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As Garry Morgan returned to his property on Friday afternoon, his home on the coastal fringe was enveloped in a massive cloud of smoke. Less than twenty-four hours later, two houses on his street were consumed, and the adjacent bushland became charred remnants.

A Community at the Centre of Tragedy

The township of Bulahdelah, around 235km north of Sydney, has found itself at the heart of a tragedy after a veteran firefighter lost his life on Sunday evening when he was hit by a falling tree. This signals a “foreboding start” 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 on their way 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. Helicopters hovered overhead, assisting ground crews who were battling a blaze that had burnt 4,000 hectares since Friday.

Passing trucks reduced speed for traffic cones and warning signs, the charred eucalypts and charred grass on each side of the highway a stark reminder of how far the fire had swept through the adjacent Myall Lakes national park. It remained at a watch and act level on Monday evening.

The Nerve Centre for Firefighting

In Bulahdelah, though, it would seem like another ordinary day if not for the aircraft overhead and smell of smoke lingering in the air.

A fuel depot for aircraft has been established at the town’s showground, turning it into a base for around 300 fire crews and volunteers who have come 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 estimated that they needed a water bottle every 20 minutes when on the frontline.

Personal Accounts from the Fireground

Plumes 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 burnt property, a scorched stuffed toy remained pinned to the log, still wearing a Christmas hat.

Down the road, Morgan was on his veranda with his two dogs, a little patch of grass surrounding his house the sole remnant of how the area once appeared. Against the odds, his property was saved, despite his neighbor's home 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 doused the buildings and shed down, wet the perimeter,” he said, and then his reaction turned to “alarm”. “I said to myself, ‘this is overwhelming’,” he said. “But I wasn’t leaving.”

Thankfully, crews protected the home, and succeeded in defending it. The bushfire moved through in about half an hour, with a sound resembling “a roaring inferno”.

An Environment Altered

Morgan, who has lived in the same house for around 30 years, has not witnessed the land so dry.

“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 caring for his friend’s property which had also mostly been spared Saturday’s blaze, other than a broken headlight 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. “Previously a fire almost reached a local ridge and that was pretty scary 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 was not a novel situation for Curley, who came close to losing his home in Wattle Grove when fires came through in 2019.

“You hear reports say, ‘The speed was unbelievable’,” he said. “It seems distant, and all of a sudden it surrounds you. I know what it’s like. 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 “incredible work” saving properties from being destroyed.

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

“The firefighting community 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 spot across the road. It remains uncontained, it will continue to grow.”

Channon said work in the immediate future would focus 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 evacuate if unprepared, and prepare a bushfire survival plan.

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

“The forecast is mid 30s with shifting winds, and that has been difficult - wind swirls in the area.”