A team of Mickleham Primary School staff members began enacting emergency procedures last Sunday night as bushfires crept within 150 metres of the school.
Staff made their way down telephone trees, a system that allows a message to be conveyed to multiple callers simultaneously, to contact every parent or guardian to notify them the school would be shut until the emergency abated.
For almost three days the school was a temporary staging point for all Country Fire Authority and Victoria Police operations in the area until watch and act warnings were downgraded.
PICTURE GALLERY: Mickleham fire
Principal Sue Crispe said police were deploying crews from the school’s grounds.
“One parent who passed the school on Sunday estimated there were 30 or 40 fire trucks on the oval,” Ms Crispe said.
While the grassfire skirted the school, some families weren’t so lucky.
Ms Crispe said a number had suffered damage to their properties although, as of Wednesday, no pupils’ family homes had been destroyed.
Ten staff returned to work on Wednesday in preparation for the school’s 130 pupils to return to classes on Thursday.
YMCA Craigieburn West Early Learning Centre and Red Rock Christian College in Sunbury were also closed on Monday as a precautionary measure.
YMCA Victoria’s children’s services development manager Kate Phillips said they made the decision to close the centre on Monday morning in light of three significant road closures in the area.
“Conditions were very unpredictable,” she said.
“We had staff here at 5.30am instigating our response plan and fielding phone calls.”
Like Red Rock Christian College, the centre reopened on Tuesday, although children weren’t allowed to play outside until Wednesday, when the smoke had dispersed.
