A former Mt Clear resident caught in the firestorm that has engulfed northern New South Wales has pleaded with Ballarat communities not to overlook fire planning despite Victoria currently seeming far from the high-fire risk.
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Andrea Walter, who has first hand experience of multiple catastrophic fires, now lives in Taree and has detailed the feeling in the town as fires continue to ravage the state.
With fires burning around them on several fronts, Ms Walter, her partner David and her two boys James and Nicholas have evacuated to their shop in the town several times.
Two people in her close circle of friends have lost their properties during the fires and as her home sits in a valley, her family's fire plan has been to leave early.
But for Ms Walter, one of the most heartbreaking warnings is for those where over-stretched fire resources have been unable to assist.
"I have listened to the scanner over the past two weeks and heard the agony in the firey's voices... pleading for resources and being told there aren't any available due to multiple incidents at the same time," she said.
"The sadness in the voices of the firey's reporting building and house loss one after the other and then being tasked to the next place under threat."
A Ballarat resident of 13 years, Ms Walter worked with Ambulance Victoria at Mt Helen until 2012 and then with the Macpherson Smith Rural Foundation before she and her children moved up north in 2015.
Though she believes she has been extra cautious in evacuating to sleep in her shop in the town for several nights during the past fortnight, she has done so due to her previous experience with bushfires.
She urged Ballarat residents to prepare their properties for the bushfire season and to ensure they have a comprehensive fire plan in place.
"Your fire plan has to include when you are getting out and what will trigger that to occur. We are hearing of too many leaving at the last minute, only being turned back because roads are closed," she said.
As a 10-year-old child living in Glenthompson on Ash Wednesday, she remembers travelling on the back of a ute with her father and brother trying to put out spot fires.
Then on Black Saturday she was at a wedding at Narmbool, with other guests running out of the reception throughout the day to join their CFA crews to assist with the firefighting effort.
As devastating fires burn around Taree, many residents from surrounding towns such as Bobin - which was burnt to the ground - evacuated to the town in recent weeks, though in a place usually hit by floods, evacuating due to severe bushfires has caused chaos.
With a smoky sky and the constant sound of aircraft flying overhead, there has been a widespread feeling of anxiety in Taree during the past two weeks, with fires around the state destroying more than 150 homes, injuring dozens of people and killing three.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison and NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian toured fire-affected towns around Taree on Sunday, ahead of a state of emergency being declared for the state on Monday.
Although Monday was relatively calm and many shops re-opened, the family once again evacuated from their home on Tuesday morning - packing their belongings and pets into their cars and travelling into town with bandanas on their faces due to the thick smoke.
Amid hot and smoky conditions during the afternoon, various fires were burning around Taree with several warnings in place from advice, to watch and act and emergency.
Ms Walter said people had been so distracted running around the town in the chaotic state that they were almost bumping into each other in the streets due to gazing at water bombers in the sky or checking emergency warnings on devices.
She is grateful for the relentless efforts of firefighters and has been dropping snacks to the airport to fuel them.
We're very lucky that we've got so many aircraft here that have saved many lives, buildings and houses so far. It's incredible.
- Andrea Walter
She is also extremely grateful that firefighters from Victoria, including from the Ballarat region, have travelled to NSW to assist.
The state's authorities urged residents to enact their fire plans and to leave early amid catastrophic conditions on Tuesday, as with so many fires burning across the state and resources stretched, emergency services would not be able to door knock to tell people to leave.
The chaos in the town has been exacerbated by road and freeway closures, with police again closing the freeways on Tuesday.
Schools have been intermittently closed while the fires have burned while a large service centre on the outskirts of the town was closed for several days as a fire burned around it.
While the pressure of the closures has meant many confused out of towners have been forced into Taree looking for directions, the intermittent access has also meant trucks have been unable to drive in fresh food supplies, with the local Hungry Jacks reportedly using sliced bread to make burgers instead of buns.
Petrol is also running low.
Phone signals and connection to the internet is dropping in and out, affecting communications, while another issue is the town water supply.
Due to the driest conditions the area has experienced in over 130 years and the lowest average river flows from 75 years of records, strict level 3 water restrictions were put in place on Monday, November 11.
Victoria has not seen such catastrophic conditions since Black Saturday.
More than 1000 firefighters and 400 vehicles are fighting the blazes. More than ten emergency warnings were issued for NSW fires on Tuesday, as more than 70 fires burned across the state.
Ms Walter has been keeping up-to-date with warnings and road closures via local media, social media, Live Traffic NSW and by listening to the Rural Fire Service scanner.
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