The terrible fires in the north-east of Victoria still rage, the mountains are aglow, fires scattered and emerge over enormous areas and at night the red glow can be seen in the sky above. Parts of Canberra have been burnt out. The loss of lives - of people and of animals and loss of loved houses and gardens - shatters everyone. It is extremely fortunate that only four people have been killed. We see the fearful pictures on television and in the newspapers and read the stories of those who survived or escaped the fire storm. Streets wiped out completely and a communities homeless. The burnt houses and black hillsides are a burnt nightmare. Nothing but a fearful silence remains with drifting ash. The trees are black heaps of curled charcoal, those that have not been burnt to the ground are leafless and blackened. There is no sound in the burnt out areas - did the small birds get away, did they flee the nightmare scene? It will be days before the birds return. Around Canberra the hills are a devastation of burnt earth and rocks but when the rain comes the wattles will spring up, their seeds germinated by the fires and soon the eucalypts will put out fresh green leaves all up their trunks and in tufts along their stark boughs and the land will renew itself as people rebuild their lives.

Near our home in Narre Warren, paddocks are blackened and burnt. The lingering smell of smoke, and the scent of burnt gum trees remains in the air. This morning, the sun came up, through the smoke, in a huge orange ball. The northerly wind has started to blow and from the office window I watch it rip through the trees. The smoke remains flannel-thick outside the office and the smell of burning still permenates the air.

We awoke this morning to the smell of smoke. Within 20 minutes or so we could hardly see the end of the garden through the smoke haze. Troubled, we walk down the garden to greet neighbours and discuss the smoke. It is agreed that this must be smoke from the bushfires in the mountains or a fire nearby and there was no cause for alarm as yet.

After swapping telephone numbers, in case our neighbours need to call us in an emergency, we wake our son Geoffrey and tell him of the smoke and smell of burning and give him instructions to keep the animals within the house for the day. We run through the 'what ifs' with him in case of fire - he is well grounded and nods and mutters the priority list, 'animals, paintings, photographs, toby jugs, plates' in case he has to evacuate the house. We tell him that self and animials are more important - the list is just in case he has time. 'Call us immediately if there is a fire in the vincinity and we'll try and make our way home. Load the car beforehand, stay as long as you can to hose things down - don't take chances, if you're told to go, go.' We know if there is a fire we'll probably not be able to get through to the house and Geoff will be on his own. He grunts and nods and rolls over back into sleep. He's an old hand and training to be a Park Ranger so he knows the dangers.

The smoke haze covers Melbourne - visibility has been reduced to just three kilometers by smoke from fires bruing in Victoria's noth-east. It's eerie and silent. Hardly any wind at the moment. The temperature is crawling up. Everyone talks in the office about the bushfires that have destroyed 368 houses in our Capital City, Canberra. Fires are burning out of control in the mountains of north-east Victoria. The town of Mt Beauty is surrounded by fire and is threatened. A pine plantation, the cause of the smoke in Melbourne, burns in Wodonga.

I watch the Reuters screen closely, listening to the radio and pray that Victoria will get through this day without a major fire in the hills that surround Melbourne. My eyes constantly run, the smoke has found its way into the air conditioning system here at work - its going to be a tough day.