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When the first pictures of the fire-ravaged racetrack of Buchan came to light on Racing.com this week, one thing seemed certain. With a burned winning post, running rail and razed track, surely next month’s historic Buchan Cup will not be staged. WATCH: Vision of Buchan racecourse on January 8 Sandy was not so confident the club could fulfill its mid-February Cup date just a week earlier when the fire swept through the Buchan area. "We had the north wind, which was holding it up but it just swung around towards the racecourse and then the south wind got hold of it and then it just went whoosh towards the racecourse and I was quite surprised to see buildings there in the morning, I can tell you that," Sandy said. "I just thought there would be nothing left of the racecourse and there’s also the golf course building up there as well. "That country there hasn’t been burned since I don’t know when – not in my memory certainly anyway, It was just fuel loads three-foot high and it just absolutely exploded and how there’s anything left there I don’t know. "I’ve read about the 1939 fires and that was comparable to that and hopefully this won’t happen again for that long." Sandy said that at certain stages when battling the fire, he felt he would lose the fight. "It all took place on Monday afternoon and Monday night and at one stage it looked like we going to lose everything but as luck had it, the wind gods blew in the right direction," he said. "We lost a lot of things but saved a lot of things, thank god. "I always had that in my mind to stay and defend. We’ve got animals and horses and livestock. It’s a family home. You just can’t up and leave. If you lost it all, life wouldn’t probably be worth living anyway. "We could see it coming. We had plenty of warning. It started at about three o’clock in the afternoon I suppose and just built up and built up and then by 5.30 or six o’clock, it was just a raging inferno. "We had a (firefighting) crew here and I thought ’oh beauty, we’ve got a bit of help’ but they said ‘no, this is too dangerous. We’ve got to leave and we advise you to do the same’ and I said ‘well, I just can’t go’ so I stayed and everyone left and I just braced for what was coming. "At the start, it’s absolutely terrifying but as it all starts to unfold, you start seeing what you have got to do and it all seems to happen in slow motion. "Everything blew up and things go through your mind and I thought ‘gee, we are going to lose every bloody thing here'. "I don’t get very emotional but when I got into town and saw everyone was still there and I knew our houses were still here and that. To see them all still standing there and everyone still alive, it was just overwhelming I broke down and cried for a while. "It was just very emotional and I’m just glad it’s all over." Article by Kate Watts & Andrew Eddy |
