'The Blaze Arrived from All Sides': NSW Community Counts the Cost Following Bushfire Sweeps Through.

As a local resident returned to his property on the end of the week, his home on the coastal fringe was enveloped in a “big plume of smoke”. Within twenty-four hours later, two houses on his street were destroyed, and the surrounding forest was transformed into a scorched landscape.

A Community at the Centre of Tragedy

The community of Bulahdelah, approximately 235km north of Sydney, has found itself at the heart of a devastating event after a veteran firefighter died on Sunday evening when he was hit by a collapsing tree. This signals a worrying commencement to the bushfire season.

Four structures have been lost in the broader Bulahdelah area, including 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.”

Scenes of Destruction and Resilience

Bulahdelah is a common pause on the Pacific Highway for holidaymakers on their way 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 shrouded in dense, ochre-hazed smoke. Aircraft conducting water drops circled above, assisting firefighters on the ground who were working to contain a fire that had consumed 4,000 hectares since Friday.

Transport vehicles slowed to observe traffic cones and warning signs, the charred eucalypts and burnt grass on each side of the highway proof of how far the fire had ravaged the adjacent Myall Lakes national park. It was still at a watch and act level on Monday evening.

The Nerve Centre for Firefighting

In Bulahdelah, though, it would appear as another ordinary day if not for the helicopters circling overhead and scent of burning lingering in the air.

A refuelling station for aircraft has been established at the town’s showground, turning it into a hub 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 noted that they needed a bottle of water every 20 minutes when on the fire line.

Personal Accounts from the Fireground

Plumes of smoke were still rising from glowing hotspots on Emu Creek Road, a winding rural street that hugs a creek bed south of the township where two houses were lost.

On a boundary post outside a burnt property, a charred teddy bear remained pinned to the log, complete with a Christmas hat.

Down the road, Morgan sat on his porch with his two dogs, a little patch of grass surrounding his house the only remaining sign of how the area once appeared. 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, telling him “you have roughly 30 minutes and then a fire’s going to hit”. His prediction was accurate.

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

Fortunately, firefighters surrounded the house, and succeeded in defending it. The bushfire moved through in about half an hour, sounding like “a roaring flame”.

A Landscape Transformed

Morgan, who has lived in the same house for around 30 years, has never seen the land this parched.

“It once rained 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 caring for his friend’s property which had also mostly been spared Saturday’s blaze, except for a broken headlight on a car and a barrel of firewood stored for winter that had been reduced to ashes.

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

“The dryness is extreme now. The fire approached from all directions, and the firefighters pretty much saved it [the property].”

This was not a novel situation for Curley, who nearly lost his home in Wattle Grove when fires swept through in 2019.

“You see people on the news say, ‘The speed was unbelievable’,” he said. “You think it’s over there, and all of a sudden it's upon you. I know what it’s like. I told my friend to evacuate immediately, and he did.”

Official Response and Ongoing Threat

Kirsty Channon, public information officer 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” protecting houses 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. “But we’re definitely not out of the woods yet.

“We’ve seen the Pacific Highway closing and reopening a few times, the fire spot across the road. It’s still not contained, it will continue to grow.”

Channon said efforts in the coming hours would center on the tiny township of Nerong, which was anticipated to be impacted by the highway fire on Monday evening. Residents had been urged to leave if not prepared, and have a fire plan.

“Small blazes are starting from storm activity a few days ago,” she said.

“Tomorrow’s weather is the mid-thirties with shifting winds, and that’s been challenge - wind swirls in the area.”