Just after midday The Beloved’s mother rang with some concern about fires at Umina (where they live) on the Central Coast of NSW. We had a look out on the balcony (and nearly scorched our feet on the tiles it was that hot) and could see plumes of smoke covering the area. Not long after The Beloved went to visit her parents and walk her dog. Not long after arrived I got the call to come over as well. The fires were threatening the area.
It wasn’t until I got to Woy Woy that the smoke was thick and the extent of the fires obvious. I continued on to Umina and drove to The Rampart (an area of houses on the hill overlooking Umina) and where my soon to be In Laws live. The smoke was thick and ash from the nearby fires raining down. The sun was blood red through the pillar of smoke. It was a strange and disturbing sight.
We weren’t too concerned until listening to ABC radio they mentioned The Rampart was under threat. We all looked at each other with some surprise because at that stage things seemed ok although the fires were close. So Alan and I decided to go down to the end of the street and have a look.
Fire crews were everywhere. We could see the flames on top of ridge above the end of the street. People were packing their cars with their belongings and evacuating pets. Overheard a huge helicopter was dumping water on the fire attempting to slow it down. A bit of humour that was doing the rounds was “I’ve always wanted to see one of these things in action but not quite this close.�
The fire soon was behind the houses. It appeared to run down the slope in no time. The photo below taken by Nick Moir from the SMH is what we saw. I have never seen something so chilling and so terrifyingly awesome. I literally had chills up and down my spine. Alan and I decided to head back to prepare his house. It was up to the fire crews now.
Soon on our side of street, every access road had fire trucks stationed, waiting. We had one down the bottom and one just outside the house. We could see the fire burning about 300 meters away. Luckily the advance had slowed. One of the fire fighters told me that it was coming our way and slowly. But the crews seemed relaxed which is always a good sign so Alan and I decided to walk around the area again.
We went back down the bottom of the street again where the crews were packing up. Not a single house was damaged which was amazing. It was also testament to the excellent work of the NSW Fire Brigade and NSW Rural Fire Brigade. All the crews did a fantastic job of protecting property. It seemed that for now there was a lull. However news was coming through that a southerly buster was coming up the coast with possible winds of over 100km/h. From the truck stationed outside our house we could hear the chatter of the crews over the radio. They were very concerned.
For awhile it all we could do was wait. As the sun went down we could see the fires better and some flames were only 100 meters away now. Still there was no wind so the fire was travelling slowly across the ground and not through the trees. By this time it was about 8:30pm. Just before 10:00pm the change came through. It was a light breeze but soon became very strong. We stood watching the fires to see what happened. Embers could be seen flying through the air so it was back to hosing the roof. Fortunately in our area the southerly did not whip up the flames. There were a few flare ups but they were contained.
I crashed around midnight when it was clear that the threat had eased. Of course I couldn’t leave to go to my home as access road was blocked but I wasn’t complaining. The Fire crews stayed around to about 5:30am. About 6:00am the power died so I got up to see how things looked in day light. Surprisingly it wasn’t too bad. There were some scorched areas but nothing that betrayed how close and intense some of the fire had been.
Now blessed rain has started to fall on the Central Coast. I can still smell the smoke on me and am very tired. But no where near as tired as the fire brigades who worked through the night. It was a stressful, worrying day but their efforts were outstanding in preventing any further property loss. They should all be congratulated whether professionals or the many volunteers.
It’s an awful experience, isn’t it, Shaun. I am glad you seem to be past the worst of it now. I have been watching the weather bureau’s rain radar and it looks like it’s been raining on the Central Coast for a few hours with more coming.
I experienced the Blue Mountains fires of 1994 and 2001 and they are something I will never forget, and something I never want to experience again.
The job the firies do is magnificent and I urge everyone, after reading Shaun’s post, to make a donation to their state’s volunteer bushfire brigades.
Fantastic reportage Shaun. I’m glad to hear everyone is safe and sound.
It is indeed awful, Ron and you are right in that I do not want to experience it again. I am knackered and that is only from the stress. I can’t imagine how the firies feel. I can’t stress enough how excellent their work was yesterday in preventing loss of property and loss of life.
Nice post Shaun. Hopefully the spectre of danger for you there is gone for now. We can only hope that the fire season ends abruptly now or at least very soon.
Having a shower this evening I could still smell the smoke on me. It is weird.
At the moment the fires are contained and the weather becoming milder. I’m not sure on the potential future threat. There were still are lot of plumes of smoke in the area however that is likely backburning as well. Depending on the weather it could be a tough 6-8 weeks around the nation.
Scary, Shaun, but I’m glad it all worked out OK. I was involved in fighting four different fires as a young bloke on the farm, but in Qld we seldom get crown fires which are much more threatening.
My elder brother reckons we should chuck matches around everywhere all winter so every bit that is going to burn burns while it is still cool. A bit extreme, but I think he’s on the right track. I believe in WA they have studied the optimum preventative burn patterns and have a program that has prevented serious fires for decades.
Shaun,
Glad to hear that your family is Okay. I was in Umina that day. I am a volunteer firefughter from the RFS station in Medowie (North of Newcastle) and we were called to go down there early Sunday afternoon. My crew and I were protecting houses in Homan close until about 9.30pm then moved to Neera drive where we stayed until 5am. The fires that day were the biggest I have experienced and even though there were heaps of fire crews I believe we were still lucky to only loose a few homes (and 8 volunteers cars). I was amazed at the gratitude and generosity of the residents in those areas and the people left more of an impression on me than the fires did. To have people offering fruit platters and cooked meals to us when they were at risk of loosing everything they owned was amazing. I have even written to the editor of the Central Coast Sun to place a letter of thanks to those people in the paper as I didn’t have time to thank them properly. Anyway, I hope your family are all safe and wish you all a safer and less terrifying remainder to 2006.
Hi Darryl,
Hi thanks for the response. We did offer some soft drinks to the firies near us although they really wanted a beer.
No need to thank the residents. We all appreciate what you all did. The gratitude is well deserved by yourself, your crew and all the others than came to help.
Great photo. Good post.
I was down at Rawson Road watching the evacuees coming over from Phegans’ Bay.