For the past five years, Mick Gardener’s pride and joy was his home in the small southern NSW community of Batlow.
He lived there with his wife, daughter and granddaughter as well as his pet cats, chickens and a Shetland pony he was looking after.
But over the weekend, fire ravaged the small town destroying the local hospital, the petrol station and burnt around 20 homes, including Mr Gardener’s.
“It's pretty hard to comprehend that four, five days ago this was a cute little family home, now it’s just a smouldering mess,” a visibly upset Mr Gardener told SBS News.
He was able to save all of his animals, as well as some photos of his parents as the blaze gutted his property.
Mick Gardener in front of his destroyed home. Source: SBS News
“I got my mum and dad out. We can replace nearly everything else but there’s a lot of memorabilia in there,” he said.
“You can't replace those things... I'm starting to tear up here.”
While Mr Gardener is insured, the loss is still sinking in.
Mick Gardener’s home he shared with his wife, daughter and granddaughter Source: Nakari Thorpe, SBS News
“It's gut-wrenching mate, you can't comprehend what's going on when I finally get back with my wife that's when it's going to hit reality," he said.
Mr Gardener’s family evacuated to nearby Wagga Wagga on Friday before the ferocious fire tore through the town, while Mick stayed behind to defend not only his property but those of his neighbours.
“I wanted to save my house and the town, but that didn’t happen,” he said. “F**k, It was one of the scariest things I’ve ever been through in my life.”
The Batlow Search and Rescue team delivered food and water to much of the community, while also battling the blazes with the Rural Fire Service.
Batlow Petrol Station Source: Ben Patrick, SBS News
About 1300 people live in Batlow, with many residents pulled out last week as the town came under threat. Others made the choice to stay behind and fight.
Power was still being restored to the town, leaving many people unable to assess what’s left of their homes, on Wednesday.
But for those that could make back in, the reality of the situation is becoming clear and so too is the financial cost of the bushfire crisis.
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said almost 9,000 insurance claims have been lodged so far, totalling around $700 million.
Around 20 homes were destroyed in the Batlow bushfire Source: Ben Patrick, SBS News
“Around 20 per cent of those claims have already been assessed, bearing in mind the fires have been going for some months now,” he said.
But the total cost is expected to rise, with the full cost of the damage to go into the billions.
After meeting with Insurance Council of Australia representatives in Canberra on Tuesday, Mr Frydenberg said the government wants to streamline the process for those affected.
“What the Insurance Council emphasised was the complexity of some of these challenges some of these claims can be dealt,” he said.
“Cash payments between seven to 14 days others may take a little bit longer than that.”
The insurance industry says its experience with past disasters like Cyclone Yasi and the Brisbane floods has made companies well equipped to move quickly.
Executive director and CEO of the Insurance Council of Australia Rob Whelan said claims will be dealt with as quickly as possible.
Source: Ben Patrick, SBS News
“We've learnt a lot from each catastrophe on how to do things better and better and that's what we always try and do is learn from this one,” he said.
“To make sure that the process of getting the claim settled is as fast and as painless as possible, we wanted to make sure that people are treated with dignity and compassion.”
The government also wants to ensure that local trades’ people are at the forefront as it pushes ahead with its $2 billion national bushfire recovery fund.
Emergency Services Minister David Littleproud said the government will be working hard to "get the money into people's pockets".
“It may be nationally generated it will be locally delivered and the people on the front lines will often be states and territories,” he said.
Head of the National Bushfire Recovery Agency Andrew Colvin is still coming to grips with one of the largest reconstruction projects the nation has seen.
Another home in burnt from the Batlow bushfire Source: Ben Patrick, SBS News
“This isn't about southern NSW or east Victoria or South Australia, this is a national response and there are different communities who are at different stages of grieving,” he said.
“So we need to get in and help all of them.”
Mick Gardener though is adamant they can pull through.
“Start again… (we’ll) rebuild it.”
