AUTHORITIES have revealed they are treating a bushfire that raged on multiple fronts at Abermain on Tuesday as suspicious, with arson shaping as the most likely cause of the blaze.
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The Rural Fire Service confirmed an investigation into the suspicious fire, which as of Tuesday night had already burnt through 120 hectares, would be carried out over coming days.
Abermain resident Graeme Glanville struggled to reason with news firefighters were treating the blaze as deliberately lit.
Mr Glanville had spent the day working shoulder-to-shoulder with emergency crews to protect his Charles Street home.
“From a human point of view, it's hard to get your head around the people who want to do this,” Mr Glanville told the Newcastle Herald.
“The amount of resources that are drawn into doing this ... I just don't know how to put it in words, really, it's heartbreaking.”
Mr Glanville praised firefighters for their heroic efforts.
“They are worth their weight in platinum – not gold – platinum,” he said.
Emergency crews were working into the night to contain the blaze, with three fire fronts breaking out during the day at Abermain and nearby Neath.
Firefighters had to race against erratically changing wind conditions to protect homes as the blaze came frighteningly close in the afternoon.
The fire raged up Cessnock Road, almost surrounding it and nearby Forbes Street, sending firefighters scrambling to save a property between the main road and bushland. In the scramble, one resident’s truck was engulfed by flames. As conditions deteriorated, the RFS sent an emergency text message warning at 3pm that urged people to find shelter as it was too late to leave.
The fire came within metres of Jackson Walsh’s Forbes Street home.
The Herald witnessed dozens of residents hosing their properties to protect against burning embers.
“I was inside when it started, I just heard someone coming down the street honking a horn,” Mr Walsh said. “I looked outside and just saw it burning, it was as high as the trees, that’s when we got out.”
Abermain’s Tania Gammage said she could “just see flames everywhere”, while Jordan Appleyard said it was the worst fire she had seen in the area. "I was inside and all of a sudden I saw a pile of smoke," Ms Appleyard said.
“I ran outside and started knocking on people’s doors and the fire was right here. Dead-set, just here.”
Anyone with information over how the fire started should contact police or Crime Stoppers.
