Black summer: Bushfire’s speed, claimed six of seven lives, in horror day

The speed of a bushfire that broke out on NSW’s south coast was responsible for six of the seven deaths linked to the blaze.

Rural Fire Service volunteers and Fire and Rescue NSW officers contain a small bushfire which closed the Princes Highway south of Ulladulla in January 2020. Picture: AAP

The “extreme and unprecedented” speed of a bush fire that broke out in the Badja State Forest on NSW’s south coast, which is believed to have been ignited by a bolt of lightning, was responsible for six of the seven deaths linked to the blaze, a court has heard.

The fire, which broke out on December 27 during the Black Summer, and went on to consume more than 500,000 hectares and merge with other blazes, has been described as the “fastest moving destructive fire” ever seen by local firefighters, according to evidence heard at the first day of a NSW coronial inquest.

From its origin point in the Badja State Forest, the fire spread through dense forest at an “alarming rate” of 3km per hour, fuelled by strong westerly winds, before ravaging several townships in the area, including Cobargo, Cooma and Bermagui.

The fire – emboldened by high fuel loads, soaring temperature of 34C and strong winds – traversed 35km per hour in the span of 24 hours, on December 30 into the early hours of the next day.

It was in these brutal conditions, on December 31, that the blaze claimed the lives of Colin Burns, John Smith, Richard Steele and father and son Patrick and Robert Salway, and Ross Rixon suffered facial burns which he succumbed to on January 28, after fighting for life in hospital for almost a month.

The fire later claimed the life of Michael Clarke, who died on January 23.

RFS Jellat group captain Nathan Barnden described the blaze, that arrived in his community on the night of December 30, as highly “unusual” and brought the realisation that the “strategies we had decided on were not going to work”, forcing him to abandon attempts to protect properties to focus on saving lives.

“The temperature had been lowering and humidity had climbed but it was very windy, and drought driven, it moved in directions you wouldn‘t expect it to, based on the swirling wind and the terrain,” the court heard.

“I noticed there were spot fires breaking out everywhere. Before something could be done to address one, three more would be breaking out.

“I had seen three heavy tankers and crews nearly get killed and I realised we didn‘t have the resources to contain such an extreme fire … the priority was to defend life.”

Meanwhile, Coolagolite resident Warrick Manley described how “daylight completely disappeared” when the blaze bore down on his property, and bombarded him with explosions like camera flashes.

“I would describe it to be like a camera flash, the area surrounding just went white like a camera flash, like three separate explosions,” the court heard.

“And I can’t remember if the flash overs were making sounds of their own, and I could hear the fire roaring, and the winds were blowing between 70 and 100km per hour.

“We were under a severe ember attack and I thought it was almost time to leave.”

NSW Police Detective senior constable Glenn Bradley told the court he believed the fire had begun when it struck a tree in a logging dump in the Badja Forest on December 27, after a “band of lightning” hit the region.