TREES burning as far as the eye could see. Burnt-out cars that had been blown off roads. The outlines of bodies marking where fires had claimed lives.
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These are scenes Warracknabeal firefighter Neil Adams would like to forget, but never will.
Mr Adams was among a contingent of Wimmera firefighters who battled the worst of the Black Saturday bushfires that decimated the Kinglake and Marysville communities and killed dozens of people.
His deployment in the state’s east came after he fought the Remlaw fire around Horsham and in Haven on February 7, 2009.
“We spent most of the Saturday fighting in Horsham. The fire kept ahead of you the whole time really,” he said.
“I ended up on a house in Old Hamilton Road. We sucked the pool dry there. We saved that house, but lost the shed.
“But the people who owned the house had sold it and moved everything into their shed, so they lost all their belongings. It was cruel.
“The weather was extreme. We had the high winds and the heat, but also the radiant heat to contend with.
“It was pretty bad.”
In the days and weeks after the Remlaw fire, Wimmera crews traveled across the state to help with other fires.
Mr Adams was stationed at Alexandra, north of Marysville.
He said stepping onto the fire ground in daylight for the first time was unbelievable.
“We did most of our fighting at night, and slept during the day. I think our shifts were from 7am to 7pm. There were trees burning as far as you could see,” he said.
“It was only the last day that we really saw the area in daylight. That was the worst day.
“When we got to the fire ground, it was just like hell.
“When we were driving down highways we were driving around burnt-out vehicles that had been pushed off the roads.
“There were several outlines of where bodies had been marked, where people had been caught. That was a real eye-opener to us – that was the first time we'd seen that sort of thing.
“The only thing left standing were chimneys. There were very few trees. All the steel from the sheds was flat on the ground, because of the intense heat.
“It was like a holocaust.”
Mr Adams said no amount of training could prepare him for such atrocities.
“I've been in the Country Fire Authority and the fire brigade for about 35 years. To this day they are the worst fires I've ever seen,” he said.
Despite the intensity of what he faced, Mr Adams said he did not feel unsafe at any time.
“I sort of found I was thinking of back home and how the area would be protected when we were away,” he said.
“As much as you see the pain, you feel good in that you're helping people.
“There's a lot of different stories we learned from talking to residents there.
“One day we were in a pub having some food that had been brought to us, and there was a building across from it that was loaded up with gear for affected families.
“We went over there, and there was a little girl walking around – she would have been 5, maybe 6.
“She and her family had lost everything.
“At the time there were only a few toys in the centre.
“The little girl picked up a doll I think it was and said, ‘Mum, can I have this?’ Her mum told her to put it down because there might be someone more needy than them.
“The woman in charge said, 'You've lost your house and everything. There is no one more needy than your little girl. Take it.’
“It was very emotional.”
Mr Adams said any time crews would drive around the fire site, they had tears in their eyes.
“It was destruction like I’ve never seen,” he said. “It was cruel to see what the wildlife was going through. Wombats aren't the best movers, and a lot of them were caught.
“Kangaroos and things can move, but other wildlife never had a hope.”
Mr Adams said memories of what he faced were always with him.
“If I were to think about it too much now I would get upset,” he said. “Firefighting is hard, but it’s got to be done."
