A bushfire that took hold in the Eurobodalla Shire in 1994 would threaten a lot more houses if it came through today - and history has a habit of repeating itself, RFS says.
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Batemans Bay's RFS captain Ian Aitken showed the Bay Post/Moruya Examiner a current map of the area overlaid with a map of historical fires.
The 1994 fire swept through Mogo, Catalina Heights, Surf Beach, Lilli Pilli and right up to George Bass Drive near Batehaven and Denhams Beach.
The blaze covered the Princes Highway, Deep Creek Dam, Vista Avenue in Batemans Bay and Heron Road, Catalina.
He said a lot of the area was still dense bushland belonging to Forestry, private owners or National Parks, that could easily light up. The issue now was the number of houses scattered within the original fire path.
Mr Aitken said many residents probably weren't around during the 1994 fire and might not know they were in a historical fire path.
"I'm not saying it will go in the same place but history has a habit of repeating itself." he said.
He said many new houses at Lilli Pilli, Surf Beach and Denhams Beach were in the path.
"There was nothing there," he said. "This has all been developed since then."
Moruya RFS group officer Bruce Smith has fought fires for 58 years and remembers the 1994 fire well.
Fire swept the coast from Queensland to Batemans Bay and his strike team was preparing to go to Sydney.
He was at the showground putting up a new office for the show society - but it was too windy and dangerous to even do that.
"I saw a column of smoke up Runnyford way. That was it. That was the start of the 1994 fires," he said.
Another fire started at Jeremadra. "Most of us came back to protect Broulee and Mossy Point," he said. "We got home at about 3am. It was a long day."
He said a building was lost where the Botanic Garden stands now, and a shed was lost at Broulee with a car inside: "That kept us going for a week or more. We didn't go to Sydney."
He recalled fires in about 1987/88 at south Broulee, in 2002/03 at Runnyford and "the whole coast alight" near Narooma in 1952/53.
Mr Smith said there were three farms on Dunns Creek Road: "The rest was bushland. It's all been opened up now." Houses came "up like mushrooms". "We've been very lucky. If we get another fire, something similar to what's happening on the North Coast, we could lose quite a few (houses)," he said.
Take home a bush fire survival plan from a brigade nearby, the Bay Post/Moruya Examiner office or download from rfs.nsw.gov.au/plan-and-prepare.
Eurobodalla Shire RFS brigades are always looking for volunteers.
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