'Stay alive, get out': Popular fruit-picking orchards devastated by 'horrific' blaze
The owners of the popular Bilpin Fruit Bowl in the Blue Mountains say the terrifying fires that tore through their orchards and home yesterday are like nothing they've ever seen.
Simon and Margaret Tadrosse have operated the beloved fruit store at Bilpin for more than three decades.
"Been here 35 years, seen four or five fires - never seen anything like this," Mr Tadrosse told 9News.
Margaret and Simon Tadrosse have vowed to rebuild after the Blue Mountains bushfires swept through their orchards. A Current Affair
"It was horrific. You couldn't put it into words, to describe what we saw yesterday."
The fires ravaged the property yesterday evening, with Mr Tadrosse and his son staying to fight.
"Even the firies were scared, that's how furious it was," he said.
Several hundred thousand dollars worth of fruit was destroyed. A Current Affair
He said at the time, all he was thinking of was getting out alive.
"Nothing seemed important anymore," he said.
"Just, 'stay alive, get out'."
Mrs Tadrosse said hundreds of their trees would not recover from the blaze, with several hundred thousand dollars' worth of fruit destroyed.
The Bilpin Fruit Bowl is a popular destination for families. A Current Affair
It costs too much to insure the fruit trees, and Mrs Tadrosse said they were more used to dealing with hailstorms than firestorms.
Newly-planted replacement trees would take three years to grow to a point where they would start making money.
But the couple vowed to rebuild, and said Bilpin would come back "bigger and stronger" from the disaster.
"I wouldn't want anyone to go through it. It's hard, looking at it now," Mr Tadrosse said.
"Words cannot describe what we went through yesterday."
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