When a local resident returned to his property on Friday afternoon, his rural mid-north coast property was surrounded by a massive cloud of smoke. Within twenty-four hours later, two dwellings on his street were consumed, and the adjacent bushland was transformed into charred remnants.
A Community at the Centre of Tragedy
The township 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 collapsing tree. This represents a “foreboding start” to the bushfire season.
Four structures 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.
“No words can express it,” he said. “The dogs didn’t leave my side, the fear was palpable.”
Scenes of Destruction and Resilience
Bulahdelah is a common pause on the Pacific Highway for tourists journeying up the mid-north coast 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. Water-bombing helicopters hovered overhead, assisting firefighters on the ground who were working to contain a fire that had burnt 4,000 hectares since Friday.
Passing trucks slowed to observe road markers and warning signs, the scorched 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' alert level on Monday evening.
A Hub of Emergency Response
In Bulahdelah, though, it would appear as a typical day if not for the aircraft overhead and smell of smoke lingering in the air.
A refueling point for aircraft has been established at the town’s showground, transforming it into a base for around 300 emergency personnel who have travelled from across the state to help.
On Monday afternoon, supplies of water were being unloaded 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 active fire ground.
First-Hand Stories from the Blaze
Billows of smoke were still rising from smoldering patches on Emu Creek Road, a winding rural street that follows a creek bed south of the township where two houses were lost.
On a fence post outside a burnt property, a scorched stuffed toy remained attached to the log, still wearing a Christmas hat.
Down the road, Morgan was on his veranda with his two dogs, a little patch of grass surrounding his house the sole remnant of how the landscape used to look. Miraculously, his property was saved, despite his neighbor's home burning to the ground.
He remembered 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 “alarm”. “I said to myself, ‘this is overwhelming’,” he said. “I decided to stay.”
Fortunately, firefighters surrounded the house, and succeeded in defending it. The bushfire passed over 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 not witnessed the land in such a dry state.
“It once rained 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 caring for 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 been reduced to ashes.
“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.
“The dryness is extreme now. It came from everywhere, 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 came through in 2019.
“You see people on the news say, ‘I can’t believe how fast it came’,” he said. “It seems distant, and suddenly it surrounds 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 firefighting operation and had done an “outstanding job” protecting houses from being destroyed.
She said all agencies had “worked as one” after the tragic loss of one of their own.
“The firefighting community is a close-knit group,” she said. “The threat persists.
“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 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. Authorities advised locals to evacuate if unprepared, and prepare a bushfire survival plan.
“Little fires are starting 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.”
