Bitter irony of an empty dam leaves farmer distraught

David Callaughan was talking of his luck in escaping damage from Tuesday’s infernos when he got a call that his property was burning.

Cattle farmer David Callaughan fights a fire on his property at Possum Brush, south of Taree. Picture: John Feder

David Callaughan was at a friend’s house talking of his luck in escaping any damage from Tuesday’s infernos when he got a call on Wednesday afternoon that his property was burning.

The cattle farmer dashed back to his property on Possum Brush Road, just south of Taree on the NSW mid-north coast, to see his paddock, surrounding trees and fencing ablaze.

“It’s devastating seeing it black. I’ve never seen it like this,” Mr Callaughan said. “The fires came through on Monday, and Tuesday was meant to be the big day, so I wasn’t worried this morning. I drove right back and the fire had blown over from the gully and it was just roaring on my property.”

On Wednesday afternoon, Mr Callaughan was desperately trying to remove loose branches and put out spot fires along his property as he moved through smoke rising from his blackened paddock. As the state faced devastation the day before, firefighting helicopters had drained a dam on his property to drop on nearby bushfires.

A day later, as the 60 cattle and retired racehorses on his property watched their own surrounds burn, they became stuck in what was now an empty, muddy hole in the Earth.

“It’s not their fault, they (firefighters) are saving lives. But then I’m left with livestock stuck in a muddy dam. I had to pull the cows out myself,” he told The Australian with ash-laced mud dried on his hands.

With fencing burned and no vegetation to graze from, he was worried his animals would simply walk off his property.

“I’ve got no tools to replace my fence posts, they’ve burned. The animals could escape at any minute. We’re not far from the Pacific Highway so it’s a huge public safety issue.”

Mr Callaughan’s property is at the unlucky centre of two bushfires — at Hillville and Darawank — that are threatening to merge into one 25,000-hectare firestorm.

The Hillville blaze has been burning for two weeks and was returned to emergency warning status on Wednesday afternoon, the only bushfire in NSW with an emergency warning.

The havoc caused by the Hillville fire came as no surprise to Kiama Fire and Rescue firefighters from the NSW south coast who were trying to stop flames fully engulfing Mr Callaughan’s property.

They planned to travel to the mid-north coast to relieve crews, but their plane on Tuesday was unable to land at Port Macquarie due to smoke, circling for about an hour before flying back to Sydney. They then boarded a bus for a six-hour trip to Taree, and immediately began fighting fires.

“These are the worst fires I’ve seen in my life,” said Sian Crinis, of Thirroul.

“There’s just no end in sight.”