I knew it was a bad sign on Thursday when I went to the Rural Fire Brigade shed in the village & there were five NSW Fire Brigade trucks & their crews just hanging around waiting.
And by Thursday night the fire from the south turned north east & surrounded the village to the south, it went behind houses in the main street, across behind the railway station & cutting across the Pacific Hwy & F3 towards Brooklyn.
This cut off road access for us from the South. Then the fire from the west was heading east towards us on Friday, but the winds changed to southerlies & blew it north of the village at the bottom of the gully to our west along the ridge. The wind then changed to a south easterly & it then went across the gully behind the football field near our house, this also cut the roads to our north completely.
If the winds had not remained SE we would have been in serious trouble. As it was we were very lucky, the fire came up to the back doors of some houses nearby. We were without power for a few days also.
It was amazing how the community pulled together, and the Fire Services were great. I don’t think anyone in town has had a proper sleep for a few days, the smoke hurts your lungs & sinuses quite a bit. Next time I think I will get goggles & breathing mask.
Anyway we have power now & the fires have largely moved north to Brooklyn. Although the Berowra fires are still a concern if they head north to us, they would come across an area already burnt. Although, the Firies say that because everything is so dry they are finding that burnt areas are burning again.
Basically the fires came at us from the south & west, then wrapped around the village on all sides. Luckily for us the winds were very favourable. Not sure how things will go over the next 48 hours – if the weather remains benign we should be OK. But if the weather deteriorates it is in the hands of God.