“Frozen” and “Happy Feet” were playing to keep the kids calm. Meanwhile, at least one mother worried they were stuck in a 'death trap.'
As refugees from devastating bushfires crowded into a cinema in the Australian town of Mallacoota,"Frozen" and"Happy Feet" were playing to keep the kids calm.
Ash was falling from the building's air vents, covering around 500 people inside -- they were exhausted and overheated from fleeing the approaching fire. "We got here and it felt like a death trap to be honest," said Canadian Meaghan Wegg, 34, who sought refuge in the small theater along with her Australian-born husband Tim Buckley, 37, and her two children Georgia, 3, and Jackson, 5 on New Year's Eve.
At 1 a.m., the sky was bright and orange, with a glare from the fire that meant it was coming their way, Wegg said. "It kept us up as it was also really cold which was odd from the hot day we had. The fire was heading in the direction of the parking lot. We all left our cars because the fire was coming to the campground," she said. The wind started picking up around 4 a.m., and it became a sandstorm on the beach, Wegg said.
Meanwhile, the fire trucks that were there received an urgent call to go battle more fires. Wegg and her family found themselves lying on the floor of the tiny airport with no power, waiting in the dark. "By 11 p.m. they delivered sad news. Took us back in the shuttle to get to the shelter. We slept on the floor at the cinema but the Red Cross ladies were super-supportive and helpful," she said.
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