It took Emily Rooney years to realise that she was suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder relating to the loss of her parent's home in the 2003 Canberra bushfires.
Her family fled the property, in Duffy in Canberra’s south-west, just minutes before it caught alight.
“The power went out, and at the same point a fire truck pulled out in front of the house,” Ms Rooney recalls.
“My brother ran out to it and banged on the door and said what do we do?”
Ms Rooney was in the house at the time, but remembers hearing the fire fighters response to her brother’s question.
“I heard them scream, lock up and get out! Lock up and get out!”
In the wake of the devastating fires, which killed 4 people and destroyed 500 proprieties, Ms Rooney tried to carry on as usual.
“I pretty much went straight back to work,” the 39-year old says.
“There was a focus on trying to create some sort of normalcy in whatever areas we could.”
But years later, Ms Rooney realised she still hadn’t recovered from the trauma.
She’s not the only one.
Bushfires are a uniquely Australian phenomenon, but experts warn survivors may be overlooking the symptoms of mental stress and illness associated with the trauma of the experience.Seeing coverage of ongoing bushfires can trigger a lot of people who thought their own experiences were safely behind them.
“It’s a very live issue for people,” Associate Professor Louise Harms from the University of Melbourne says.
“Seeing those images, reconnecting with a sense of threat.”
The triggers can be worse for fire fighters who are often in a situation where they are fighting for the lives and properties of family and friends.
“Firefighters… sometimes feel quite helpless in the fact that despite their best efforts, tragedies occur,” Chief Officer of the ACT Rural Fire Service, Andrew Stark, says.
One suggestion to aid the healing process is to have a National Bushfire Centre.
Mt Stromlo Observatory was one of the worst affected buildings in the 2003 fires.
It now houses a temporary exhibition on the impact of the inferno.
Director of Scope at Mt Stromlo, Simone Hunter, wants federal and state governments to fund a permanent, national exhibition.
“People who have been affected by bushfires can work within a space that gives back to the community and helps other people heal as well,” Ms Hunter says.
“It’s a healing space.”
Giving back is an important part of the healing process for Ms Rooney, too.
She has started up a website called Suddenly Homeless to build a sense of community with others who have lived through a similar experience to her own.
Ms Rooney coordinates a knitting project that gives blankets to people who find themselves suddenly out of a home.
The idea came after she received a hand-knitted blanket from a neighbour after her parent’s house burnt down in 2003.
Coinciding with the 11th anniversary of the disaster, Ms Rooney has acquired nearly two dozen blankets to distribute to families affected by last year’s Blue Mountains blaze.
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