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As a local resident arrived home on the end of the week, his rural mid-north coast property was surrounded by a “big plume of smoke”. Within twenty-four hours later, two houses on his street were destroyed, and the nearby woodland became blackened skeletal remains.

A Town Grappling with Loss

The township of Bulahdelah, approximately 235km north of Sydney, has become at the centre of a devastating event after a experienced firefighter lost his life on Sunday evening when he was hit by a collapsing tree. This marks a worrying commencement to the wildfire period.

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

“No words can express it,” he said. “My canine companions remained close, it was terrifying.”

Landscapes of Loss and Fortitude

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 shrouded in dense, ochre-hazed smoke. Water-bombing helicopters circled above, aiding firefighters on the ground who were attempting to quash a blaze that had consumed 4,000 hectares since Friday.

Heavy vehicles reduced speed for road markers and reduce-speed signs, the blackened gum trees and charred grass 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 appear as a typical day if not for the aircraft overhead and smell of smoke hanging in the atmosphere.

A refueling point for aircraft has been established at the town’s showground, transforming it into a hub for around 300 emergency personnel who have travelled from across the state to help.

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

First-Hand Stories from the Blaze

Billows of smoke were still rising from glowing hotspots 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 scorched stuffed toy remained attached to the log, still wearing a Christmas hat.

Nearby, Morgan was on his veranda with his two dogs, a little patch of grass surrounding his house the only remaining sign of how the landscape used to look. 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 have roughly 30 minutes and then a fire’s going to hit”. His timing was precise.

“We hosed down the property and shed down, sprayed the fence line,” he said, and then his reaction turned to “alarm”. “I said to myself, ‘what the hell have I got myself into’,” he said. “But I refused to leave.”

Fortunately, crews protected the home, and managed to save it. The bushfire passed over in about half an hour, sounding like “a roaring flame”.

An Environment Altered

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

“We used to get 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, other than a damaged light on a car and a container of wood stored for winter that had burnt to ash.

“I’ve been here many, many times,” 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 essentially protected 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, ‘I can’t believe how fast it came’,” he said. “You think it’s over there, and suddenly it surrounds you. I understand the feeling. I told my friend to evacuate immediately, 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 containment effort and had done an “outstanding 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. “However, the danger is not over.

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

Channon said efforts in the coming hours 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 prepare a bushfire survival plan.

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

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