“The voice of the Lord divideth the flames of fire.”

I am posting here an article of how someone experienced the devastating bush fire in Victoria this Feburary and God's miracleous intervention in protecting his people.


Sabbath 7th Feb 2009 began warm as forecast by the Bureau and temperatures rose to the predicted high 40's.
Fire Warning

At about 3.30 PM Brother Denis Stanley rang me to advise a fire was burning in our vicinity. We went outside to take a look and noticed a smoke cloud had formed over the new dormitory about an acre in size out of which warm to hot ash was falling down upon us. About four kilometres to the south west the nearby range showed a red glow along its ridge line and it was obvious that a substantial fire was burning somewhere off to the south west of Highwood. No other warnings had been received. As we surveyed the surrounding ranges other fires were seen burning as well. One particularity large billowing smoke cloud developing to the north west about five kilometers away increased our concern. Instantly we prepared for the possibility of a major fire. I checked the fire reserve water tanks, advised everyone I could find nearby, and drove to the health centre. Earlier Dr Bird had taken the health guests to Lake Mountain outside Marysville to escape the heat. This area was already in danger and Dr Bird and party rushed back to Highwood narrowly escaping the blaze. (Sunday revealed that that very blaze had burnt Dr Bird's house to the ground. All they had left was their Bibles, a few other items and the Sabbath clothes in which they stood. Fortunately they still had both their cars.)

Speedy Escape

Knowing that time is especially critical in fire situations I jumped into the van to check the only two avenues of escape, the Black Spur road to Healsville, and the highway to Narbethong. Firstly I drove toward Narbethong three kilometers away. By the time I had traveled twelve hundred metres pieces of flaming bark up to sixty centimeters long and much other debris was flying over the van crossing the road diagonally from left to right. I quickly u-turned and headed back to Highwood, also ruling out the Black Spur road to Healsville as a possibility of escape. Cars were going in both directions not knowing which way to go. It seemed that we would have to stay and prepare for the fire.

Preparing for the Fire-Storm

We were in a strong position in any case with generator power, fire hoses, abundant bore water, plenty of cleared land to provide a buffer and twenty people to assist in the emergency preparation. We hosed down the Health Centre filling the gutters with water and wet about a dozen blankets. We knew that God was watching over us as we all had prayed for deliverance.

God’s Deliverance

The main power went off at around 5pm and the generator came on line. About 8pm we lost all communications. Watching the progress of the fire, time and again the wind shifted to our advantage. As the big smoke cloud originally off to the north west rapidly spread and accelerated we could hear the eerie, echoing roar of the fire around Narbethong quickly blowing towards us from the north. At the same time as the fire hungrily sucked in large quantities of oxygen it lifted the dust on the drive way in front of the health centre ten metres into the air with the wind reaching about sixty kilometres from the south. Then suddenly the predominant northerly wind took up this southerly direction, blew back upon itself and the fire coming towards us subsided.

“The voice of the Lord divideth the flames of fire.” -Psalms 29:7

Later our faith was lifted by God's word as Sister Hannah Higgins reminded us of Psalms 29:7 "The voice of the Lord divideth the flames of fire." The flames had come to within three hundred metres of the forest to the north east of Highwood and burned to the edge of the bitumen highway. It did not cross the road. Unfortunately it was this northerly fire which had already destroyed Narbethong with nine precious souls lost. As always in disasters some houses were untouched while others just metres away were inexplicably destroyed.

The Devastation

The next day when we drove through Narbethong, Buxton and Marysville we were shocked at the extent of the devastation. At Marysville, less than fifteen minutes from Highwood, there was heavy loss of life. We have nothing to bring to God except our praise and thanksgiving for His deliverance from the flames. Not a single thing had burned on the one hundred and two acres at Highwood.

Bro Gerry Romano (guest editor)