Firestorm!

For Ben Masters, Ash Wednesday began as just another day of total fire ban; a good excuse to stay away from school and explore the local creek with his dog. But he chose a bad day; the choking birds in the coastal scrub were his first warnning that something was terribly wrong. Isolated from everyone, he watched in horror as the firestorm engulfed the valley that had been his home. He saw his house ablaze, his father's truck vanish and every familiar object disappear before his eyes. For Ben, his family, and many other people, the bushfires that broke loose that day could never be forgotten. Neither could the emotions that erupted in the township afterwards.