in the day, they believed that as they had not been warned about any fire, it was nothing to worry about.16 About five minutes after exiting the gorge, however, the smoke was thicker and the wind was in their faces.

  Heather was getting nervous. Suddenly the fire was massive and they could hear its roar. Ellis, a defence force helicopter pilot, decided they should climb the valley wall to a narrow ridgeline with less grass. Each wet a piece of cloth to wrap around their faces and climbed up. Within two minutes the flames had climbed the ridge to where they had taken refuge. They were then faced with no other choice but to jump the fire line at a very narrow break into an already burnt section – a split-second decision which prevented them from being burnt. The heat was intense; Heather, a nuclear scientist, was the most scared for her life that she had ever been.

  It was at that point that Ellis yelled up the valley to the competitors behind that there was a fire and they should go back. After Ellis saw the Sawyers turn around, he knew they would be able to warn any others.

  As the Sawyers started to retrace their footsteps, they ran into Lon and told him what they’d seen and about someone calling out ‘fire’. They suggested he should take a quick look and assured him they would tell anyone else they came across to go back.

  Although Lon was familiar with the terrain of the Kimberley, he was not familiar with this part of the course. He continued walking to see if he could locate the people who had called out ‘fire’ from the valley. When he reached the top of the gorge he saw the fire racing over the valley and saw two people standing as if uncertain what to do, and he realised they were in danger. He called down to them and they didn’t answer, although in all probability his voice could not have been heard over the noise of the fire. Terrified that he was about to witness people die, he called out again and through the billowing smoke saw the man running and heard screams from the woman as smoke billowed over her. He was later to find out that the woman was RacingthePlanet founder, Mary Gadams, and competitor, Ron Rutherford.

  Devastated by this vision, and believing he too might be in danger, Lon turned and started to head back as fast as he could until he collapsed with leg cramps. Fortunately, Martyn saw him fall and he and Brenda went to help; Lon told him what he’d seen and said they needed a rescue helicopter. Martyn told Brenda he would stay with Lon but for her to keep going and get to checkpoint two as quickly as she could to get help.

  When Lon had recovered from his cramp he took off ahead of Martyn, anxious to tell anyone still on the course to return to checkpoint two immediately. He reached the checkpoint just after Brenda, who had already warned Dr Waite that people might be trapped by the fire and a rescue helicopter would be needed. When Lon arrived he took Dr Waite aside and told her that he’d actually seen people being burnt and heard screaming.

  It was now just after 2 pm.

  SEVEN

  MISCOMMUNICATIONS

  DR BRANDEE WAITE, AN AMERICAN WHO HAD WORKED WITH RacingthePlanet since 2005, first dialled 000 at 2.02 pm and was put through to Western Australia’s Fire and Emergency Services Authority’s communications centre in Perth (FESA Comcen). Following is the transcript of the conversation:1

  Dr Waite:

  Hello, yes this is . . . I’m in the Kimberley this is Dr Waite and I’m with the RacingthePlanet that’s running through the outback here and we’re at the edge of a fire we’ve got a couple of people who’ve been burnt. The fires came across them and they’ve been burnt; we need some help with the evacuation.

  Operator:

  So where are you actually; what’s the address?

  Dr Waite:

  We’re not . . . there’s not an address; I’ll have to get you the GPS coordinates.

  Operator:

  Yes.

  Dr Waite:

  We are literally in the bush.

  Operator:

  Are you at a campsite or anything?

  Dr Waite:

  We are not at a campsite.

  Operator:

  Okay.

  There are some long pauses and talking in the background and Dr Waite tells the operator the ‘GPS has now gone quiet.’

  Operator:

  Okay, so do you actually need the f
ire brigade or do you need the ambulance?

  Dr Waite:

  We need the ambulance.

  Operator:

  Oh, okay, coz you have actually come through to the fire brigade so we are completely not associated with the ambulance.

  Dr Waite:

  This is not the SES? [State Emergency Services]

  Operator:

  Sorry?

  Dr Waite:

  We are trying to contact SES.

  Operator:

  But if you’ve got people that need medical treatment, do you need the ambulance?

  Dr Waite:

  Yes.

  Operator:

  So what do you need the SES for?

  Dr Waite:

  Is that not the ambulance?

  Operator:

  No the SES are volunteers who assist so you’ll need to hang up and ring 000 again and ask for ambulance in WA. If all you need is medical treatment, they may call the ambulance; they may call the SES to assist them but they will be the primary person to treat if you have injuries.

  Dr Waite:

  Okay.

  Operator:

  Okay.

  Dr Waite:

  Oh, thank you.

  Operator:

  No worries, bye bye.

  Dr Waite:

  Okay, bye.

  While it could be expected that Dr Waite, as an American, might be unfamiliar with the territory and the roles of the various agencies, the inquiry raised serious questions about the operator’s response; it found that not keeping Dr Waite on the line while communication was established to the right agency was a serious failure.2

  After Dr Waite’s unsuccessful FESA call, she phoned event director Samantha Fanshawe at checkpoint four and advised her there was an emergency and that people were trapped by the fire. Fanshawe then made her own call to 000 and was put through to FESA.

  Fanshawe told the operator ‘. . . there are bush fires out here and there is a possibility that there are two people trapped in a bush fire . . .’ She did not tell the operator that people had been burnt or needed medical attention.3

  Somewhere along the communication chain, the fact that people had been burnt was lost; the inquiry heard this may have been due to a poor connection between satellite phones.4

  Although Fanshawe was unable to provide the GPS coordinates for the exact location of the ‘incident’, she attempted to describe where they were. Unfortunately, she was unaware that the FESA call centre was in Perth and the operator was not familiar with some of the remote place names she mentioned in Far North Western Australia. Fanshawe said she would phone back with the coordinates. At the end of the call, she told the operator that they had access to a helicopter and asked if it would help if they got it to start looking, ‘. . . or is search and rescue done through you as well?’5

  RacingthePlanet had an arrangement with the Beyond Action team that their helicopter could be co-opted as first responder in an emergency. But instead of contacting the Beyond Action pilot, Nathan Summers, Fanshawe tried to call the Heliwork base in Kununurra to activate their ‘back-up emergency helicopter’. Her calls were unsuccessful, again due to bad satellite reception. Regardless, RacingthePlanet had not booked a back-up helicopter, declining the option offered by Heliwork the previous day, so there was no guarantee there would be one available in the case of emergency anyway.6

  Fanshawe next called Garcia Prieto at checkpoint three and told him there were runners missing between checkpoint two and The Barrels and they needed to contact the media helicopter and get it to have a look. He told her the helicopter was actually there at checkpoint three; she then spoke to Nathan Summers and asked him to fly over the range and investigate the situation.

  Summers took that call at about 2.35 pm.7

  When Fanshawe rang FESA back with the GPS coordinates at 2.45 pm, she was asked how many people were injured. She replied, ‘Two people missing. No one injured.’8

  After their narrow escape from the flames as the fire swept through the gorge, Ellis and Heather made their way down into the valley, heading back to checkpoint two but also looking out for any runners behind them. They came across the two people Lon Croot had seen – Mary Gadams, who had burns on her hands and legs, and another competitor, Rod Rutherford, who had managed to escape and wasn’t burnt. They bandaged Mary, after which all four started walking along the layers of ash back towards checkpoint two, looking for anyone in front of them who may have been injured. Everything was burnt – the pink course markers were burnt and the trees were still on fire.

  Ellis and Heather were sharing their water with Mary, helping her drink and cool her burnt hands as she and Rod had used all of their water. Heather kept blowing her whistle to see if anyone responded and after about thirty minutes they heard a return whistle; several more back and forth whistles were exchanged and then they found Wade. They made their way towards each other and Wade briefed them on the injured competitors up on the ridge, stressing the seriousness of Turia’s and Kate’s burns. He also told them the group was short of water.

  Wade handed Ellis the list of names and race numbers of the group on the ridge and Ellis gave him some water, then Wade started walking back towards the ridge.

  Because Mary was injured, Ellis suggested that she and Rod should stay put and, leaving them with some water, he and Heather headed off for checkpoint three.

  There were no trail markers and all Ellis and Heather had for navigation purposes was a rudimentary hand-drawn map of the course. Most of the trees in the valley were still burning and branches would suddenly drop with no warning making their trek nerve racking.

  After walking for about forty-five minutes, they saw Summers and a member of the media crew, Nathan Tomlinson, in the Beyond Action helicopter. Ellis and Heather waved like mad, pointing towards the ridgeline where they knew the group of injured competitors were.

  Summers quickly located the group on the ridge by the reflection from the stretched-out space blankets. As he approached, Summers could see people lying down; some were seated and stood up and waved. As Summers got closer and looked down he could see obvious casualties. He thought he might be able to land but realised as he hovered over the site that it was impossible because of the rocky terrain and trees; as well as being hampered by camera equipment attached to the helicopter.

  While Summers kept the aircraft hovering over the group, the rotor blades raised clouds of dust and ash that settled on everyone’s burns and as he flew off, they knew rescue was near but not near enough. But still, the sight of the helicopter lifted their spirits; rescue must come soon.

  Summers landed on the only suitable area – some distance away, on the opposite side of the valley – and leapt out of the chopper to meet Ellis and Heather. Ellis passed on the information about the other injured people. Summers immediately sent out calls on his radio but could not reach anyone’s satellite phone. Ellis urged him to get back up in the air, where reception might be better, as another helicopter was urgently needed. But the pilot was worried: the nearest emergency helicopter capable of winching the injured off the ridge was in Darwin, more than 800 kilometres away.

  Summers’ helicopter wasn’t equipped for medical emergencies but he did have water, which he gave to Ellis to take to the ridge, and then he took off.

  Ellis and Heather headed back towards the base of the cliff to see if there was any way to get the wounded down the cliff face so they could be evacuated.

  In the meantime Trent clambered down the cliff to meet them; after he introduced himself he reiterated the grim news about the state of the girls. Ellis and Heather told him that Mary Gadams and Rod Rutherford were also waiting in the gorge for rescue.

  Ellis and Heather then decided to sweep the valley back to checkpoint two to look for any runners who might have been behind them. They commenced the 5-kilometre hike through the narrow gorge and charred wasteland beyond, blowing their whistles every couple of minutes. They never heard an answering whistle.

&nbs
p; To their dismay they found checkpoint two burnt out and evacuated. They continued hiking for another 6 kilometres to the Gibb River Road; they hoped to hitch a ride to checkpoint three and hand over the list of all the people stranded in the gorge who needed evacuation.

  Once airborne, Summers got a call through to RacingthePlanet, advising them of the location of the ridge and asking them to urgently organise another helicopter and an ambulance. Then he made one more attempt at landing to get Turia and Kate off, but it was impossible; there was room for only one skid on the rock ledge.

  As they watched Summers fly off, and now knowing there was no way a helicopter could land, the men wondered how they could get the girls down into the valley. There was some discussion about assembling makeshift stretchers from space blankets and broken branches; this was dismissed as too risky on such steep terrain because they could be putting the girls’ lives in more danger if they dropped them. They would have to wait.

  Time wore on but the temperature had not dropped much – it was still around 35 degrees.

  Summers collected Dr Julie Brahm, RacingthePlanet’s Australian-based medical assistant (a Canadian, at the time working for a rapid-response Australian medical team), from checkpoint three and flew back to the site; he hovered over the ledge while she jumped from the helicopter and ran immediately to the injured Turia and Kate.

  Then Summers landed some distance away in the valley, where he made two broken satellite calls to Paul Cripps, the operations manager at the Heliwork base. He explained there were five people with serious burns who needed to be transported to hospital urgently. After that, he and Nathan Tomlinson walked back across the valley and climbed up to the ridge with more water.