A father and son have been awarded the Australia’s National Emergency Medal for their heroic work during Black Saturday.
John Draper, 67, and his son, Jason, 32, cleared the road up the mountain to Kinglake while fire still raged around them, allowing paramedics to get to the injured and
evacuate them.
Jason, a Whittlesea council plant operator, drove a back hoe, pushing trees and power poles off the road – “thankfully the power was off, but we didn’t know it at the time” – while his father, who was then the council works co-ordinator, followed in a station wagon.
“The bush was still burning and the wind was blowing sparks off the trees and we were driving through it,” he said. “Then there was the smoke; it was like driving through pea-soup fog.”
A convoy of eight vehicles carrying paramedics followed them, stopping to check burnt-out cars for survivors, as well as a CFA strike team.
“From Whittlesea to Kinglake is 24 kilometres and we headed out about 10pm and got there about midnight or 1am,” Jason said.
He said he was “pleased as punch” to receive the award but said “you don’t do things like that to get a medal”.
“A lot of people did a lot of good on that day and the days afterwards; it was just good to be able to help,” he said.
Jason and his father, who has now retired, were living in Whittlesea at the time of the fires, but Jason has moved to Kinglake and joined the district CFA.
