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As Garry Morgan returned to his property on the end of the week, his home on the coastal fringe was enveloped in a “big plume of smoke”. Less than twenty-four hours later, a pair of homes on his street were destroyed, and the adjacent bushland became a scorched landscape.

A Town Grappling with Loss

The township of Bulahdelah, around 235km north of Sydney, has found itself at the heart of a tragedy after a experienced firefighter died on Sunday evening when he was hit by a collapsing tree. This represents a “foreboding start” to the wildfire period.

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

“It's beyond description,” Morgan stated. “My dogs stayed right by me, the fear was palpable.”

Landscapes of Loss and Fortitude

Bulahdelah is a popular stopover on the Pacific Highway for travelers on their way up the coastal region to coastal destinations such as Seal Rocks, Forster and Port Macquarie.

On Monday afternoon, the highway south of town was blanketed in thick, orange smoke. Aircraft conducting water drops hovered overhead, aiding firefighters on the ground who were attempting to quash a blaze that had burnt 4,000 hectares since Friday.

Transport vehicles slowed to observe road markers and warning signs, the scorched trees and ash-covered ground on each side of the highway a stark reminder of how far the fire had ravaged the adjacent Myall Lakes national park. It remained at a watch and act level on Monday evening.

A Hub of Emergency Response

In Bulahdelah, though, it would appear as a typical day if not for the helicopters circling overhead and smell of smoke hanging in the atmosphere.

A refueling point for aircraft has been established at the town’s showground, converting it into a central point for around 300 fire crews and volunteers who have come from across the state to help.

On Monday afternoon, supplies of water were being offloaded from trucks and sweets were being packed 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

Billows of smoke were still rising from smoldering patches on Emu Creek Road, a meandering country road that hugs a creek bed south of the township where two houses were lost.

On a boundary post outside a destroyed home, a charred teddy bear remained attached to the log, complete with a Christmas hat.

Nearby, 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. Miraculously, his property was spared, despite his neighbour’s 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, sprayed the fence line,” he said, and then his reaction turned to “panic”. “I said to myself, ‘this is overwhelming’,” he said. “But I wasn’t leaving.”

Fortunately, firefighters surrounded the house, and succeeded in defending it. The bushfire passed over 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 this parched.

“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, other than a broken headlight 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.

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

This experience wasn’t new for Curley, who came close to losing his home in Wattle Grove when fires came 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 on top of 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 various services had come from “right up and down the coast” to help with the containment effort and had done an “outstanding job” saving properties from being destroyed.

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

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

“There have been instances of the Pacific Highway closing and reopening a few times, the fire jump backwards and forwards. It remains uncontained, 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 Pacific Highway blaze on Monday evening. Authorities advised locals to leave if not prepared, and have a fire plan.

“Spot fires are starting from lightning strikes a few days ago,” she said.

“The forecast is mid 30s with variable wind, and that has been difficult - wind swirls in the area.”