Natimuk Fire Brigade Captain David Sudholz
When Natimuk Fire Brigade Captain David Sudholz looked out his window at lunchtime on 9 January 2026, he saw what he'd hoped was a cloud of dust in the distance – unfortunately, it wasn't.
It was 12.43pm when the call came through for a fire on Mitre-Grass Flat Road, approximately 14 kilometres west of Natimuk. In under an hour, it would be at the doorstep of Natimuk Residential Aged Care Facility, home to the town's most vulnerable.
David was working from home that day.
"It was an uneasy day from the get go. We'd already had wind gusts topping 100 kilometres/hour and property damage before sunrise, and it just kept going from there," David said.
"I was sitting at my desk when my pager sounded, and my first thought was, 'oh no.'"
David and his brigade responded immediately, but it didn't take long to realise this was not a fire they could stop at the point of ignition.
"Within minutes of getting out there we could see fires starting and the smoke building," he said.
"I was in the field command vehicle with my 2nd lieutenant. Our job was to observe and report back on what the fire was doing.
"We quickly realised just how fast this fire was moving, so we made the call to pull back towards Natimuk so we could get a better picture of the path it was taking.
With early containment no longer realistic, the priority began to shift.
"We were flanking the fire and it became clear the town itself was going to be impacted. I got straight on the radio and reported that the township was under threat and that an evacuation order needed to be issued."
Attention then turned to the aged care facility.
"The creek on the western edge of town was already on fire, and straight away we knew the nursing home was going to be under threat," David said.
They headed straight for the facility, and once there they found 59 people, including 37 residents, sheltering in place. There was no time to get them out.
"When we got there and saw some of the garden beds already on fire, we called for more resources immediately," he said.
Natimuk Residential Aged Care Facility Manager David Schultz said the speed of the fire was hard to comprehend.
"It was about 15 minutes from first hearing about the fire before it was at the facility, and to evacuate all our residents would take around four hours. We simply didn't have that time," Mr Schultz said.
"Thankfully our building is equipped with fire resistant doors, sprinkler systems and two large tanks of dedicated firefighting water, so our residents and staff were able to confidently shelter in place, and knowing that the firefighters were out there protecting them gave them all confidence."
Outside, the arriving crews focused on one job – holding the line around the facility.
"The first truck we saw was sent straight to the nursing home," David Sudholz said.
"From that point on, we were pulling in any fire truck or crew we could, just to get numbers and appliances around the facility as quickly as possible. Crews were coming from every direction.
"It would've been a lot worse if they hadn't turned up when they did. It was all about holding that line around the facility, keeping spot fires under control and making sure it didn't impact the building."
The fire ultimately burned around 8,000 hectares, destroying 17 homes in Natimuk and Quantong and impacting farms and livestock in the surrounding area. But the aged care facility held.
Three months on, the impact remains visible around the site.
"There are still scars of the fire surrounding the premises. It's hard to put into words what those firefighters did for our residents and staff," David Schultz said.
"They're amazing people. There's nothing in the world that's enough to say thank you."
David Sudholz said he was proud of the efforts of his brigade and grateful to all who assisted them.
"The nursing home means a lot to this town. Most of us have had family living there or know someone who's been through there, so protecting it was always going to be a priority."
