Gunnedah's firies are experiencing blazes more powerful than they've ever experienced before during a seven-day deployment down south.
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When asked how the situation was going, Gunnedah Fire and Rescue's Tymika Bradford-Robbins said she had "seen nothing like this" during her time as a firefighter.
"The Monaro Highway got shut and people had to be escorted by police because the fire had jumped from one side [of the highway] to the other with ember attacks," Ms Bradford-Robbins said.
"It was black in the middle of the day."
The Gunnedah firefighter has been in the area since January 30 with fellow locals Nick Wild and Tammey McAllan, as part of Strike Team Echo.
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The strike team has been working in Bredbo, Michelago and Colton in southern NSW, and Ms Bradford-Robbins said a grass native to the area was one of their biggest challenges.
"African lovegrass burns twice: it burns at the top and then ... re-alights, and then you'll turn around and it'll start burning from the base of it so you have to make sure you definitely put it out," she said.
"I Googled it to see what we were up against and it moves very swiftly."
The team has also been protecting properties and scouting for properties, so they "knew where properties were to deploy our tankers to them".
Ms Bradford-Robbins said one of the best feelings was saving an elderly couples' home.
"The property we were tasked to still had the owners present and they were very appreciative of us helping them and saving their retirement home," she said.
"I like helping people ... they're so relieved seeing us come barrelling down our driveways."
While she's looking forward to coming back home for a well-earned rest on Wednesday, she said she was "hoping to get back on another rotation soon".
Strike Team Echo also includes firefighters from Narrabri, Tamworth, Wauchope, Port Macquarie, Taree and Wingen.
The team flies home on Wednesday, with another team to be deployed in their place.