Bushfires: when a land of mist became a land of fire

A blackened chimney and oven is the only identifiable part of the house still standing.

Anthony Thomas surveys what’s left of his uncle’s property, Boorang, at Kiah, after a mega-blaze stormed through the NSW south coast community. Picture: Sean Davey

The property on which Anthony Thomas has lived all his life is named Boorang, meaning land of mist.

On Wednesday, the mist had been replaced by thick smoke after a mega-blaze that had merged on the NSW and Victorian border stormed through the tiny NSW coastal town of Kiah on January 4.

“It’s hard to wake up here because I know the damage that’s been done. I don’t want to look around and see it all; it’s disgusting to me,” Mr Thomas said.

“It’s just emptiness, I guess. It just meant so much to me.”

The deer farm that overlooks a small lake had been owned by Mr Thomas’s uncle since the 1970s. Now a blackened chimney and oven is the only identifiable part of the house still standing.

The land of mist has become a land of fire.

The risk of falling trees is so great that Anthony, who lived on the farm with his father, Rod, was allowed to get back to survey the damage only on Tuesday night.

He was left speechless, although he found some comfort in being able to have saved a motorbike, his younger brother and sister’s drawings and a few sentimental items that are being kept under a tarpaulin on the property.

Kiah hugs the Princes Highway just south of Eden, with properties dotted sparsely along dirt roads. There was a general store and service station, church and hall. The general store and servo miraculously survived.

Surrounded by the Mount Imlay and Ben Boyd national parks, the Towamba River snakes through the town and a couple of lakes complete the picture. No one could say how many people live in Kiah — estimates range from 100 to 200. Nor does anyone know how many houses have been destroyed.

Several roads lined with burnt-out trees are still too dangerous to access and there are fears many properties are gone.

General store owner Amit Rishi with Wonboyn Lake firefighter Craig Butt, whom he credits with saving his life. Picture: Sean Davey

Mr Thomas, a 25-year-old Wiradjuri man, said local firefighters saved neighbours’ homes while theirs burned. “We had time to run over to my cousin’s place and my uncle’s, and set up the pumps and water everything down. When the wind came through, we couldn’t hang around, it was just too strong, too much fire. You couldn’t really see, you could barely see the road,” he said.

“My uncle’s house survived because it’s set up with sprinklers.”

As the residents of Kiah with homes to go back to slowly start to return and work to get power and water reconnected, the army, navy and a specialist police team arrived on Wednesday to find out what they needed.

It was the 9th Force Support Battalion’s first day on the ground, trying to figure out where they could have the most impact.

Normally based in Ipswich, Queensland, the battalion visited Kiah and the neighbouring town of Wonboyn — which has been without power and lost four ­houses in the fire — to offer seven days of food, water, petrol and ­diesel. A vehicle mechanic and 10 soldiers were on hand to help.

“It is ‘What do you guys need from us, the ADF, to support you in surviving and keep the tasks going out here that you guys are doing?’,” Lieutenant Jared Altman told Wonboyn fire captain Doug Comery.

A deeply appreciative Mr Comery urged the army to keep the diesel for communities that needed it more than Wonboyn, but Lieutenant Altman was insistent.

Mr Thomas and fellow Kiah resident Edith Orman, 63, said the build-up of fuel on the forest floor had been too much.

They were devastated by the number of animals killed in the blaze. “I’ve been in bushfires but this was a tornado bushfire,” Ms Orman said.

“National Parks not allowing the bush to be burnt as it used to get burnt years ago is the cause of this because there’s too much fuel. How can anybody stand with debris up this high? The hierarchy’s got to change the attitude.”

General store owner Amit Rishi, who moved to Australia from India in 2004, was the last person out of Kiah before the fire hit. He credits Wonboyn Lake firefighter Craig Butt with saving his life, after he called and directed him to get out as the fire closed in.

Mr Rishi moved to the town only in July but wants to stay indefinitely. He said most of his neighbours would rebuild: “The community is nice, people are ­really helpful; they do care about each other.”

Anthony is hopeful his uncle will decide to build again on Boorang despite the house not being insured.