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As Garry Morgan arrived home on Friday afternoon, his rural mid-north coast property was surrounded by a massive cloud of smoke. Within twenty-four hours later, two dwellings on his street were consumed, and the adjacent bushland became 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 marks a ominous beginning to the wildfire period.

Four properties 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.

“Words fail to capture it,” he said. “The dogs didn’t leave my side, it was frightening.”

Landscapes of Loss and Fortitude

Bulahdelah is a frequent rest stop on the Pacific Highway for travelers journeying 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 covered by dense, ochre-hazed smoke. Aircraft conducting water drops hovered overhead, assisting firefighters on the ground who were battling a fire that had scorched 4,000 hectares since Friday.

Passing trucks reduced speed for road markers and reduce-speed signs, the scorched trees and ash-covered ground on each side of the highway proof 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.

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 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 firefighters and volunteers who have travelled from across the state to help.

On Monday afternoon, cartons of water were being offloaded from trucks and lollies were being packaged into zip lock bags. One firefighter noted that they needed a bottle of water every 20 minutes when on the fire line.

Personal Accounts from the Fireground

Plumes of smoke were still rising from glowing hotspots on Emu Creek Road, a meandering country road that follows a creek bed south of the township where two houses were lost.

On a fence post outside a destroyed home, a scorched stuffed toy remained attached to the log, complete with a Christmas hat.

Nearby, Morgan was on his veranda with his two dogs, a little patch of grass surrounding his house the sole remnant of how the landscape used to look. Against the odds, his property was spared, despite his neighbor's home 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 estimate was spot on.

“We doused the buildings and shed down, wet the perimeter,” he said, and then his reaction turned to “panic”. “I said to myself, ‘what the hell have I got myself into’,” he said. “But I refused to leave.”

Thankfully, firefighters surrounded the house, and succeeded in defending it. The bushfire moved through in about half an hour, sounding like “a roaring inferno”.

An Environment Altered

Morgan, who has resided at the same house for around 30 years, has never seen the land this parched.

“We used to get rain every week,” he said. “We’ve never had fires like this. But you must accept the challenges with the rewards.”

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 container of wood stored for winter that had been reduced to ashes.

“I’ve been here many, many times,” 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. The fire approached from all directions, 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. “You think it’s over there, and suddenly it's upon you. I understand the feeling. 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 “across the coastal region” to help with the firefighting operation and had done an “outstanding job” saving properties from being destroyed.

She said all agencies had “pulled together” 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 will continue to grow.”

Channon said work in the immediate future 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 have a fire plan.

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

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