{"source_url": "https://www.smh.com.au", "url": "https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/like-armageddon-south-coast-residents-return-to-find-homes-ruined-or-saved-20200101-p53o62.html?ref=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_source=rss_feed", "title": "'Like Armageddon': Residents thankful more lives were not lost", "top_image": "https://static.ffx.io/images/$zoom_0.5295%2C$multiply_0.7554%2C$ratio_1.776846%2C$width_1059%2C$x_0%2C$y_109/t_crop_custom/q_86%2Cf_auto/7add2e7d0d12a5059ab18bd0c3318a933086fc91", "meta_img": "https://static.ffx.io/images/$zoom_0.5295%2C$multiply_0.7554%2C$ratio_1.776846%2C$width_1059%2C$x_0%2C$y_109/t_crop_custom/q_86%2Cf_auto/7add2e7d0d12a5059ab18bd0c3318a933086fc91", "images": ["https://static.ffx.io/images/$zoom_0.378%2C$multiply_0.4431%2C$ratio_1.5%2C$width_756%2C$x_0%2C$y_0/t_crop_custom/q_86%2Cf_auto/7add2e7d0d12a5059ab18bd0c3318a933086fc91", "https://static.ffx.io/images/$zoom_0.557%2C$multiply_0.3541%2C$ratio_1.776846%2C$width_1059%2C$x_54%2C$y_146/t_crop_custom/q_86%2Cf_auto/975671eeac9b5cc18e2435a24071a61b0b154231", "https://static.ffx.io/images/$zoom_0.328%2C$multiply_0.4431%2C$ratio_1.5%2C$width_756%2C$x_0%2C$y_0/t_crop_custom/q_86%2Cf_auto/0d6c706c86947084f819ecca668840374bfc3eb2", "https://static.ffx.io/images/$zoom_0.5295%2C$multiply_0.7554%2C$ratio_1.776846%2C$width_1059%2C$x_0%2C$y_109/t_crop_custom/q_86%2Cf_auto/7add2e7d0d12a5059ab18bd0c3318a933086fc91"], "movies": [], "text": "\"It was a nice house. We built it, raised six kids and two grandchildren,\" Ms Dunne said. \"They won\u2019t be coming out to nan and pop\u2019s for a while.\" Residents in South Coast towns like Nelligen, Rosedale and Mogo who would normally be catering to waves of summer holidaymakers were instead reuniting to compare tales of how they had managed to save their homes or to console those less fortunate. Loading Replay Replay video Play video Play video On the main street of Mogo, Averill Berryman and her son Karl Niehus were inspecting the ruins of the property sales and dog grooming businesses she had worked \"five months, seven days a week\" to set up. \"I can\u2019t believe it,\" Ms Berryman said. \"I just didn\u2019t think it could happen.\"\n\nMr Niehus said his new employer and the house he was about to move into both went up in flames. Amid the ruins, Mr Niehus managed to excavate half a dozen eggs laid by a resident water dragon that had been attracted to the water left out by Ms Berryman \u2013 a former veterinary nurse. \"Are they still viable?\" she asked, finding a welcomed distraction from their plight. \"She was a good mother, she kept coming and checking on them.\" Resident Peregrine Philip sits on the back verandah of his home where the fire came up the back door. Credit:Kate Geraghty Further along the coast at North Rosedale, Steve Hayes, from the Brooklyn RFS brigade, was walking along Yowani Road, assessing dozens of houses lost in the fire.\n\n\"Imagine how beautiful it would have been to live here,\" Mr Hayes said, looking at the burnt-out homes overlooking beaches and inlets. While residents had been prepared to fight to save their homes, they saw the ferocity of the fire heading their way and got out. Loading \"It got so manic, so fast and so angry. It was devastating,\" Mr Hayes said, adding that the altered messaging had saved lives. \"If this was 10-20 years ago, we would have lost a lot of people.\" Vinessa Maxwell, a teacher at the Moruya High School, had planned to give up her job and open a bed and breakfast on the road between Mogo and Rosedale.\n\nThose plans are on hold after the fire front came within a few metres of the house she and her partner David fought to save. \"It looks a bit like Armageddon,\" said Ms Maxwell, her face blackened with charcoal after a day of dousing fires nearby. \"I don\u2019t know how we\u2019ll market it,\" she added half in jest. Loading As with many in the fire-hit towns, Ms Maxwell is yet to fully come to terms with the trauma she has just gone through. Carefully made plans to hide near exit doors and to hose down embers were thrown out when the fire front arrived.", "keywords": [], "meta_keywords": [""], "tags": ["Letters", "Editorial", "For subscribers", "Obituaries", "Explainers", "Quizzes", "Column 8", "Home tech", "Gadgets", "Tragedy", "Good Weekend", "Horoscopes", "Bushfires", "NSW Rural Fire Service", "bushfire crisis", "Phones"], "authors": ["Peter Hannam", "Kate Geraghty"], "publish_date": "Wed Jan  1 00:00:00 2020", "summary": "", "article_html": "", "meta_description": "Some residents found only charred steel, melted glass and ash on their former homes.", "meta_lang": "en", "meta_favicon": "/favicons/smh.ico", "meta_data": {"viewport": "width=device-width, initial-scale=1, shrink-to-fit=no", "theme-color": "#0A1633", "title": "NSW fires: 'Like Armageddon: South Coast residents return to find homes ruined or saved", "description": "Some residents found only charred steel, melted glass and ash on their former homes.", "article": {"section": "NSW", "published_time": "2020-01-01T07:48:01+00:00", "modified_time": "2020-01-01T09:46:18+00:00"}, "pubdate": "2020-01-01T07:48:01+00:00", "author": "Peter Hannam, Kate Geraghty", "fb": {"app_id": 193677504039845, "pages": 1432569230378131}, "og": {"description": "Some residents found only charred steel, melted glass and ash on their former homes.", "image": {"identifier": "https://static.ffx.io/images/$zoom_0.5295%2C$multiply_0.7554%2C$ratio_1.776846%2C$width_1059%2C$x_0%2C$y_109/t_crop_custom/q_86%2Cf_auto/7add2e7d0d12a5059ab18bd0c3318a933086fc91", "width": 800, "height": 450, "secure_url": "https://static.ffx.io/images/$zoom_0.5295%2C$multiply_0.7554%2C$ratio_1.776846%2C$width_1059%2C$x_0%2C$y_109/t_crop_custom/q_86%2Cf_auto/7add2e7d0d12a5059ab18bd0c3318a933086fc91"}, "locale": "en_US", "site_name": "The Sydney Morning Herald", "title": "'Like Armageddon': Residents thankful more lives were not lost", "url": "https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/like-armageddon-south-coast-residents-return-to-find-homes-ruined-or-saved-20200101-p53o62.html"}, "parsely-title": "'Like Armageddon': Residents thankful more lives were not lost", "parsely-link": "https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/like-armageddon-south-coast-residents-return-to-find-homes-ruined-or-saved-20200101-p53o62.html", "parsely-type": "Article", "parsely-image-url": "https://static.ffx.io/images/$zoom_0.5295%2C$multiply_0.7554%2C$ratio_1.776846%2C$width_1059%2C$x_0%2C$y_109/t_crop_custom/q_86%2Cf_auto/7add2e7d0d12a5059ab18bd0c3318a933086fc91", "parsely-section": "NSW", "parsely-author": "Kate Geraghty", "parsely-pub-date": "2020-01-01T07:48:01+00:00", "parsely-tags": "BUSHFIRES,nsw rural fire service,tragedy,sydney", "parsely-metadata": "{\"type\":\"article\",\"assetId\":\"p53o62\"}", "robots": "noarchive,noodp,index", "twitter": {"card": "summary_large_image", "description": "Some residents found only charred steel, melted glass and ash on their former homes.", "image": {"src": "https://static.ffx.io/images/$zoom_0.5295%2C$multiply_0.7554%2C$ratio_1.776846%2C$width_1059%2C$x_0%2C$y_109/t_crop_custom/q_86%2Cf_auto/7add2e7d0d12a5059ab18bd0c3318a933086fc91"}, "site": "@smh", "title": "'Like Armageddon': Residents thankful more lives were not lost"}, "google-signin-client_id": "589384154045-p5vk6p2adh6l4p13n8rfjtbsfqu8gbn5.apps.googleusercontent.com"}, "canonical_link": "https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/like-armageddon-south-coast-residents-return-to-find-homes-ruined-or-saved-20200101-p53o62.html"}