🔗 Share this article

As a local resident returned to his property on the end of the week, his rural mid-north coast property was surrounded by a massive cloud of smoke. Within twenty-four hours later, two dwellings on his street would be lost, and the surrounding forest would be reduced to blackened skeletal remains.

A Town Grappling with Loss

The township of Bulahdelah, around 235km north of Sydney, has become at the centre of a tragedy after a veteran firefighter died on Sunday evening when he was hit by a collapsing tree. This represents a worrying commencement to the fire season.

Four properties have been destroyed in the wider Bulahdelah area, including two on Emu Creek Road, the residence of Garry Morgan, one on the Pacific Highway and one south of the township.

“It's beyond description,” he said. “The dogs didn’t leave my side, it was frightening.”

Landscapes of Loss and Fortitude

Bulahdelah is a frequent rest stop on the Pacific Highway for travelers journeying up the coastal region to coastal destinations such as Seal Rocks, Forster and Port Macquarie.

On Monday afternoon, the highway south of town was covered by thick, orange smoke. Helicopters circled above, aiding ground crews who were battling a blaze that had burnt 4,000 hectares since Friday.

Heavy vehicles reduced speed for road markers and reduce-speed signs, the blackened gum trees and charred grass on each side of the highway proof of how far the fire had burnt through the adjacent Myall Lakes national park. It remained at a watch and act level on Monday evening.

The Nerve Centre for Firefighting

In Bulahdelah, though, it would seem like a typical day if not for the aircraft overhead and scent of burning lingering in the air.

A fuel depot for aircraft has been established at the town’s showground, turning it into a hub for around 300 emergency personnel who have travelled from across the state to help.

On Monday afternoon, cartons of water were being unloaded from trucks and lollies were being packaged into zip lock bags. One firefighter noted that they needed a water bottle every 20 minutes when on the fire line.

Personal Accounts from the Fireground

Clouds of smoke were continuing to emit from spots of embers on Emu Creek Road, a winding rural street that hugs a creek bed south of the township where two houses were lost.

On a fence post outside a destroyed home, a scorched stuffed toy remained pinned to the log, complete with a Christmas hat.

Down the road, Morgan was on his veranda with his two dogs, a little patch of grass surrounding his house the only remaining sign of how the area once appeared. Miraculously, his property was spared, despite his neighbour’s burning to the ground.

He remembered receiving a call from a friend at lunchtime on Saturday, telling him “you have roughly 30 minutes and then a blaze will arrive”. His prediction was accurate.

“We doused the buildings and shed down, sprayed the fence line,” he said, and then his reaction turned to “panic”. “I said to myself, ‘this is overwhelming’,” he said. “But I wasn’t leaving.”

Fortunately, firefighters surrounded the house, and managed to save it. The bushfire passed over in about half an hour, sounding like “a roaring inferno”.

A Landscape Transformed

Morgan, who has resided at the same house for around 30 years, has not witnessed the land so dry.

“We used to get rain every week,” he said. “This intensity is new. But you’ve got to take the good with the bad.”

On the same street, Jeff Curley was looking after his friend’s property which had also largely survived Saturday’s blaze, except for a broken headlight on a car and a barrel of firewood stored for winter that had burnt to ash.

“I’ve been here many, many times,” he said. “A few years ago a fire almost approached a nearby ridge and that was quite frightening then, but the wind changed.

“The conditions are far more arid now. Flames emerged on all sides, and the firies pretty much saved it [the property].”

This experience wasn’t new for Curley, who came close to losing his home in Wattle Grove when fires came through in 2019.

“You hear reports say, ‘I can’t believe how fast it came’,” he said. “You think it’s over there, and all of a sudden it surrounds you. I understand the feeling. I told my friend to evacuate immediately, and he did.”

Fire Service Update and Continuing Danger

Kirsty Channon, spokesperson for the NSW Rural Fire Service, said crews from multiple agencies had come from “right up and down the coast” to assist in the containment effort and had done an “incredible work” saving properties from being destroyed.

She said all agencies had “worked as one” after the death of one of their own.

“The firefighting community is one big family,” she said. “However, the danger is not over.

“We’ve seen the Pacific Highway closing and reopening a few times, the fire jump backwards and forwards. It remains uncontained, it is expected to spread.”

Channon said work in the immediate future would center on the tiny township of Nerong, which was anticipated to be impacted by the highway fire on Monday evening. Authorities advised locals to leave if not prepared, and prepare a bushfire survival plan.

“Spot fires are popping up from lightning strikes a few days ago,” she said.

“The forecast is mid 30s with variable wind, and that’s been challenge - wind changes direction in the area.”