🔗 Share this article

As a local resident arrived home on Friday afternoon, his rural mid-north coast property was enveloped in a “big plume of smoke”. Less than twenty-four hours later, a pair of homes on his street would be lost, and the nearby woodland would be reduced to blackened skeletal remains.

A Community at the Centre of Tragedy

The community of Bulahdelah, approximately 235km north of Sydney, has become at the centre of a tragedy after a long-serving firefighter lost his life on Sunday evening when he was hit by a falling tree. This marks a “foreboding start” to the bushfire season.

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

“Words fail to capture it,” Morgan stated. “My canine companions remained close, it was frightening.”

Landscapes of Loss and Fortitude

Bulahdelah is a common pause on the Pacific Highway for tourists journeying up the mid-north coast to beach areas such as Seal Rocks, Forster and Port Macquarie.

On Monday afternoon, the highway south of town was blanketed in dense, ochre-hazed smoke. Aircraft conducting water drops circled above, assisting ground crews who were working to contain a blaze that had burnt 4,000 hectares since Friday.

Transport vehicles slowed to observe traffic cones and warning signs, the blackened gum trees and ash-covered ground on each side of the highway proof of how far the fire had swept through the adjacent Myall Lakes national park. It was still at a 'watch and act' alert level on Monday evening.

A Hub of Emergency Response

In Bulahdelah, though, it would seem like another ordinary day if not for the helicopters circling overhead and smell of smoke lingering in the air.

A refuelling station for aircraft has been established at the town’s showground, turning it into a base for around 300 emergency personnel who have come from across the state to help.

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

Personal Accounts from the Fireground

Billows of smoke were continuing to emit from spots of embers on Emu Creek Road, a meandering country road that follows a creek bed south of the township where two houses were lost.

On a fence post outside a burnt property, a charred teddy bear remained attached to the log, still wearing a Christmas hat.

Further along, Morgan was on his veranda with his two dogs, a small area of green surrounding his house the sole remnant of how the landscape used to look. Against the odds, his property was saved, despite his neighbour’s burning to the ground.

He recalled receiving a call from a friend at lunchtime on Saturday, warning him “you’ve got about half an hour and then a fire’s going to hit”. His estimate was spot on.

“We hosed down the property and shed down, wet the perimeter,” he said, and then his reaction turned to “panic”. “I said to myself, ‘what the hell have I got myself into’,” he said. “But I refused to leave.”

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

An Environment Altered

Morgan, who has resided at the same house for around 30 years, has never seen the land in such a dry state.

“We used to get rain every week,” he said. “Fires of this magnitude are unprecedented. 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 mostly been spared Saturday’s blaze, except for a damaged light on a car and a barrel of firewood stored for winter that had burnt to ash.

“I am very familiar with this area,” he said. “Previously a fire almost reached a local ridge and that was quite frightening then, but the wind changed.

“It’s just so much drier this time. The fire approached from all directions, and the firies pretty much saved it [the property].”

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

“You see people on the news say, ‘The speed was unbelievable’,” he said. “It seems distant, and suddenly it surrounds you. I know what it’s like. I told my friend to just get out, and he did.”

Fire Service Update and Continuing Danger

Kirsty Channon, public information officer for the NSW Rural Fire Service, said crews from multiple agencies had come from “across the coastal region” to assist in the firefighting operation and had done an “outstanding job” saving properties from being destroyed.

She said all agencies had “united” after the tragic loss of one of their own.

“The firefighting community is a close-knit group,” she said. “But we’re definitely not out of the woods yet.

“We’ve seen the Pacific Highway open and close a few times, the fire spot across the road. It remains uncontained, it is expected to spread.”

Channon said work in the immediate future would focus on the tiny township of Nerong, which was anticipated to be impacted by the Pacific Highway blaze on Monday evening. Authorities advised locals to leave if not prepared, and have a fire plan.

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

“Tomorrow’s weather is mid 30s with variable wind, and that has been difficult - wind changes direction in the area.”