By Tom Rabe and Wolter Peeters
Hectares of bone-dry bush and farmland in the Shoalhaven and Southern Highlands were turned to smouldering matchsticks in a matter of hours as a massive bushfire swept north through the region, destroying homes as far north as Wingello.
Fuelled by southerly wind that firefighters described as "horrendous", the Currowan fire came within several kilometres of picturesque Kangaroo Valley before breaking north-west towards Bundanoon and neighbouring communities on Saturday night.
A firefighting Landcruiser lies burnt in Kangaroo Valley. It crashed after hitting a fallen tree on Saturday. Credit: Wolter Peeters
Casey Kirchhoff, who fled Wingello several days before the fires arrived, was informed on Sunday morning that her home to the south of the town had been destroyed.
"It’s hard not to be sad about it but at the same time we feel really lucky that we’re in a safe place, there’s a lot of people doing it so much worse," she said.
Ms Kirchhoff took her dogs, quails and chickens and headed towards the coast last week, with one of the birds having laid eggs, which have hatched. She named the chicks Ember, Cinder and Flame on Sunday.
When the southerly hit the coast on Saturday afternoon, Ms Kirchhoff said she knew her home was in trouble.
Destruction from the Currowan fire on Tallowa Dam Road in Kangaroo Valley.Credit: Wolter Peeters
"The wind started swirling and then the southerly hit, I became really, really nervous about how the high country was going to go," she said.
The scientist and her husband plan to return home in coming days to begin rebuilding.
“We’re just focusing on that to try and get through today," she said.
“I’ve been able to keep it together all day ... but I think when we actually get up there we know it’s going to be really hard.”
Meanwhile, the fire completely destroyed sections of bushland and properties west of Kangaroo Valley, where an emergency service vehicle was destroyed after it crashed into a tree.
The National Parks and Wildlife Service LandCruiser hit a large fallen tree and crashed into the side of the road. Sources familiar with the incident said the crew cut a path through barbed wire into a neighbouring property and sheltered at a dam for several hours.
A few hundred metres down the Tullowa Dam Road, where bushland and properties were obliterated, John Wright said he was amazed to find his heifers had survived the night.
"It’s incredible mate, there’s not a mark on them," Mr Wright said while topping up water for the animals in a paddock that was scorched completely down to the earth.
Cattle farmer John Wright tends to some of his heifers on his property in Kangaroo Valley. Credit: Wolter Peeters
The farmer and mechanic, whose family have lived locally for five generations, said he couldn’t figure out where the animals had sheltered during the blaze, which destroyed most of his property.
"It’s f---ed, never seen it so bad mate, it’s not good out here. I’ve lived here all my life," he said.
"It’s just devastating, I’ve never seen a fire do what this has done."
Nearby, Justin Bowden’s property was razed by the fires. He watched the flames envelop the property from Sydney with a camera system he had set up before evacuating.
A wombat seen on Tallowa Dam Road in Kangaroo Valley following Saturday night's fire.Credit: Wolter Peeters
"Literally in the blink of an eye, as I was watching the camera, two big trees just spontaneously combusted," he said.
"It was that hot trees were exploding, it was giving off purple colour from the trees and the leaves."
Late on Sunday afternoon as many were coming to terms with what they had lost, many communities through the Southern Highlands remained evacuated as the strong southerly pushed the Currowan and Morton fires further north towards the Hume Highway.