How it felt as NSW bushfire raged towards homes

The Murrah resident, her husband Steve Mazabow and their two dogs were in the path the raging Coolagolite Road fire, and it was hurtling towards their health retreat south of Bermagui on NSW's Far South Coast.

They watched as it got closer and closer, taking five hours to reach their property.

"We've never been in a fire before ... we didn't know what to do, but eventually it became clear so we packed our valuables and pets and went to the pub," Ms Forbes said.

As they sped down their driveway towards Bermagui, flames were nearby and thick smoke clogged the roads. That's when they received an emergency alert from the RFS telling them to leave now.

They were safe but a day after they fled, on Wednesday morning, spot fires were still raining down around their 30-acre property.

"As we speak they're dropping water bombs near our house," she said.

"If it wasn't for them [the firefighters] our property would be burning right now."

Others near the raging fire haven't been so lucky, with the RFS confirming properties have been lost to the inferno in Cuttagee, Murrah and Barragga Bay.

"We don't have many more details than that until our building impact assessment teams can get on the high ground and assess exactly what's been lost," the spokesperson said.

Bega Valley Shire Council mayor Russell Fitzpatrick stepped straight off an emergency planning meeting to tell ACM's Illawarra Mercury conditions were "horrendous" as the fire raged.

"There's a couple of different fire fronts," he said.

"There's spot fires in Murrah and firefighters are there now to try and stop them before they join up with the main fire front."

A drop in temperature early on Wednesday and patchy rain forecast means helicopters may be able to return to the blaze to drop fire retardant to help stop the flames from advancing.

Cr Fitzpatrick fears the fire may be a trigger for residents across the whole South Coast following the Black Summer fires, and pleaded with the community to support each other.

In Cobargo, which was badly burnt in 2019, power went out around midday on Tuesday, and not long after Corbago Hotel owner David Allen saw thick plumes of smoke 10 kilometres away.

"By 2pm or 3pm it [the fire] was well and truly going," he said.

"It's fairly dry out there and we haven't had any decent rain since May."

He said the fire was burning through large tracts of land that weren't burnt during Black Summer.

At 1pm on Wednesday, the Coolagolite Road fire was downgraded to Advice after it had burnt through 5268 hectares of bush.

It was still out-of-control.

As the flames continued to rage, Ms Forbes and her husband remained in Bermagui watching the unfolding emergency on their retreat's CCTV cameras.

"One of our neighbours is in the RFS and she's been checking on our property. We can see them on our CCTV," she said.

"I'm a bit anxious actually."

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