During the height of the summer heat, last weekend saw raging bushfires scar much of regional Victoria.
As hot winds encouraged the blazes stretch across regional towns, causing high state of alarm, among those who were forced to evacuate their homes due to the bushfires was the Findlay sisters of Stonefield, as Triple J reports.
On Sunday afternoon, the Aussie band of Findlay siblings – Amy, Hannah, Sarah, and Holly – had to flee their homestead in Darraweit Guim in regional Victoria, taking “some of the gear and their dogs,” with them, according to the band’s manager, Paul Gidea.
Mr Gidea explained that the sisters’ parents parents stayed to protect the house they’d built – along with Stonefield’s rehearsing space, ‘The Shed’ – battling the oncoming bushfire, which eventually burnt up to the home’s backdoor.
“It’s been a sleepless night for the whole family,” added Mr Gidea. Amy, Hannah, Sarah, and Holly – had to flee their homestead in Darraweit Guim in regional Victoria, taking “some of the gear and their dogs.”
As of 3pm yesterday the CFA (Country Fire Authority) had posted a renewed Emergency Warning for the Darraweit Guim area, “consequently the girls are still not allowed back on to the property,” said Mr Gidea yesterday afternoon.
The CFA reports that firefighters are on the scene but are urging residents in the area to make preparations and “activate their bushfire survival plan. Meanwhile, The Age reports “vast hectares” of land in the Darraweit Guim region were severely burnt in the bushfires with wider damage still being reported.
According to the Ballarat Courier, up to 21 properties were destroyed across Victoria by the fires since Saturday according to a state control centre spokeswoman, while a further 30 houses are still reported missing or unreported across the state, but final numbers are still being tallied by the CFA.
Police are suspecting that at least nine of the fires that started on Sunday are the result of arsonists, as The Age reports, after investigating the cause of around 14 scrub and grass fires in the state.
Stonefield are scheduled to play a series of dates in Western Australia this week as part of the ongoing headline tour in support of their full-length self-titled album; “A debut that blasts people away with powerful rock, yet it’s their slower tracks that really shine,” as our Tone Deaf reviewer wrote of Stonefield.
The WA dates include shows in Bunbury, Dunsborough, and a headline show at Perth’s The Capital on Saturday. The band are then set to hit the Party In The Paddock music festival in Tasmania the following Saturday, on a lineup that features Kingswood, Kingfisha, and more.
Stonefield Australian Tour 2014 Dates
Thu 13 Feb – Prince of Wales | Bunbury, WA (18+)
Tickets via www.oztix.com.au
Fri 14 Feb – Clancy’s | Dunsborough, WA (18+)
Tickets via www.oztix.com.au
Sat 15 Feb – The Captial | Perth, WA (18+)
Tickets via www.oztix.com.au
Sat 22 Feb – Party In The Paddock | White Hills, Tasmania
Tickets and info at https://www.facebook.com/events/193611887505302/?ref=5
