A rapidly spreading bushfire has caused devastation in the small Central Coast town of Koolewong, destroying multiple homes and forcing residents to flee as they watched their properties burn.
Fire Tears Through Waterfront Community
The blaze broke out on Saturday, moving with such speed that it jumped from home to home, leaving locals with little time to react. Residents could only look on in horror as the fire, driven by wind, tore through the waterfront area. By Sunday morning, a dozen residents returned to find their homes completely destroyed.
Footage from the scene showed the stark aftermath: cars burnt to shells and homes reduced to smouldering rubble. More than 250 firefighters were deployed at the peak of the emergency to combat the flames, according to NSW RFS Commissioner Trent Curtin.
Residents' Harrowing Ordeal
Local resident Mark Stringfellow recounted the terrifying experience to 7NEWS. He and his wife were alerted by friends living across the water. "I went outside and there was a stack of smoke," he said. While the wind direction initially spared his home, giving him time to rescue his 90-year-old neighbour, the situation turned deadly in an instant.
"I was calling Triple-000 but unfortunately no fire truck could get up the access road," Stringfellow explained. A sudden wind change surrounded his property with fire, placing him in immediate danger. "Once it spread below us I knew there was no stopping it, so that's when we left."
He joined neighbours at a nearby park, where they helplessly watched the inferno spread. "We assumed our place had burned for sure," he said, describing the tragedy of neighbours watching their houses burn down from the railway line. Miraculously, his home was one of four on his street that survived "basically untouched."
Fire Yet to Be Controlled
Despite the massive firefighting effort, the blaze is "yet to be controlled" after burning through more than 120 hectares of the Koolewong Reserve. Commissioner Curtin expressed concern for the town, with erratic southerly winds and high temperatures forecast for the day.
A Watch and Act order remains in place for residents near Woy Woy Bay Rd and Phegans Bay. The NSW RFS has advised people to stay alert and monitor their surroundings for spot fires and embers.
NSW Premier Chris Minns confirmed this is one of 76 fires burning across the state, with 20 still uncontained. More than 1500 emergency services personnel, including firefighters and police, worked through the night in an attempt to gain control.
