IN the early hours of Friday 3 February the Bulahdelah Rural Fire Service (RFS) Brigade was called to a structural fire on Bulahdelah Way.

On arrival the old convent next to the Catholic Church was well alight, threatening buildings on the St Joseph’s school grounds.

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The crew quickly got to work protecting the exposed structures before commencing a defensive attack on the structure involved.

After several hours the fire was brought under control.

Students from the adjoining school were excluded for two school days due to the strong residual smell of smoke and air quality issues.

The former convent has been closed off due to concerns of asbestos within the building.

Another incident occurred a few days later.

In the early hours of Wednesday 8 February the Brigade was initially called to a pile fire which was soon upgraded to a structure fire at the Plough Inn car park on Stroud Street, Bulahdelah.

On arrival the crew found two portable buildings and a trailer alight, threatening further nearby structures.

The crew quickly got to work protecting the threatened exposures before extinguishing the fire.

They were required to re-attend after the initial investigations as the area was still smouldering.

Both fires are currently under investigation to determine the cause.

In both instances there was only structural damage with no casualties as both structures were unoccupied at the time.

Bulahdelah RFS captain Rod Paar told Myall Coast NOTA that ”these types of fires can happen to anyone”.

“Make sure your smoke alarms are up to date and in the case of an emergency ring 000,” said Mr Paar.

A special thanks is extended to FRNSW Tea Gardens, Pacific Palms RFB, North Arm Cove RFB, Medowie RFB, Wootton RFB, NSW Police and NSWA for their valued assistance in containing these fires.

By John SAHYOUN