This week marks the anniversary of the devastating fires which tore through Dondingalong, ravaging bushland, destroying properties and threatening the lives of residents.
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My RFS training saved my life
- Glendene Hall
The week beginning February 12, 2017 was a nightmare for firefighters who battled out of control blazes at Ballengara Road, Pipers Creek Road, Spring Hill Road and Rainbows End Road in Dondingalong. Two homes were destroyed along with seven outbuildings. The Dondingalong fires were few of many blazes that ravaged towns across NSW during the same week.
It's too late to leave
- Rural Fire Service
Dondingalong RFS volunteer Glendene Hall lost everything and narrowly escaped with her life when her home burnt down.
“The fire was erratic. It was the spotting embers that accelerated the blaze. With the catastrophic fire conditions and the tree plantation around the house, I didn't stand a chance of either escaping or saving the property.
“Hence I jumped into the dam to save my own life. My RFS training saved my life,” Glendene said in a post on the Dondingalong RFS Facebook page.
At 9.44pm on Sunday February 12, the fires had exacerbated and any residents who had not evacuated were trapped.
“It is too late to leave. Residents in the vicinity of Ballengara Road and Pipers Creek Road should act immediately and seek shelter as the fire arrives. Fires are erratic, uncontrollable and fast-moving. People in the area need to seek shelter as the fire front arrives. It is too late to leave,” a notice from the RFS warned the time.
After Ms Hall lost everything, the Macleay community banded together to show their support. Local RFS volunteers in partnership with Kempsey Bunnings held a sausage sizzle to raise funds for their fellow firefighter.
Another victim of the fires was local beekeeper Mat Huxley who lost thousands of dollars worth of equipment and a chunk of his income stream.
Mr Huxley lost $12,000 worth of hives and equipment in the blaze after his bee farm at Rainbow End Road was destroyed.
“Our main source of income is our bees and with no insurance or anything like that we lost at least $12,000 in that fire as well as a site to host another 10 hives of bees," he told the Argus.
“We’ve built it back up now but I’m a third generation beekeeper and no one in my family has had something like that happen..”
Mr Huxley said the site still has not regenerated enough for it to be used again.
Pipers Creek Road residents Richard and Elizabeth Bibby also had a close call and were given two minutes to evacuate their Dondingalong home when the fire came at them.
“When the wind changed to a southerly we saw smoke and ash coming towards us and knew it was getting bad,” Mr Bibby said.
“At that point we felt quite unsafe due to the density of smoke. We looked at the temperature outside our home and it was 49.9 degrees.”
“We knew there was no way we could stay so we hooked everything up and got ready to leave. Then the police came and told us to be out in two minutes.” NSW Rural Fire Service (RFS) Lower North Coast
Superintendent Lachlann Ison said the weather conditions could not have been worse.
“We knew that fire conditions would be severe because of the drought, the wind and the lack of humidity,” he said.
“All these elements aligned to produce extreme fire behaviour.” Mr Ison alleged that the cause of the fire may have been a faulty device in a shed.
This fire season has seen the break out of two major blazes in the Kempsey Shire.
The Big Hill fire between Crescent Head and Port Macquarie reached more than 10,000 hectares while the Clybucca fire burned through 1346 hectares of bushland.
