Nerong fires continue to burn and smother towns in smoke

BUSHFIRES between Nerong and Tea Gardens were updated to “under control” status as of late Saturday 7 February, after weeks of firefighter efforts on the land and in the skies and river. 

As of Sunday 8 February, the Nerong fire had burned over 6,500ha of bush and grassland, bounded by Myall River to the east, the Pacific Highway to the west, Nerong Inlet to the north, and Monkey Jacket Creek to the south.

This area is just a few kilometres from Tea Gardens and Hawks Nest.

Monkey Jacket Creek has been a site of intense land and airborne firefighting efforts for over a week as persistent north-easterly winds kept pushing it towards the twin towns.

For over two weeks, residents have awoken to the acrid smell of smoke in the air and recent smatterings of rain have done very little to quench the fires.

Even the heavy, but short, evening electrical storms seen at the start of February brought only a few millimetres to the ground – barely wetting the surface.

A new red army of firefighters dug into the pine plantation atop Tea Gardens aquifer, in some cases literally, as it turned out that the makeshift roadways throughout the plantation are composed mostly of crushed sawdust and wood chips, providing a honeycomb of in-ground fuel that fire can penetrate for several metres.

On the fireground itself heavy machinery meant for tree harvesting has had to be utilised for digging into the ground to access the hidden smouldering amongst the organic material, much like classic peat bogs.

Aircraft using thermal imaging cameras have been used to locate hotspots amidst the thick smoke, and boats have been deployed along the Myall River at Mungo Brush to extinguish spot fires as the embers attempt to jump the river.

Access for boats is closed on the Myall River north of Tea Gardens to Bombah Broadwater.

The water supply from Tea Gardens aquifer remains functioning and accessible, being a top priority of MidCoast Council, the local water operator.

RFS brigades that helped (not complete due to the lack of an official list): included Pindimar-Tea Gardens, Bulahdelah, Wootton, Limeburners Creek, North Arm Cove, Maitland, Wauchope, Green Point, Diamond Beach, Tuncurry, Rainbow Flat, Tinonee, Lake Cathie, Kings Creek, Nabiac, Coopernook, Minimbah, Dungog, Clarence Town, Bendolbah-Salisbury and more.

NPWS units have also remained involved, as much of the fire is within Myall Lakes National Park.

An unexpected hazard has been the bee hives in the area, no doubt stirred up by the smoke, and yet another thing volunteers have to contend with.

A few southerlies have blown up, forcing the fire back from the river and upon its burnt-out wake, but the northern front then flares up and becomes a problem, with Bulahdelah Showground once again becoming the centre of operations as it was back in December.

Only heavy, sustained, and deeply-penetrating rain will fully extinguish this fire, which is now widely suspected to be the same fire from December, having smouldered away in peaty marches and inaccessible gullies and ravines throughout January

More food supplies were pulled together and donated by volunteers from the Tea Gardens Lions, and RFS has utilised several local restaurants to feed the troops on their 12-hour shifts.

By Thomas O’KEEFE