NSW bushfires: Families’ beach escape as blaze races towards resort
Renae James was on holiday with her partner’s family at Diamond Beach on the NSW mid north coast when a sudden wind change fanned the bushfire toward a holiday resort and cleaved their group in two. Read her story, and other first-person accounts of bushfire survival and loss.
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Families fled to an idyllic beach on the NSW mid-north coast as a sudden wind change fanned a bushfire toward a holiday resort.
Renae James was on holiday with her partner’s family at Diamond Beach, north of Forster, when the 16,600 hectare fire cleaved their group in two.
“We got separated when the girls went out for girls day and got stuck,” she told The Daily Telegraph on Sunday.
Ms James, who is visiting the area from Nowra, had to stay in a Taree evacuation centre overnight.
“It was pretty sombre, no one knew what was going on,” she said.
“A lot of people have homes here, I’m grateful ours isn’t.”
She watched as elderly people, unsure if their homes were still standing, slept in chairs and waited for information.
The 41-year-old mum, who has her toddler with her, made it back to the Diamond Beach resort yesterday.
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The rest of her group had hoped to make their way back to Diamond Beach but the roads were closed yesterday evening and they were stuck for a second night.
But Ms James woke on Sunday to find the wind had changed and the resort itself was under threat.
“It came so quickly, all it took was a gust and it was there,” she said.
“We could see the flames.”
Ms James and her family, including grandparents, kids and visitors from Darwin, helped another mother and daughter evacuate from the resort as the flames came closer.
That young mum had earlier been evacuated from her own home and put in the resort for safety.
They rushed down to the beach and are trying to figure out if they can escape the area before a second fire, coming from the south, pincers them.
“Someone just came down and said the resort is still standing,” she said.
”We’re looking down the beach and we can see (the second fire) coming.”
“We’re definitely under threat – we should leave while we can.”
‘THIS TIME I MIGHT LEAVE’
By Joanna Panagopoulos
Kenneth Matson has lived in Caparra, near Taree, for about 30 years and lost his house to bushfires twice before.
He thinks this might be the third time.
Bunkering down at the Club Taree evacuation centre like many residents around Taree who have been forced to flee their homes or blocked from returning, he is waiting to find out what state his home is in.
The last time Mr Matson saw his home, it was engulfed in flames.
“I’m not 100 per cent sure it’s all gone but I’m pretty sure it is,” Mr Matson said.
“I hope God’s hand has touched it,” he said, “but it’s unlikely”.
Mr Matson evacuated his house on Friday night, saying he had to leave quickly due to the conditions.
“It was just too dangerous. There was fire all around, smoke, I couldn’t breathe. So I got the hell out of there. But I went back in the morning … and I still couldn’t get back.”
“We had to run out from the fire,” Mr Matson said.
“A tree nearly hit me on the way out. The trees were literally falling. We just got out.”
Mr Matson built the three properties on his couple hundred acres of land over the last three decades, but said if his house is gone this time, he will probably move.
“I think I’m buggered. Three times is too much for me, so I think this is the end for me”.
He’s not sure where he will go but he is still optimistic.
“Shit happens. You’ve got to roll with it, otherwise you go totally nuts,” he said.
DESTROYED COMMUNITY WYTALIBA IN MOURNING
By Campbell Gellie
About 60 homes have been lost, two people are dead and the alternative community of Wytaliba are yet to grip the devastation caused by Friday’s fires.
The community were not allowed back in their bush town an hour’s drive south west of Glen Innes on Sunday.
Blocked at the top of the valley by police, fire and burning logs across the only road in, residents were told it was a crime scene.
The quarantine comes after nudist George Nole was found dead in a car and Virginia Chaplain died in hospital after her burnt body was pulled from her home.
On Sunday, members of the “hippie” community hugged outside the only road into Wytaliba.
One woman howled with grief as she was told her two dogs were found dead on her bed.
Wytilba was founded in 1978 and was home to Glen Innes Mayor Carol Sparks, who goes by the name of Squirrel in the small community.
Her daughter Storm Lili Sparks lost her home in the fire and survived the blaze by bunkering down in her car at the school’s sporting field. Her neighbour Mr Nole was not as lucky.
Ms Sparks posted a tribute to him on her Facebook page calling him the “nuddy neighbor”. She said Mr Nole was born in Greece before his family moved to South Africa. He immigrated to Australia and settled in North Sydney where he met a girl who wrote essays about “multiple occupancies” or communes.
“He recently told me that he would only die if he wanted to and when (my partner) offered to help he refused,” Ms Sparks said. “I am upset but I definitely believe that George is at peace.”
Police and Wytaliba residents stood side by side on Sunday. It was unusual sight because NSW Police and Wytaliba residents have had conflicts over cannabis plants going back two decades.
The Wytilba residents took the NSW Police to court over a 1998 illegal raid.
The Supreme Court of NSW found the raid was illegal because police didn’t have a warrant and awarded $1.3 million to be paid to the residents.
Two people convicted of growing cannabis had their convictions quashed.
Since then there has been four successful raids and convictions over growing cannabis within the Wytaliba community.
The land on the outskirts of Glen Innes is that dry “it wants to burn” says farmer Richard Rossington.
On Friday the school teacher and farmer raced to save his 80 animals on his property 12km from Wytaliba.
“When I got there a log on our veranda was smoking,” he said. “It is so dry it just wants to burn.
“There were patches of dirt that were smouldering because it was just so hot.”
Mr Rossington and his nearby used a dozer to make fire breaks around his home and another around his animals.
“One cow had just given birth during the fire so I had to use a dozer to put a fire break around them,” he said.
Fires have been burning in this forest for months and Mr Rossington’s family had been prepared since August.
The fire that ripped through Wytaliba on Friday had swung around on Saturday and was heading for their cottage on the property.
Mr Rossington’s wife Katie and children Madeline, 17, eight-year-old Gus and six-year-old Grace 6 stayed in town while Mr Rossington looked after the property.
“I didn’t get much sleep,” he said. “All night I just kept fearing trees fall over and you don’t know how quickly it is moving.”
The property was fine but it was frightening experience for the family.
“We were worried all day on Saturday because Dad was in the cabin where we knew the wood was catching on fire.”
Originally published as NSW bushfires: Families’ beach escape as blaze races towards resort
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