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As a local resident returned to his property on Friday afternoon, his rural mid-north coast property was surrounded by a massive cloud of smoke. Less than twenty-four hours later, two dwellings on his street would be lost, and the nearby woodland was transformed into blackened skeletal remains.

A Community at the Centre of Tragedy

The township of Bulahdelah, approximately 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 collapsing tree. This signals a “foreboding start” to the wildfire period.

Four structures have been lost in the wider Bulahdelah area, comprising 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. “The dogs didn’t leave my side, it was terrifying.”

Scenes of Destruction and Resilience

Bulahdelah is a common pause 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 blanketed in dense, ochre-hazed smoke. Helicopters circled above, aiding ground crews who were battling a blaze that had scorched 4,000 hectares since Friday.

Heavy vehicles slowed to observe road markers and reduce-speed signs, the blackened gum trees and ash-covered ground on each side of the highway a stark reminder 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.

The Nerve Centre for Firefighting

In Bulahdelah, though, it would seem like another ordinary day if not for the aircraft overhead and acrid odor hanging in the atmosphere.

A refuelling station for aircraft has been established at the town’s showground, transforming it into a base for around 300 fire crews and volunteers who have travelled from across the state to help.

On Monday afternoon, supplies of water were being unloaded 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

Billows of smoke were continuing to emit from smoldering patches on Emu Creek Road, a winding rural street that hugs a creek bed south of the township where two houses were lost.

On a boundary post outside a burnt property, a charred teddy bear remained attached to the log, complete with a Christmas hat.

Further along, 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. 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, warning him “you have roughly 30 minutes and then a blaze will arrive”. His prediction was accurate.

“We sprayed the house and shed down, sprayed the fence line,” he said, and then his reaction turned to “panic”. “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 thunderous blaze”.

A Landscape Transformed

Morgan, who has lived in 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’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’ve been here many, many times,” he said. “Previously a fire almost approached a nearby ridge and that was pretty scary then, but the wind changed.

“It’s just so much drier this time. The fire approached from all directions, and the firefighters pretty much saved it [the property].”

This was not a novel situation for Curley, who nearly lost his home in Wattle Grove when fires came through in 2019.

“You hear reports say, ‘I can’t believe how fast it came’,” he said. “You think it’s over there, and all of a sudden it’s on top of 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 “right up and down the coast” to assist in the containment effort and had done an “amazing job” saving properties from being destroyed.

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

“The firefighting community is a close-knit group,” she said. “The threat persists.

“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 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. Authorities advised locals to leave if not prepared, and prepare a bushfire survival plan.

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

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