LIKE some super villian in a movie, the Martinsville fires just wouldn't die.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Since they flared in the foothills of the Watagan Mountains on October 26, the blazes near the south-west Lake Macquarie village reignited time and again.
Martinsville Rural Fire Brigade had to return to the same grounds off Watagan and Pringles roads eight times, as the flames sprang back to life.
"You just don't know when it's going to pop its head up," said brigade captain Luke Masters.
"Yes, it revives its ugly head," said volunteer firefighter Karon Coombe.
What kept feeding the beast were the unrelenting dry conditions. The ground remained heated and leaf litter sprinkling from the trees could quickly turn into fuel for another fire.
"The wind comes in, it uncovers a hot spot, sparks come up then, boom, it's off again," said Jim Sharples, a NSW Rural Fire Service volunteer in the Martinsville brigade for 15 years.
Visiting the area where the blazes began in October, when a powerline fell onto trees, Luke Masters pointed out the blackened trunk of a once-tall gum tree.
The hollowed trunk had continued to smoulder internally and every now and then, a part of it would break off, crashing into the leaf litter and reigniting the blaze. The flames would creep up and down the steep slopes, creating a new challenge for the brigade.
"It's frustrating, because you think you're done and dusted," said Mr Masters. "And you'd put your word on it that it's out, and then something like this hits.
"We put 12,000 litres of water on that [tree], and it still poked its head out a week later."
With the brigade's thermal imaging camera, the firefighters were picking up readings of about 400 degrees on the fireground. Luke Masters believed this area off Watagan Road was no longer holding heat, and therefore not holding a threat.
"Famous last words," he added. I've said that eight times before."
Luke Masters has been a volunteer in the Martinsville brigade for 23 years, since he was just 16. He had followed his father into the service. He has seen a lot in those years, but nothing quite like this.
"In the 20-odd years I've been here, it's never reignited and taken a run inside the same fire that's already burnt," Mr Masters said.
"It's mind boggling really. It just spins you out."
The fires are taking a toll on not just the landscape but also on the energy of the brigade's 30 members. They are volunteers and have jobs and families.
Joerg Hofmann is an international airline pilot who has recently been on holidays at home. But his vacation was largely spent fighting fires.
"I've probably done more [firefighting jobs] in November than I've done in the past two years," he said.
So far this year, the Martinsville brigade alone has clocked up 1742 "incident hours".
"Since January, we've done more than the past three years put together in incident hours," Luke Masters said.
Brigade member Craig Browne remained in a constant state of preparation as he worked at home.
"I was sitting in my uniform for a few days," he said.
Luke Masters estimated he had done about 110 incident hours' work with the brigade in recent weeks, while the married father of two also held down his paid job. But a few weeks ago, it all caught up with him.
"It just - BANG - hit me," Mr Masters said, explaining he took a week off.
With a statewide total fire ban in effect and heatwave conditions forecast for Thursday and Saturday, the brigade members are preparing for a busy time.
"You get the feeling it's going to big, extended," said Karon Coombe of the fire season. "It will be March and April that we could still be out. If we don't get rain, these conditions aren't going to alter, they'll only get worse."
Even with what they have been dealing with in their own backyard, Martinsville brigade members have also been fighting fires further afield. The station's light tanker and two volunteers had been helping battle a large blaze near Saint Albans in the Hawkesbury area earlier in the week.
"We're all busy," Mr Masters said. "Resources are stretched from [fighting fires] over nearly 400,000 hectares ... to the west alone, let alone what's happened up north recently. So given the current conditions, we're doing what we can."
All Luke Masters wants for Christmas is a fire-free day. Yet he accepts that may not be delivered.
"I'll be local," he said. "And if we're needed, we're needed. We all know that.".
While you're with us, did you know the Newcastle Herald offers breaking news alerts, daily email newsletters and more? Keep up to date with all the local news - sign up here