By Laura Chung, Pallavi Singhal and Nick Moir
Bilpin Fruit Bowl owner Margaret Tadrosse has been a Rural Fire Service co-ordinator for more than 20 years, so she knows how powerless communities can be before a raging bushfire.
But it doesn't make the total devastation of her popular tourist spot - not to mention the rest of the town - any easier to process.
Margaret and Simon Tadrosse have vowed to rebuild after the Blue Mountains bushfires swept through their orchards, the Bilpin Fruit Bowl. Credit: Nine News
"It doesn't make losing everything easy," she told the Herald on Sunday.
She said her husband, Simon, and 23-year-old son, who had stayed to defend the property, couldn't do anything except "watch it all burn" as the powerful fire struck on Saturday night.
Ms Tadrosse said they have lost thousands of fruit-bearing trees, including fig trees carrying about $100,000 of income.
She estimates their total loss to be over half a million dollars and expects that it will take more than three years before the farm is back to normal.
The RFS watches the Gospers Mountain fire impacting on the edge of The Fruit Bowl in Bilpin.Credit: Nick Moir
But she said the family was determined to "soldier on and do what we can do".
"It’s not just a business, it’s our home," she said.
But Ms Tadrosse said most residents lost something over the weekend and said she would try to lobby for funds to support the town as it starts to rebuild.
"The main thing is everybody is safe," she said.
The Gospers Mountain fire hitting the Bilpin "Tutti Frutti" shop, which is on the same road as the Fruit Bowl.Credit: Nick Moir
John Keeble, who lives in the neighbouring town of Kurrajong Heights, said the latest fires "have got to be a turning point" in how the country approaches fire prevention.
"There has to be a better approach to hazard reduction, something's got to change," said Mr Keeble, who has lived in Kurrajong Heights for 20 years and believes there needs to be more hazard reduction burning done ahead of the fire season.
It was raining ash when Mr Keeble and his family evacuated their home on Saturday afternoon.
"It was raining black ash as we drove to Richmond, we had to have our lights on at 1pm, it was so dark," he said.
He spent the night in Richmond Club, which is acting as an evacuation centre while bushfires continue to burn in the Blue Mountains.
Mr Keeble was back in his home on Sunday and said that properties on his street were saved thanks to recent backburning and the efforts of firefighters who protected the area from a "nine-metre fire front" on Saturday night.
However, he said affected residents would have to wait until the fire danger subsides to start cleaning up.
"A lot of it is all gone, the whole thing's crazy," Mr Keeble said.