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When a local resident arrived home on Friday afternoon, his rural mid-north coast property was enveloped in a massive cloud of smoke. Within twenty-four hours later, two houses on his street were consumed, and the nearby woodland would be reduced to a scorched landscape.

A Town Grappling with Loss

The township of Bulahdelah, approximately 235km north of Sydney, has become at the centre of a tragedy after a long-serving firefighter died on Sunday evening when he was hit by a falling tree. This signals a worrying commencement to the fire season.

Four structures 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,” he said. “The dogs didn’t leave my side, the fear was palpable.”

Scenes of Destruction and Resilience

Bulahdelah is a common pause on the Pacific Highway for tourists 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 shrouded in dense, ochre-hazed smoke. Helicopters circled above, assisting ground crews who were battling a blaze that had consumed 4,000 hectares since Friday.

Heavy vehicles reduced speed for traffic cones and reduce-speed signs, the scorched trees and charred grass on each side of the highway proof 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 a typical day if not for the aircraft overhead and acrid odor hanging in the atmosphere.

A refueling point 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 water bottle every 20 minutes when on the active fire ground.

First-Hand Stories from the Blaze

Billows 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 fence post outside a destroyed home, a charred teddy bear remained attached to the log, still wearing a Christmas hat.

Further along, Morgan was on his veranda with his two dogs, a small area of green surrounding his house the only remaining sign of how the area once appeared. Miraculously, his property was saved, despite his neighbor's home burning to the ground.

He recalled receiving a call from a friend at lunchtime on Saturday, telling him “you’ve got about half an hour and then a fire’s going to hit”. His prediction was accurate.

“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. “But I refused to leave.”

Fortunately, firefighters surrounded the house, 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 resided at the same house for around 30 years, has never seen the land this parched.

“It once rained 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 broken headlight on a car and a container of wood stored for winter that had been reduced to ashes.

“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. Flames emerged on all sides, 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. “It seems distant, and suddenly it's upon you. I know what it’s like. I told my friend to just get out, and he did.”

Official Response and Ongoing Threat

Kirsty Channon, spokesperson for the NSW Rural Fire Service, said crews from multiple agencies had come from “right up and down the coast” to help with the containment effort and had done an “incredible work” protecting houses from being destroyed.

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

“The firefighting community is one big family,” she said. “But we’re definitely not out of the woods yet.

“We’ve seen the Pacific Highway open and close a few times, the fire spot across the road. It remains uncontained, it is expected to spread.”

Channon said efforts in the coming hours would center on the small community of Nerong, which was expected to be hit by the Pacific Highway blaze on Monday evening. Residents had been urged to leave if not prepared, and prepare a bushfire survival plan.

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

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