“I’m bewildered,” he said.

As the general manager of Graham Barclays Oysters, one of the biggest producers of Sydney Rock Oysters in the country, Mr Ellery had been roused from sleep at around 1130pm last night to arrive at a scene where flames were 100 feet high in the air. 

“I was pretty worried as I drove down Macintosh Street and could see the glow. But when I got here I could see the firies had it contained and it was under control,” he said, with a nod of relief towards the tarring shed which remained untouched.

“If it had got over there things might have been different.”

Fire and Rescue NSW’s Forster captain Paul Langley said that the first call came in around 11pm for what was thought to have been an apartment on fire. 

“Then it was a grass fire, then it turned out to be the oyster lot at Barclays.”

Capt Langley estimated the fire had been going for some time by the time they arrived on the scene. 

“Thankfully there was no wind so we had it under control in reasonable time. But the whole block – around 50 metres by 40 metres – was very solidly stacked with oysters trays up to 10 feet high. It also infringed on bush which encroaches on small residential areas.”

Capt Langley had expected to have to evacuate some residents but crews from Forster, Taree and Wingham along with two extra Rural Fire Service trucks were able to “knock bush out which was beginning to catch on fire.”

“We were able to keep it contained to the area, then completely deluged it.”

Drawing water from Breckenridge Channel, he said the job to put out the fire was made more difficult by the tar coating the timber trays, as tar ‘likes’ fire. Further compounding the problem was the plastic and galvanised steel in the mix adding to the toxic fumes. 

“The smoke was quite acrid, but because there was no wind the smoke went straight up in the air,” he said, adding the 30 odd personnel had to fight the fire from 20 to 30 metres away.

Manning Great Lakes Command Inspector Tony Powers said police are treating the fire which took place on publicly accessible land as suspicious.

“There doesn’t appear to be an external thing that could have ignited it. The forensic group has been, detectives are following up, if anyone knows anything please come forward,” Inspector Powers urged.

Mr Ellery said that the company had faced worst challenges, such as the hepatitis A contamination in the late 1990s, but termed last night’s fire as massive imposition.

“It’s certainly going to make things difficult. We’ll have to rearrange things, juggle things. It’s always a bit ‘see how you go’.”

He estimated the cost of replacing what was lost up to $200,000. Up to 1000 plastic floating purses which were made in the last six months have gone, along with countless sticks and approximately 6000 hand made tar coated hardwood timber trays.

“We also had about 800 trays of oysters drying nearby. We don’t know if they will survive the heat. We’ve put them back in the water. They looked OK but time will tell.”

The trays were sitting idle, waiting to be laid out and submerged in the forthcoming months with three year old oysters for their last six months or so in the water. 

Despite the ordeal, Mr Ellery attempted to be philosophical as he contemplated the effort of having to replace the old with the new – bought in plastic trays which he says in some ways aren’t ideal but are essential in moving forward into the future.

“Oyster farmers are resistant to change. Maybe we’re just being forced to embrace it,” he said.

It is the second oyster fire since April, when another oyster farm lost its shed to a fire.

“I can’t see that the two issues are related in that regard. There have also been a number of vandalism incidences,” Mr Ellery said.