An out-of-control bushfire in New South Wales’s central west has blazed through properties and scorched bushland, with the NSW Rural Fire Service warning it could be “burning for weeks”.
Dozens of fires have been burning across NSW since Sunday as gusty winds and vegetation growth from last year’s high rainfall make it easier for flames to catch, according to Dean Narramore, a senior meteorologist at the Bureau of Meteorology.
The RFS has been working with Fire and Rescue NSW, police, national parks, council and local land services to combat a fire burning north of Hill End on Thursday.
Narramore said the wind was expected to ease into the early part of next week, with showers expected across northern and eastern NSW.
But Angela Burford, a communications officer at the RFS, said hot and windy conditions over a dry landscape had made “the last couple of days incredibly difficult”, with firefighters working through the night.
“It is ginormous, intimidating and overwhelming, even for people who are miles away from the fire front,” said Burford, who is based in Mudgee and said she could see plumes of grey smoke moving through valleys from where she was.
“It is not just flat paddocks,” she said. “It is really steep, hilly terrain.
“If it continues to spread and breaches the containment strategies, the fire could be burning for weeks.”
Carla Kamsteeg lives with her husband at Green Valley Creek near Hill End and on Tuesday fire ran through their property.
“We had these incredible wind gusts coming up and blowing wind and fire in every direction,” she said.
“At one point, we were surrounded by fire.
“The fire came up to the back of our house. The back of our property and old cars got burnt.”
Kamsteeg said the smoke was thick and she could not see far or breathe well.
“It was hot, smokey and hectic,” she said. “When you are in the middle of something like that, you go into overdrive to save what you have.”
Power has been down in the area since Monday afternoon. “Now we can’t pump water and have to be careful with what water we do have, in case the fire turns around and comes back,” she said.
She said in such an open, rural area, “it is hard to know what is happening at your neighbour’s place” or what the fire is dong.
“I’ve been in a flood, and I’ve been in a fire, and I would rather a flood,” she said. “Water you know where it is going to go. But fire you have no idea what it is going to do. You don’t ever know.”
Kamsteeg said she and her husband were “just waiting”, grateful that they were still standing on their own veranda.
“At one point we were packed to leave if we should have to. I still haven’t unpacked.”
Watch and Act: Alpha Rd Fire, Tambaroora (Mid-Western LGA)
— NSW RFS (@NSWRFS) March 8, 2023
With more mild conditions forecast for today, firefighters supported by aircraft and heavy machinery will continue to work on containment strategies and undertake property protection.https://t.co/O7EuiDxIUb pic.twitter.com/B3xCA4avoq
