A BUSHFIRE started by lightning threatened farmland near Karuah on Saturday 25 October, triggering the activation of rural firefighters from across the Myall Coast and Hunter.
Rural Fire Service units and brigades from Bulahdelah, North Arm Cove, Mitchells Island, Tinonee, Gangat, Gloucester, Pindimar-Tea Gardens and Limeburners Creek, were supported by helicopters and heavy tankers.
The large ground contingent was assembled to carry out coordinated backburning, to contain the fire as it threatened to spread from relatively inaccessible terrain.
Local Mark Pryor shared pictures of the smoke from his front deck.
“Fire season has started with a bang today. [It] jumped into our property,” he shared.
“Rural fire trucks and teams fought it for seven hours. The fireys did a fantastic job.”
The RFS said the Karuah fire was not the result of a controlled burn.
“A strike by dry lightning on 17 October had started this bushfire,” Pindimar-Tea Gardens RFS Captain David Bright told News Of The Area.
“While it remained inaccessible from land, there was at least one attempt to have a go at it from the waters of the Karuah River, to protect houses.
“There have been smaller backburns attempted by nearby brigades all week, but last Saturday saw seven trucks all putting in backburns on the edge of the trees to protect the fire coming out onto the grazing land.
“It was decided that we would go in and do what we could, resulting in a two-kilometre backburn, which was relatively successful.
“It didn’t burn as well as we’d hoped, with a lot of humidity in the air. It just didn’t want to take.”
The fire was still burning in rugged terrain with the hope that forecast rain would help put it out.
Some of the Pindimar-Tea Gardens RFS Brigade’s newest recruits – Jack, Nathan and Helen – applied their freshly learnt skills to the real-world scenario.
Backburning is a firefighting technique used to contain an active fire by removing its fuel source.
Hazard reduction is a pre-emptive burn to stop a fire starting and was difficult to conduct this winter due to rain.
Some areas are still underwater, too moist, or too green to take to flame.
The past few weeks have seen several Total Fire Bans put into effect by RFS NSW.
Residents can look for information about bans on their local brigade social pages or on the RFSNSW website at rfs.nsw.gov.au/fire-information/fdr-and-tobans.
By Thomas O’KEEFE
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