Wildfires kill firefighter and destroy 40 homes in widespread blaze
By AP, December 8, 2025A firefighter has died battling blazes that have destroyed around 40 homes in two Australian states, officials said.
The 59-year-old man was struck by a falling tree Sunday night while fighting a wildfire near the New South Wales town of Bulahdelah that had razed 3,500 hectares (8,650 acres) of woodlands and destroyed four homes over the weekend, Rural Fire Service Commissioner Trent Curtin said.
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The man could not be resuscitated. Firefighters expected to be battling that blaze for days, Curtin said.
52 wildfires were burning across New South Wales on Monday, December 8, 2025, and nine remained out of control. A total of 20 homes were destroyed over the weekend in that state, Curtin said.
In the island state of Tasmania, 19 homes had been destroyed by a weekend wildfire in the coastal community of Dolphin Sands, local government official Dick Shaw told Australian Broadcasting Corp.
The fire had been contained by Monday, but the road to the community remained closed, and it was not yet safe for residents to return to their homes, Shaw said.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the “terrible news is a sombre reminder” of the dangers faced by emergency services personnel as they work to protect homes and families.
“We honour that bravery, every day,” Albanese said in a statement.
A fast-moving fire over the weekend destroyed 16 homes in New South Wales state’s Central Coast region, home to about 350,000 people and a commuter region just north of Sydney.
Resident Rouchelle Doust, from the hard-hit town of Koolewong, said she and her husband tried to save their home as flames advanced.
“He’s up there in his bare feet trying to put it out, and he’s trying and trying, and I’m screaming at him to come down,” Doust told the Australian Broadcasting Corp.
“Everything’s in it: his grandmother’s stuff, his mother’s stuff, all my stuff, everything, it’s all gone, the whole lot.”
Conditions eased overnight, allowing officials to downgrade fire danger alerts, though the weather bureau warned some inland towns in the state could hit more than 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit), raising fire dangers.
On the island state of Tasmania, a 700-hectare blaze at Dolphin Sands, about 150km northeast of the state capital of Hobart, destroyed 19 homes and damaged 40. The fire has been contained, but residents have been warned not to return as conditions remain dangerous, officials said.
Authorities have warned of a high-risk bushfire season during Australia’s summer months from December to February, with increased chances of extreme heat across large parts of the country following several relatively quiet years.