Firies, community still coming to terms with gravity of Upper Murray fires

Some personnel have enjoyed time off over Christmas, and rain is forecast over coming days.

For Superintendent Patrick Westwood, it couldn't look or feel more different to this day, 12 months ago.

"This office was full to the brim; we had Canadians, Americans and a lot of people from around the country in here," he said.

"To say we were expecting fires in the landscape would be an understatement.

"Last year's story for Black Summer was about the fuel moisture content being so low ... after years of drought.

"There was no moisture coming back into the fuel [overnight], so we saw fire behaviour at three o'clock in the morning like it was three o'clock in the afternoon.

"We'd been going for six months prior to having the fire start in the Green Valley."

After multiple deployments to major fires intestate, Southern NSW and North East brigades were facing their worst fire conditions yet locally around New Year's Eve.

Reports of a lightning strike in the afternoon of December 29 at Talmalmo were "deeply concerning" given the forecast of extreme fire weather the next day.

Those catastrophic conditions did eventuate on December 30, as crews attempted to control the blaze.

"The initial column that appeared northwest of Jingellic was about 8000 metres in height and started to spiral like a tornado because it had so much energy in it," Mr Westwood said.

"We were trying twice as hard and getting half the result.

"Later on in that afternoon, it broke all of the containment and took off.

"We managed to exercise a bit of a fall back plan that was executed really well on the 30^th and it did save a hell of a lot of firefighters that day.

"It was very unfortunate what happened with the Culcairn north-west truck; they were in what they thought was clear ground and it was extreme behaviour from that fire that caught everybody unawares."

The truck was flipped in "cyclonic-type winds" on River Road, killing firefighter Samuel McPaul and injuring two others.

As the fire burned out of control at Jingellic, emergency warnings were extended to Burrowye, Cudgewa, Mount Alfred and surrounding areas across the border.

By 6.45pm, the fire had grown to 4500 hectares.

It crossed the Murray River in the late hours of the 30^th, propelled by winds of 40 to 50 km/h.

An aerial line scan of the fire taken by Victorian fire authorities at 1.21am on New Year's Eve showed fire on the outskirts of Cudgewa.

Nearby at the Nariel Creek Recreation Reserve, camping gear had been abandoned at the folk festival.

Festival regular Mark Brooks said it was like a scene from Armageddon.

"You could see people were cooking chops and they'd just left them in the pan and taken off," he said.

"The smoke just got that thick, my brother Greg couldn't breathe - he has emphysema.

"I said to my oldest brother, 'We're going to have to run the gauntlet and get him out, or else he's going to die.

"We ended up driving through the flames and eventually we caught up with a fire truck and followed them through."

After getting his brother to nurses in Corryong, Mr Brooks found his daughter Kylee.

Everyone in the family was OK, though that was difficult to ascertain because telecommunications and power were gone.

Mr Brooks found out what happened to his property in Thowgla Valley from his family.

"My brother came and told me, he broke down," he said.

"I had one [house] up the hill and a two-storey log cabin down the bottom [that was destroyed].

"I was just expecting it.

"I didn't have enough infrastructure and water to fight it. The fire was so severe, I wouldn't have been able to do anything anyway.

"The next time there will be sprinklers, water tanks.

"There was one guy up the valley who had 47 sprinklers, he was in a mist. A few people stayed and defended their places."

Mr Brooks' home was among 19 principal residences destroyed along with 140 sheds, on the Victorian side alone.

Ten per cent of the 308,242 hectares burnt was pasture and 3800 stock were killed.

All Mr Brooks had left was a pump-up mattress, a guitar, and the few clothes he'd taken to the festival that he'd attended since he was 14.

The 61-year-old received a heartwarming gesture after a conversation with Corryong resident Jason Klippel in the days following the fire.

"He said, 'Is there anything you need Brooksy?' and I said, 'I need an esky, and if you know someone that's got an old caravan and wants to lend it for a bit, let me know'," Mr Brooks said.

"Three days later, there were two 26-foot caravans at my place."

The Corryong Health maintenance worker created a "horseshoe" out of caravans at the property his great-grandparents bought in 1894.

Many volunteers have been on his property helping to rebuild, and through the Corryong recovery hub, Mr Brooks was put in contact with Bushfire Recovery Victoria.

"We got $1000 at the start, and that was a really good help," he said.

"Hopefully we're getting some shipping containers in early January.

"You've just got to be patient and respectful, because no one can go, 'Here's a house mate'.

"You just got to stay positive and do it better than before. A bloke that stuck with me when he found out I lost everything, he said 'All there's left to do is live mate'.

"And that's a positive thing, you need that."

Mr Brooks has spent 2020 in his makeshift home and is looking forward to receiving modular housing next year.

The pandemic has added further complications to recovery for everyone and Mr Brooks said he "hit a wall" after the fires, prompting him to seek help with his mental state.

"Everybody is really stunned - all the Corryong people have been," he said.

"It's like when you smoke out a beehive ... they walk around and don't know what they're doing.

"But they're getting somewhere."

In recognition of the ongoing trauma many are experiencing from the Green Valley/Upper Murray fires, the NSW RFS made a decision not to mark the first anniversary with an event.

Mr Westwood said brigades would be invited to the planting of an avenue of honour on River Road in Autumn.

A minute's silence will be observed this afternoon to mark the passing of Mr McPaul.

"I think for our RFS family, it affected us very deeply because we lost one of our own, but there were also five other serious injuries that day," Mr Westwood said.

"What we saw with the truck being flipped is something no one's really been able to comprehend.

"It's hard to get closure when you can't explain something.

"Some of our members will be getting together, just to spend time with each other and to recognise the gravity of the event."

Mr Westwood said his reflections on the event included what was saved.

"We lost 10 houses and saved 73; we lost 47 out-buildings or sheds in that Green Valley fire in the NSW sector alone, but saved more than 117," he said.

"Our volunteers worked day and night.

"The communication between the agencies was quite good; I know that's subject to some discussion by some people, but in reality, the first few phone calls were between agencies.

"There's been some lessons learnt."

IN OTHER NEWS:

The 2020-2021 fire season is far from over and Mr Westwood urged the community to heed official advice and to look out for each other.

"I think there is no one in the community or the fire services, from top to bottom, and even some of our politicians as well, that were not deeply affected by the events of last year," he said.

"If there's any solace in knowing everybody's in the same boat to a degree, I think that's somewhat comforting."