NSW bushfires: RFS firefighters abandon trucks as emergency blaze winds turn day into night
Volunteer firefighters have been forced to abandon their trucks while battling a major bushfire emergency on the NSW South Coast as a wave of embers turned daylight into darkness.
The current Clyde Mountain emergency zone burning near Batemans Bay consists of multiple fires and spot blazes that have tested firefighters all day and seen tourists and locals flee towards beaches.
The bulk of the rapidly-moving fire is burning on the southern side of the Kings Highway and has forced the closure of major in-roads to the area, leaving residents who have not yet evacuated stranded behind to try and protect their own properties.
Some NSW RFS firefighters have been forced to abandon their trucks to the mercy of the South Coast bushfire emergency. Nine
On the fire front however, it was a wind change late in the afternoon that pushed the blaze toward the north and forced volunteers to quickly retreat away from the growing danger.
In the middle of the afternoon, huge wind gusts saw the sky turn from blue to a deep red, dotted with waves of fiery embers through the air.
After the region was plunged into darkness, some firefighters even abandoned their trucks in the middle of the fires to escape – leaving the vehicles to be destroyed in the mercy of the blaze.
Entire towns on the NSW South Coast were washed in red as waves of embers and fast-moving wind gusts turned day into night. Nine
A resident of Cobargo surveys the rubble of his burnt-out home. 9News
The intense conditions seen today come just a day after another volunteer firefighters, 28-year-old Sam McPaul, died after his 10-tonne truck was flipped by ferocious winds in an emergency zone on the Victorian-NSW border.
Two of McPaul's male colleagues, aged 39 and 52, also suffered burns in the incident near Jingellic, east of Albury.
RFS Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons described the accident scene where McPaul was killed as "truly horrific".
Currarong turns to night as the Currowan fire northern flank moves east at Nowra. Nick Moir
He said a "fire tornado" hit McPaul's truck.
"That resulted in cyclonic winds that moved across the fire ground and lifted up a 10-12 tonne fire truck and flipped it on the roof, trapping the people inside and tragically killing Sam in the process."
Share a tip-off, video or photo with us
