Stanton Kennedy-Smith recounts miraculous survival driving through firestorm, gives credit to his trusty hat

A Wagin farmer has been reunited with his trusty wool hat, which he credits to helping save his life as he was driven through a fire front, standing on the back of a truck. Stanton Kennedy-Smith could feel the searing heat on his skin as the fire truck he was on drove through the wall of flames. He was most severely burnt on his arms, hands, face and back, but credited his beloved Stanton wide-brimmed hat — which he just about wears to bed — with saving his scalp. He thought the hat, with a special red car button from his grandson stitched on it, was long gone when it flew off during his escape. But like him, somehow, the hat survived the flames and was found placed on the back porch the next day — with a dozen eggs — by Mr Kennedy-Smith’s partner, Susan Mills. “I honestly cried and hugged that hat with so much gratitude,” Ms Mills said. Mr Stanton said he didn’t have time to stop for the hat amid the inferno. “When I saw my hat laying in the straw I said ‘goodbye and thank you very much for everything you’ve done, but I just can’t stop’,” Mr Stanton said. “The emotion came over me when I heard it survived. “With all the other chaos going on someone picked up that hat and left it at the back door — the community love was just phenomenal.” Mr Kennedy-Smith was harvesting oats with another worker Sarah on December 1, when the pair spotted a fire 3km away. As a volunteer firefighter, the 62-year-old did exactly what he had done dozens of times before — jumped on the back of the property’s fire truck and started dousing the blaze. But this time the conditions quickly changed and the truck was suddenly surrounded by flames. His experience showed just how dangerous it can be for those tasked with fighting bushfires around WA each year. This year’s summer bushfire season has kicked off with a vengeance with the deaths of two men already in the State’s South West and an unprecedented five emergency warnings issued on December 15. The Wagin blaze came on the same day as a Ravensthorpe fire, which killed farmer Mark Mudie when he was trying to establish a fire break on his property. A 34-year-old farmer was also killed in a Mindarabin blaze on Wednesday after a tree fell on the cab of his vehicle. The only way for Mr Kennedy-Smith to escape was to drive through the fire front. “I didn’t know what the outcomes were going to be, it was just trying to get out of there,” he said. “On the way through the fire front it just engulfed the truck — flames came up over the front of the cab and up over the side as I was standing on the back. “I thought I was gone, I thought I was just completely gone.” Being scared for his own life soon turned into fearing the worst for volunteer firefighters Joe O’Brien and Sarah, who were also on the truck battling the blaze. “While I was going through the fire I put my hand over my mouth and I forced myself not to breathe because I knew if I inhaled, it would have just cooked everything inside,” he said. “I was standing on the back of the truck with the fire hose still going as we were driving through the flames and somehow just a ball of no-flames came over me and I know that’s what saved me. “I couldn’t see Joe and Sarah so I thought they had jumped off the truck and I was just absolutely devastated.” Luckily, Mr O’Brien and Sarah had stayed on and were whisked away by a ute when the fire truck suddenly broke down. All three were burnt but Mr Kennedy-Smith suffered the most severe burns. The grandfather was rushed to Wagin Hospital then transferred to Narrogin Hospital, where he stayed overnight. He got the call the next morning that he needed to travel to Fiona Stanley Hospital for skin graft surgery and has been in the hospital ever since as he recovers from the significant burns. Mr Kennedy-Smith was overcome with emotion as he thought about all the hospital staff that have helped him heal. “I cannot say enough about how hard they tried and how hard they worked as a team to help me,” he said. “The angels were looking after us that day.” He is expected to be discharged in time to spend Christmas with his family and is looking forward to walks with his partner and their dog Spotlight.