There were tens of thousand of photos taken during our disastrous 2019/20 bushfires from raging infernos, blacken landscapes, firefighting aircraft and units in action to the brave men and women of the Rural Fire Service.
Many of those were feature in my blog at the time.
However one stood out and resonated with me.
It was taken by photographer Alex Ellinghausen of The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age on 29th November 2109 at the western extremity of our Currowan Fire known at the time as the North Black Range fire.
It would eventually consume 40,000 hectares of bushland, threaten the town of Braidwood and destroy at least five homes. It was not declared extinguished until January 28, 2020, two months after it was set off by a lightning strike.
This photo must have caught the eye of many others.
A bronze casting has been made of the image by Andrew Poppleton of Melbourne’s Meridian Sculpture and now stands in a memorial garden in the RFS’s state training academy at Dubbo, honouring all NSW RFS firefighters and contractors who have died in the line of duty.
Chris Montgomery, the subject of the photo, was one of a crew of five sent to fight the North Black Range fire and was at the unveiling.
All photos © Alex Ellinghausen
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