A house burnt down and emergency evacuations meant none of the defendants slated to front Tumbarumba Local Court were able to make an appearance on Thursday morning.
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The court had already been relocated to the Albury courthouse because of an evacuation imposed due to fires threatening the town.
Tumbarumba solicitor Rod Kennedy, a former senior Albury detective, told magistrate Richard Funston how a critical point in the fires' impact on the town was about to be reached.
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"There are a number of matters for hearing today. But of course they have now been cancelled," he said.
"The township at present is subject to a couple of fires descending on it today and tomorrow.
"We'll know more about it by Saturday. I've got family out there fighting fires."
Mr Funston told Mr Kennedy, on completing the Tumbarumba matters, that his thoughts were with him.
"It's very frightening."
Mr Funston said these "extraordinary circumstances" made clear that the court had to show flexibility on defendants not being able to front court.
One hearing slated to go ahead on Thursday involved two police pursuit charges being contested by Shane Johnson, who also had unrelated domestic violence-related assault matters listed for mention.
Johnson had been evacuated and was now staying with his mother near Gosford, so his bail reporting conditions were dropped.
His house was destroyed.
