00:00Parts of this once thriving town now in ruins.
00:05The Prime Minister and Premier joining a devastated community,
00:09assessing the loss from the Ravenswood fire.
00:12It's a small community, a beautiful community.
00:15It's known for its apple growing, its beautiful produce,
00:18its beautiful landscape that's just been ravaged by these terrible fires.
00:23In this community alone, the losses run deep.
00:2747 homes and three businesses destroyed in the blaze that fire crews had no hope of controlling.
00:35From what we saw straight off the bat, we were going to struggle to stop this fire.
00:39Many residents returning home to charred remains, while others miraculously escaped.
00:45We're lucky, you know, we've got our friends and family and our house is okay,
00:50but those people have lost so much.
00:52My parents have basically been here all of their lives.
00:56Nothing that I know of has been like this drastic in fires.
01:01It's a pretty close-knit community, Harcourt, here.
01:04This is not going to knock them down, but it's going to be a slow return, I feel.
01:09On this side of the road, a home completely destroyed.
01:12All that's left is a chimney and a letterbox.
01:16On the other side of the road, though, we see the cricket oval, almost completely unscathed.
01:22Crews today have been working to restore a rail bridge impacted by the fires,
01:28the only rail link between Melbourne and Bendigo.
01:31The start of a long process to rebuild.
01:34To rebuild.
01:35To rebuild.
01:36To rebuild.
01:37To rebuild.
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