Australian Woman Shares Photos After Fires Destroyed Her House, But Left Her Garden Untouched

At this point, the Australian bushfires seem like an unstoppable force that is destroying everything in its path. Despite this, millions upon millions of people are fighting the catastrophe any way they can.

Bored Panda has recently covered a number of stories about this, including the dog that saved a flock of sheep, teens driving around and saving Koalas, a local Muslim community helping exhausted firefighters, and celebrities calling for action and donating to the cause.

However, in the midst of this whole chaos, a Twitter story surfaced showing that perhaps not all hope is lost. Casey Kirchhoff, a PhD candidate at the University of New South Wales and Australian alpine plant enthusiast, recently posted pictures of what was left of her home.

For some reason, the bushfires ravaging Wingello decided to claim Kirchhoff’s house… but not her garden. Nor her greenhouse. Whether it was divine intervention or nature’s way of fighting back, the wildfires decided to not be destructive for once, leaving hope for people that perhaps not everyone will have to rebuild from scratch.

Casey Kirchhoff had to flee her home due to the bushfires coming towards Wingello, a village in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales. Together with her also came her three adorable dogs, Billy, Evig, and Cookie, her hen Charcoal and three chicks Spark, Ember, and Flame, as well as a family of 7 quail birds. She also managed to save some of her beloved flora like various pepper plants and her seed collection.

After fleeing, she received a call that her house was gone, but was not sure about the garden until she went there personally. Much to her (and our) surprise, parts of her garden were completely unscathed. Pictures show that her grandmother’s Colebrookdale setting, the bunting (somehow), rose arbors, fences and gate were left intact. Even some of the pumpkins and flowers avoided the raging fires.

As of this post, a number of people extended their help to Kirchhoff, offering any support that they can. Luckily, Casey had accommodations, food, water, fuel, and everything that she needed already, so she urged the people willing to help to help those who are in much more dire situations.

Kirchhoff soon took to Instagram to explain the situation that she was in and called for change. She said:

“The current bushfire crisis in Australia is unprecedented. I've been watching in absolute horror since August as the fires rage, consuming everything in their path regardless of whether hazard reduction burns had recently been conducted or not. Severe drought conditions are exacerbated by climate change, which is influencing the climatic processes that govern rainfall in Australia. We've experienced one degree of warming, which is expected to climb. We've literally had decades to act on climate change, yet world leaders drag their feet, the worst of all being Australia. We needed action on climate change decades ago. But since we can't have that, we need it NOW.”

Remember that the Australian bushfires are still at large and every little bit helps, so please consider donating for the cause: The Red Cross, St Vincent de Paul, Human Appeal, Celeste Barber’s Facebook Fundraiser, or any other.