Three mates save countless homes as fires ravage NSW
Three mates have spoken about how they managed to save countless homes from the NSW fires in what was a "hell of a night".
Residents of Tathra who fled their homes are on Monday night still waiting in evacuation centres, with no idea if their properties are still standing.
Shannon Williams said one of his friends was hosing him down as he ran into a neighbour's house to protect it from the flames.
"Frightening," Terry Dixon said. "You just didn't know what was going to happen."
Mr Williams used a garden hose to spray the valley and lopped down tress with a chainsaw to protect the homes.
"The worst thing is knowing people who've lost their homes," Matt Sherlock said.
The streets of the coastal retreat are now scenes of devastation.
Resident Juvette Jory was allowed to return home on Monday afternoon - except her home is no longer there.
"I thought there would be a bit more actually," she said. "I was hoping to get a couple of things, but it's pretty much gone."
There was no time and no warning - bad reception in the area meant that most people failed to get the text message alert as the fire approached.
"The police came and knocked on the door and said we want you to leave now. That was it," one resident said.
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The blaze was so fierce that there is barely a trace of what makes a house a home - no furniture remnants or personal belongings, just bricks, metal and ash.
"So many houses in our street that have gone. It's just heartbreaking," Bronwyn Morris said. She was one of the lucky ones - her house is still standing.
Many locals were forced to spend the night in a makeshift evacuation shelter in Bega.
"We've got a home to go to so we're alright but it's the people here that I see with little children that have lost everything, it's very sad," Freya Cole said.
For the NSW Transport Minister, this fire is personal - he is also the area's local MP.
"It's pretty heartbreaking," Andrew Constance said.
"We've got people here in town with us not knowing what the state of play is with their home, with their livelihood."
They may not know for some time, because the emergency isn't over.
It could be another 24 hours before residents are allowed to go back to the area to survey the damage, with authorities concerned about asbestos, sewage and fallen power lines.
"There's still a fair bit of work to do to bring this fire under control and call it contained," the Rural Fire Service's Shane Fitzsimmons said.
