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As Garry Morgan returned to his property on the end of the week, 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 consumed, and the nearby woodland became a scorched landscape.

A Community at the Centre of Tragedy

The township of Bulahdelah, around 235km north of Sydney, has become at the centre of a tragedy after a experienced firefighter lost his life on Sunday evening when he was struck by a falling tree. This marks a “foreboding start” to the wildfire period.

Four properties have been destroyed 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.

“It's beyond description,” Morgan stated. “The dogs didn’t leave my side, it was frightening.”

Landscapes of Loss and Fortitude

Bulahdelah is a popular stopover on the Pacific Highway for tourists journeying 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. Water-bombing helicopters hovered overhead, assisting firefighters on the ground who were working to contain a blaze that had scorched 4,000 hectares since Friday.

Transport vehicles slowed to observe road markers and reduce-speed signs, the scorched trees and ash-covered ground on each side of the highway evidence of how far the fire had ravaged the adjacent Myall Lakes national park. It was still at a 'watch and act' alert level on Monday evening.

A Hub of Emergency Response

In Bulahdelah, though, it would seem like a typical day if not for the helicopters circling overhead and acrid odor hanging in the atmosphere.

A fuel depot for aircraft has been established at the town’s showground, converting it into a hub for around 300 firefighters and volunteers who have come from across the state to help.

On Monday afternoon, cartons of water were being offloaded 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 active fire ground.

First-Hand Stories from the Blaze

Clouds of smoke were continuing to emit 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 scorched stuffed toy remained pinned 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 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, telling him “you have roughly 30 minutes and then a fire’s going to hit”. His estimate was spot on.

“We sprayed the house and shed down, wet the perimeter,” he said, and then his reaction turned to “panic”. “I thought, ‘this is overwhelming’,” 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, sounding like “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.

“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 looking after his friend’s property which had also mostly been spared Saturday’s blaze, other than a damaged light 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. “A few years ago a fire almost reached a local 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 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 suddenly it’s on top of 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 various services had come from “right up and down the coast” to help with the firefighting operation and had done an “outstanding job” saving properties 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. “But we’re definitely not out of the woods yet.

“We’ve seen the Pacific Highway closing and reopening 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. Residents had been urged to evacuate if unprepared, and prepare a bushfire survival plan.

“Little fires are igniting from lightning strikes a few days ago,” she said.

“Tomorrow’s weather is the mid-thirties with variable wind, and that’s been challenge - wind swirls in the area.”