At least one outbuilding was lost at a 10-hectare property just off the highway at Twelve Mile Creek but owner Owen Davis said a fire break behind his house held firm as the flames came “within metres” when the wind changed suddenly on Sunday afternoon.

A few hundred metres towards Karuah, silver perch and yabbie farmer Glenn Jones was also having anxious moments as a contingent of more than two dozen Rural Fire Service volunteers from Rouse Hill, Round Corner, North Rocks, Wisemans Ferry and Glenhaven worked on spot fires erupting in various parts of his 40 hectare property. Firefighters thanked him for having cleared as much of his property as possible.

Having owned the property for 18 years, Mr Jones said this was the fourth bushfire to go through the area.

He said 2001 was “the big one, with flames exploding 100 foot above the tree tops”.

Sunday’s fire was not as intense, but the shifting winds during the afternoon meant the fire came at his property from different directions.

Earlier in the afternoon on Old Swan Bay Road – a dirt road off Medowie Road near Nine Mile Creek – National Parks and Wildlife crews worked to protect a house there after the fire had crossed to the coastal side of the Pacific Highway. 

Water-bombing helicopters and a large plane bringing a red jelly fire retardant from Richmond RAAF base were doing regular runs over the area.

At nearby Nine Mile Creek, volunteer fire crews from Vacy were working to keep the flames away from a row of houses on low-lying land just off the highway.

A fire control centre at the Twelve Mile Hill rest station was a hive of activity as fire crews moved in and out to fight various parts of the fire, which was downgraded from “emergency” at 6.30pm.