Tributes flow for firefighter killed in bushfire
Killing victim: Cllr Paul McCaffrey (above)
Two of those he killed were among the first to arrive at the village after the blaze had been called in. A third had to be airlifted to a hospital for injuries.
The dead and injured are expected to survive on their own, and others are expected to be treated and released over the next few days, although their fate will not be known for a while.
The village, which has about 30 residents, is on the edge of the village of Kambawra, in the Katoomba National Park, which lies on the edge of the bushland between North Wagga Wagga and Kooroondi.
Witnesses said they heard about 3pm that the fire had broken out near the village, which has a population of about 30.
Lizzie Suggs, who came to watch the fire from a second-storey window, said she saw the «dark clouds of smoke above» and thought something had exploded.
«I tried to get as close as possible to see if anything had been hit,» she said.
She also described a scene of devastation.
«I saw everything that was going on around us. I’ve heard of people falling down and my neighbour had broken his ankle.»
Waldon, a 50-year-old father-of-four, and his partner Paul McCaffrey, who work in IT, died in the blaze after coming to help, but they were the first people to reach the scene.
Image copyright Pacemaker Image caption An emergency services team was seen arriving with fire trucks at the scene
Image caption The blaze started at around 3.30pm with a number of cars taking a short break around 7am. Mr McCaffrey was one of those taken to a local hospital
Image copyright Pacemaker Image caption People on both sides of the village shared pictures of people who had been injured
Another witness, John Parnell, said the town had fallen s홀덤ilent when he left the village early on Tuesday morning.
A few blocks away was a large bonfire of redwoods and red tulips, attracting people of all ages, he said. It came down just a few days ago and had been lit up several times before that.
The blaze was one of the worst he had seen in four decades of bush천안안마fire watch.
Parnell told the Com카지노urier