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As Garry Morgan returned to his property on Friday afternoon, his rural mid-north coast property was encircled by a “big plume of smoke”. Within twenty-four hours later, two houses on his street would be lost, and the adjacent bushland would be reduced to blackened skeletal remains.

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 experienced firefighter died on Sunday evening when he was struck by a collapsing tree. This marks a worrying commencement to the fire season.

Four properties have been lost 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.

“Words fail to capture it,” 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 travelers 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 blanketed in dense, ochre-hazed smoke. Water-bombing helicopters circled above, assisting firefighters on the ground who were battling a fire that had scorched 4,000 hectares since Friday.

Heavy vehicles slowed to observe road markers and warning signs, the blackened gum trees and ash-covered ground on each side of the highway evidence 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.

The Nerve Centre for Firefighting

In Bulahdelah, though, it would seem like a typical day if not for the aircraft overhead and scent of burning hanging in the atmosphere.

A refuelling station for aircraft has been set up at the town’s showground, transforming it into a central point for around 300 firefighters and volunteers who have travelled from across the state to help.

On Monday afternoon, water bottles were being unloaded 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.

Personal Accounts from the Fireground

Billows of smoke were still rising from spots of embers 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, complete with a Christmas hat.

Further along, Morgan was on his veranda with his two dogs, a small area of green surrounding his house the sole remnant of how the landscape used to look. Miraculously, his property was saved, 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 blaze will arrive”. His prediction was accurate.

“We hosed down the property and shed down, wet the perimeter,” he said, and then his reaction turned to “panic”. “I thought, ‘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”.

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 largely survived Saturday’s blaze, other than a broken headlight 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 approached a nearby ridge and that was quite frightening then, but the wind changed.

“It’s just so much drier this time. The fire approached from all directions, 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 see people on the news say, ‘The speed was unbelievable’,” he said. “It seems distant, and all of a sudden it’s on top of 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 various services had come from “across the coastal region” to assist in the firefighting operation and had done an “amazing job” saving properties from being destroyed.

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

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

“There have been instances of the Pacific Highway closing and reopening a few times, the fire spot across the road. It remains uncontained, it is expected to spread.”

Channon said work in the immediate future would focus 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 have a fire plan.

“Spot fires are popping up from storm activity a few days ago,” she said.

“The forecast is the mid-thirties with shifting winds, and that’s been challenge - wind changes direction in the area.”