By Peter Hannam
Blue Mountains towns are bracing for a heightened fire threat as bushfires expand and communities count the cost after yet more homes were lost.
The communities of Bilpin and Berambing were mostly populated by fire crews and police on Monday, after a backburn aimed at containing the giant Gospers Mountain fire crossed containment lines, destroying homes and scorching part of the Blue Mountains Botanic Garden at Mount Tomah.
Kurrajong Heights firefighters work on burnt-out bushland at Berambing on Monday ahead of ominous forecasts this week.Credit: Dean Sewell
The Herald saw several homes along the nearby Skyline Road completely razed before police closed access to the previously-scenic pass.
"We're all exhausted," said Brian Williams, a local RFS firefighter and vice president of the Volunteer Fire Fighters Association. "It's becoming a drain."
"You come home at night, your lungs are burning, your eyes are sore," he said. "You're carrying an enormous amount of smoke inside."
With the fire now also in the Grose Valley, Mr Williams said the fire could burn from Bowen Mountain to Yarramundi, with the possibility of extending to Springwood and even to Katoomba.
The huge bushfire damaged homes on the Bells Line of Road in the Blue Mountains.Credit: Nick Moir
He said the very steep mountain terrain, which had a heavy fuel load, made it "very hard to build containment lines".
The coming days of severe heat, particularly on Thursday and Saturday, would stretch resources further, said Mr Williams, whose twin daughters Kylee and Justine are also regular RFS volunteers.
"It's a very dangerous mix," Mr Williams said. "It's such an enormously big fire, it's beyond human ability to control."
Sam Ramaci lost a cool room full of fruit for his Bilpin business, but managed to save his house when the runaway fire roared up his valley on Sunday evening.
Sam Ramaci managed to save his house but lost a cool room full of fruit to the fire. Credit: Peter Hannam
“We didn’t think anything like this was going to happen,” Mr Ramaci said, as a helicopter buzzed overhead after refilling its bucket at a dam nearby.
The cost of rebuilding the uninsured cool room is likely to run to $30,000, adding a financial burden to a business already struggling because the Gospers Mountain fire to the north had kept visitors away.
Three members of the Hawkesbury RFS brigade, Matthew Shepherd, Jared Robinson, Ben Vilnis, were creating a space around a memorial for a dead motorcyclist, ahead of an advancing fire along Bells Line of Road.
Mr Shepherd said "It's a matter of respect."
Three members of the Hawkesbury RFS brigade, Matthew Shepherd, Jared Robinson and Ben Vilnis, were creating a space around a memorial for a dead motorcyclist.Credit: Peter Hannam
On Monday evening, valleys on both sides of the Bells Line of Road were smouldering. Vast tracts of verdant forest in the Blue Mountains National Park were reduced to blackened trucks, with barely a bird call to be heard.
With little wind, ongoing blazes were sending columns of smoke skyward in valley after valley on Monday evening.
Earlier, Bilpin residents took to social media to express anger at overly tight police roadblock controls.
A young resident got caught on the wrong side of the roadblock after taking his dog for a walk and was blocked from returning. A taxi sent to pick up an elderly resident out of the fire zone was not let through. And a water truck sent up to fill tanks was also turned back.
"They have a job to do, but this is beyond a joke. Not even letting water trucks through to fill peoples' tanks ... Very rude and disrespectful," a Facebook poster said.