Reflecting on Ash Wednesday 40 years on

The catastrophic fires were the catalyst for the establishment of the Victorian Adult Burns Service, which continues to stand strong as the state-wide provider of burns care for all adults with complex major burn injuries in the State, as well as many people with less severe burns.
 
The most critically injured people were sent to The Alfred for specialist treatment. Among them was volunteer firefighter Ranald Webster who described the scene from his hospital bed.
 
“It was like driving through a sheet of flame right across the entire road,” he said.
 
Before his passing in 2010, Mr Webster stayed connected to the hospital in the years following the fires, crediting the staff for helping him live a normal life.
 
“They gave me four per cent chance of living. I was in The Alfred for 12 weeks, but got back to playing the piano and living a normal life. Thank god for The Alfred.”
 
Victorian Adult Burns Service director Associate Professor Heather Cleland said the events of that day helped improve the function of the specialised unit, which is today staffed by a dedicated team, improved treatments and a focus on psychological healing and pain management.
 
“We now have a lot of synthetic skin substitutes, which enable us to essentially keep wounds closed and uninfected,” A/Prof Cleland said.
 
“We see more than 1300 patients per year here, and when something of the scale of Ash Wednesday happens everyone really does rally around.”