On Saturday 18th January 2003 a freak firestorm tore through our city. It resulted in the 2nd largest single hospital disaster response in Australian history.
I was working that day.
2 days later I wrote this story.
the firestorm.
It was bloody horribly awesome. Peeking out of the small window in the resuscitation room, it seemed the world had been dipped in a bucket of hell. Gale force winds whipped at trees beneath a swirling black sky. Pressing my face against the glass I could see over towards Weston Creek. Dark shapes lit by a dark crimson glow. Even as I watched the glow became an ominous bright orange, white firefly specks spraying up. My sister’s house was down there somewhere.
Just 2 hours previous it had been a relatively peaceful afternoon at work. I had even snuck down to the helipad to take a few pictures of the Southcare helicopter landing.
It was a hot day and the haze of white smoke from a week of distant bushfires hung in the air and covered our cars with a fine layer of talc.
At lunchtime the wind had picked up and the smoke turned from an annoying grey white smudge to a syrupy purple-brown cancer.
Morning staff had just handed over and left for home when the sun went out.
A 1659 hrs a standby Code Brown (hospital disaster response) was activated.
We began calling in extra staff in anticipation of a serious situation developing. This proved difficult as the both the land-line and mobile networks were either over congested or not working. Many of the staff in the department had family and homes in areas that were threatened, and had to make some very difficult decisions. To stay with the ED team or return home….there were no easy answers.
Meanwhile all the existing patients in the department were transferred to the wards or discharged home in preparation for incoming victims.
The director of the emergency department juggled phones as he tried to ascertain what was going on ‘out there’. As was to be the case throughout the disaster, communication was a real problem, and the only way we had any idea of the magnitude of what was unfolding, was from the paramedics and public that presented.
It has been well documented that during a disaster the bulk (and often, the most critically injured) of patients will arrive by their own means and not by ambulance… and that is exactly what happened. Cars began arriving at the ambulance bay. At first it was mostly smoke inhalation, asthma attacks and other respiratory related problems. Then falls from ladders and burns to the hands and feet. (The most serious burn patients all arrived by private car)
Shortly after the Code Brown was activated the shit hit the fan. Things began happening so quickly that time seemed to have unravelled into a syrupy slow motion. The almost surreal nature of the situation was enhanced by the thick smoke that had filled the department and the persistent power surges that would stutter us into darkness and then flicker on as the emergency generators cut in and out.
One of the paramedics walked wide-eyed and pale down the corridor.. as he passed, all he said was “I was shit scared out there.”
Tragically, two females with dreadful burns arrived in the back of a ute….they were rushed into the resuscitation room where the trauma team pounced on them.
Another arrived almost simultaneously. She had been in her stationary car when a tornado generated by the firestorm blew it over…she was thrown through the window sustaining serious injuries.
A fire-fighter was dragged in semi-conscious and combative from smoke inhalation and airway burns…all he wanted to do was to get back to help his mates. He wasn’t going anywhere.
Due to the power failure all the fire doors closed making access to other areas of the hospital difficult. Our computer system crashed and we lost power to the radiology department rendering the CAT scan inoperable, and leaving us with only mobile x-ray equipment for some time.
The main disaster control center for the hospital was having major communication problems.
The department quickly filled with a sea of sick, burned and broken people.
Medical teams were crowded around the 3 beds in resus each occupied by a critically ill patient.
Generally, working in the resuscitation room is nothing like you see portrayed on TV. There is no shouting out streams of orders or rushing around dramatically defibrillating folk. Most of the time we all know what needs to be done, and we all get on with it with a calm surgical professionalism.
But tonight there was a noisy, edgy urgency to the room. It was hot and smoky and difficult to breathe. We had no idea what was going to happen next and we were all dreading the arrival of more seriously burned people.
At one stage the backup generators failed, draining the room of the intensive care specialists as they sprinted up to ICU to help ventilate their patients by hand.
I was designated to a team of medical staff caring for a patient with severe burns. This person was conscious and talking when they arrived. Most of her clothes had been burnt away revealing the leathery yellow-white skin of full thickness burns.
She lay there looking up with terrified eyes. So you touch her and you tell her that everything will be OK (and you know that it will not), and you put her to sleep, and you place her on life support, and you all work your butts off to give her the best chance that you can.
I guess the only positive thing you can say about an incident like this is that it brings out the best in people…. and a bevy of people arrived to support and augment the department. From social workers, chaplains and ex-ED staff who turned up to volunteer their services, to patients and relatives who became caregivers themselves.…all were absorbed into the charcoal faced crowd.
Many of the public who presented with ‘minor’ injuries had just lost everything….many were almost apologetic not wanting to “waste our time”, and sat in small whispering groups or just sat in stunned confusion.
The waiting room was packed full. Nobody complained.
That day we treated over 270 patients 45 of whom were admitted. The next day we would see 198 with 33 admissions.
Not a single member of the department would be untouched by the tragedy…..some lost their houses, many had friends and family who lost everything. My sister’s house had burned to the ground. She escaped with only the clothes she was wearing, and her pets.
At last count over five hundred homes have been counted as completely lost.
However…the following days would prove that the most important things in life are surely non-flammable.
Reading this moved me to tears. As i have only been working in Emergency for 2 years i haven’t yet been subject to disaster nursing. But from reading your story, i understood, just a small amount, what it would be like to be a part of that situation. Congratulations on a job well done
I remember that day, Mum and I were in the Hyperdome and the lights were flickering on and off, so we went outside and it was pitch black. My Dad was playing cricket over the north side and it was fine and sunny there. All they could see was the big smoke cloud down south. Scary.
As a PhD student, I am researching how EDs respond to disaster situations and this post from the perspective of someone who has worked in the ED during such a situation gives me a lot of information. I’m going to forward this to my research team. Thanks. Written very well. Moved me to tears too.
This moved me to tears. I cannot imagine the fear and uncertainty in your minds during that event.