An extraordinary effort by firefighters and aircraft brought two major bushfires near Wee Waa and Bellata under control despite ‘catastrophic’ conditions on Friday.
The Culgoora Forest fire, eight kilometres from Wee Waa, and Berrygil Creek fire, east of Bellata, raged through hundreds of hectares on private property and state forest, fuelled by record-breaking heat and ferocious wind.
Both fires are out, but the Forestry Corporation is monitoring smoldering logs and debris at Culgoora.
Friday was the hottest day in Narrabri’s recorded history, with the Bureau of Meteorology declaring the maximum temperature at 47.8 degrees and issuing Narrabri’s first ever catastrophic fire danger rating at about 1pm.
The Culgoora Forest blaze consumed 421 hectares and Berrygil Creek 649, but neither destroyed any homes. The causes are being investigated.
Culgoora Road was closed throughout Friday night.
The Rural Fire Service (RFS) managed the incidents and drew manpower from Fire and Rescue NSW, the Forestry Corporation, National Parks and Wildlife Service and Narrabri Shire Council.
RFS Inspector Brett Loughlin said the forest fire was believed to have started on private property at the edge of the scrub.
It spread easterly into timbered country, influenced by conditions “as bad as you can get”.
Eight-metre flames reached the tree tops and made it a fast-moving, volatile fire.
“Firefighters observed the fire spotting up to three kilometres ahead of itself, which meant that it was very dangerous for them to be anywhere near the front of the fire,” Inspector Loughlin said.
“They had to be very careful how they approached the fire to make sure they didn’t get overrun themselves.”
Crews fell back to open areas surrounding the timbered country and fought the blaze as it moved into the open.
“They were still faced with significant fire activity in grassland and woodland areas and at times, firefighters were faced with three-metre flames roaring through grass and stubble paddocks,” Inspector Loughlin said.
Twelve fixed-wing aircraft were used on both fires, but thick smoke limited the pilots’ visibility and strong wind hampered their efforts.
“The skillful work done by the pilots was invaluable in helping our ground crews achieve the fantastic results they did,” Inspector Loughlin said.
They operated from airstrips at the Narrabri Airport and Spray Tech Aviation for the Culgoora Forest fire.
About 30 firefighters worked on the Culgoora fire from 12 trucks, with most on the fireground from 3pm on Friday until Saturday morning.
Their fight eased only slightly as the night went on.
“Typically, conditions ease once nightfall comes in and we start to see relative humidity increase and temperatures decrease, and it allows our firefighters to get the upper hand,” Inspector Loughlin said.
“Unfortunately, that didn’t occur and temperatures remained in the low 40s and high 30s for most of the night before conditions finally eased around 4am.”
A gusty south-westerly wind change that came through at midnight and threatened to change the fire’s direction had little impact on the blaze, as crews had expected and prepared for it.
“By about 11.30pm, crews had made substantial progress around the fire,” Inspector Loughlin said.
“They had contained two flanks and work was rapidly under way to secure the remaining two flanks. “For fire crews to be able to achieve results like that given the extreme weather conditions they were faced with is just a phenomenal effort.”
Reconnaissance flights over Culgoora Forest on Saturday showed minimal fire activity, but extensive mopping up and blacking out was required.
The Berrygil Creek blaze started at about 2pm on Friday.
Firefighters struggled to keep up with the fast-moving flames and wildlife was unable to outrun the front.
“Knowing that they couldn’t fight the head of the fire themselves, firefighters steered the fire towards a fuel-reduced area, in this case a ploughed-up paddock, where the fire had nothing to burn,” Inspector Loughlin said.
“Our guys were able to pull it up there.”
The landholder, Wade Johnston, had just ploughed the paddock that morning, not knowing that it would halt a fire later that day.
Nearby properties were were not directly threatened.
Aircraft, RFS crews from Berrygil Creek, Bellata, Gurley, Grattai, Terry Hie Hie and Narrabri, and local landholders worked together to contain the blaze by 6pm.
They then began the long tasks of blacking out and mopping up.
“That was another phenomenal effort and another example of the superhero work done by our firefighters in difficult conditions,” Inspector Loughlin said.
The RFS fielded several calls on Friday from Narrabri residents who were concerned that the town was at risk, but Inspector Loughlin said the Culgoora Forest blaze did not threaten the town.
RFS firefighters were called to duty again on Sunday when a fire broke out in Baan Baa.
It burned several hectares of predominantly grassland before crews brought it under control. A grader was used to create a break around the fire.
Gwabegar Rural Fire Brigade was also called into service on Friday night when a small grassfire erupted next to silos on the edge of town.
It quickly burned a couple of hectares as it moved towards homes, but the crew acted quickly to extinguish it.
Inspector Loughlin said Friday’s conditions were a clear example of why people needed to have a bushfire survival plan.
Plans can be obtained from the RFS website, the Narrabri Fire Control Centre or smartphone app stores.
Landholders wishing to do controlled burns are also urged to wait until the weather is less volatile.
