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As a local resident arrived home on Friday afternoon, his rural mid-north coast property was enveloped in a dense smoke column. Less than twenty-four hours later, two houses on his street were destroyed, and the adjacent bushland would be reduced to a scorched landscape.

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 experienced firefighter lost his life on Sunday evening when he was struck by a falling tree. This signals a “foreboding start” to the bushfire season.

A total of four homes have been lost in the broader Bulahdelah area, comprising two on Emu Creek Road, where Morgan lives, one on the Pacific Highway and one south of the township.

“No words can express it,” Morgan stated. “My canine companions remained close, the fear was palpable.”

Landscapes of Loss and Fortitude

Bulahdelah is a frequent rest stop on the Pacific Highway for travelers 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, aiding ground crews who were battling a fire that had scorched 4,000 hectares since Friday.

Heavy vehicles reduced speed for road markers and reduce-speed signs, the scorched trees and charred grass on each side of the highway a stark reminder 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 another ordinary day if not for the aircraft overhead and smell of smoke lingering in the air.

A fuel depot for aircraft has been set up 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, supplies of water were being offloaded 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 active fire ground.

First-Hand Stories from the Blaze

Clouds of smoke were still rising from smoldering patches 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, 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 only remaining sign of how the area once appeared. Miraculously, his property was spared, 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 blaze will arrive”. His estimate was spot on.

“We sprayed the house 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. “But I refused to leave.”

Fortunately, firefighters surrounded the house, and managed to save it. The bushfire passed over in about half an hour, with a sound resembling “a roaring flame”.

An Environment Altered

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. “Fires of this magnitude are unprecedented. But you must accept the challenges with the rewards.”

On the same street, Jeff Curley was looking after his friend’s property which had also mostly been spared Saturday’s blaze, other than a broken headlight on a car and a container of wood 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 pretty scary then, but the wind changed.

“It’s just so much drier this time. Flames emerged on all sides, 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 swept through in 2019.

“You see people on the news 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 just get out, 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 “across the coastal region” to help with the containment effort and had done an “amazing job” protecting houses from being destroyed.

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

“Firefighters is one big family,” she said. “The threat persists.

“We’ve seen the Pacific Highway open and close 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. Authorities advised locals to leave if not prepared, and prepare a bushfire survival plan.

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

“Tomorrow’s weather is mid 30s with shifting winds, and that has been difficult - wind swirls in the area.”