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As a local resident returned to his property on Friday afternoon, his home on the coastal fringe was surrounded by a “big plume of smoke”. Less than twenty-four hours later, a pair of homes on his street were destroyed, and the adjacent bushland was transformed into blackened skeletal remains.

A Town Grappling with Loss

The community of Bulahdelah, approximately 235km north of Sydney, has found itself at the heart of a tragedy after a long-serving firefighter lost his life on Sunday evening when he was hit by a falling tree. This signals a worrying commencement to the fire season.

A total of four homes have been lost in the broader Bulahdelah area, comprising 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 tourists 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 blanketed in dense, ochre-hazed smoke. Aircraft conducting water drops hovered overhead, assisting firefighters on the ground who were working to contain a fire that had burnt 4,000 hectares since Friday.

Transport vehicles reduced speed for traffic cones and warning signs, the blackened gum trees and burnt grass on each side of the highway evidence of how far the fire had burnt through 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 seem like a typical day if not for the aircraft overhead and acrid odor lingering in the air.

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

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

Personal Accounts from the Fireground

Clouds of smoke were continuing to emit 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 destroyed home, a scorched stuffed toy 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 sole remnant of how the landscape used to look. Against the odds, 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 fire’s going to hit”. His estimate was spot on.

“We hosed down the property and shed down, sprayed the fence line,” he said, and then his reaction turned to “panic”. “I said to myself, ‘what have I gotten into’,” he said. “I decided to stay.”

Thankfully, crews protected the home, and managed to save it. The bushfire moved through in about half an hour, with a sound resembling “a roaring inferno”.

An Environment Altered

Morgan, who has resided at the same house for around 30 years, has never seen the land so dry.

“We used to get rain every week,” he said. “We’ve never had fires like this. 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 largely survived Saturday’s blaze, except for a damaged light on a car and a barrel of firewood stored for winter that had been reduced to ashes.

“I am very familiar with this area,” he said. “A few years ago a fire almost reached a local 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 essentially protected it [the property].”

This was not a novel situation for Curley, who came close to losing his home in Wattle Grove when fires swept through in 2019.

“You hear reports say, ‘The speed was unbelievable’,” he said. “You think it’s over there, and all of a sudden it's upon you. I understand the feeling. I told my friend to just get out, and he did.”

Official Response and Ongoing Threat

Kirsty Channon, spokesperson for the NSW Rural Fire Service, said crews from various services had come from “right up and down the coast” to assist in the firefighting operation and had done an “outstanding job” saving properties from being destroyed.

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

“Firefighters 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 jump backwards and forwards. It’s still not contained, it is expected to spread.”

Channon said work in the immediate future would center on the tiny township of Nerong, which was expected to be hit by the highway fire on Monday evening. Residents had been urged to leave if not prepared, and prepare a bushfire survival plan.

“Little fires are starting from storm activity a few days ago,” she said.

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