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When a local resident arrived home on Friday afternoon, his home on the coastal fringe was surrounded by a “big plume of smoke”. Within twenty-four hours later, a pair of homes on his street would be lost, and the surrounding forest was transformed into a scorched landscape.

A Town Grappling with Loss

The community of Bulahdelah, around 235km north of Sydney, has found itself at the heart of a tragedy after a long-serving firefighter lost his life on Sunday evening when he was struck by a falling tree. This marks a worrying commencement to the wildfire period.

Four structures have been lost in the wider Bulahdelah area, comprising two on Emu Creek Road, the residence of Garry Morgan, one on the Pacific Highway and one south of the township.

“Words fail to capture it,” he said. “My canine companions remained close, it was terrifying.”

Scenes of Destruction and Resilience

Bulahdelah is a frequent rest stop on the Pacific Highway for travelers on their way up the mid-north coast to beach areas 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 hovered overhead, assisting ground crews who were working to contain a blaze that had scorched 4,000 hectares since Friday.

Heavy vehicles reduced speed for traffic cones and warning signs, the blackened gum trees and ash-covered ground on each side of the highway a stark reminder of how far the fire had swept through the adjacent Myall Lakes national park. It was still 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 aircraft overhead and scent of burning lingering in the air.

A refuelling station for aircraft has been set up at the town’s showground, transforming it into a base for around 300 emergency personnel who have travelled from across the state to help.

On Monday afternoon, supplies of water were being offloaded 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 frontline.

First-Hand Stories from the Blaze

Plumes of smoke were still rising from smoldering patches on Emu Creek Road, a winding rural street that follows 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, still wearing 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 landscape used to look. Against the odds, his property was saved, despite his neighbour’s burning to the ground.

He recalled 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 “alarm”. “I thought, ‘what have I gotten into’,” he said. “But I wasn’t leaving.”

Thankfully, firefighters surrounded the house, and succeeded in defending 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 never seen the land so dry.

“It once rained rain every week,” he said. “This intensity is new. 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. “A few years ago a fire almost reached a local ridge and that was pretty scary then, but the wind changed.

“The dryness is extreme now. It came from everywhere, 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, ‘I can’t believe how fast it came’,” 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, public information officer 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 “outstanding job” saving properties from being destroyed.

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

“The firefighting community 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 spot across the road. It remains uncontained, it is expected to spread.”

Channon said efforts in the coming hours would center on the tiny township of Nerong, which was anticipated to be impacted by the highway fire on Monday evening. Residents had been urged to evacuate if unprepared, and have a fire plan.

“Spot fires are popping up 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 changes direction in the area.”