Residents from Tuntable Falls community took refuge at Nimbin Showgrounds after evacuating themselves on the weekend.

With basic camping equipment, and each other for company, they sat with stinging eyes under brown smoky skies with ash falling around them.

Concerned about the quality of the air they were breathing, some took their children to get face masks, donated to the Red Cross, who had set up the evacuation centre at the Showgrounds with the NSW Department of Communities and Justice.

Read on to hear stories from residents Sarah Lonie, Nerelle Draisma, Drew Aird and Maggie Bourne as they evacuated and what the options are for where to go with your family and animals if you evacuate.

Anglicare and Red Cross volunteers set up a bushfire evacuation centre at Nimbin Showgrounds.

Residents interested in seeing footage (updated every 120 seconds) from a web cam at 257 upper Tuntable Falls Road looking south over Tuntable south end ridge, can click here: http://home.exetel.com.au/greenwork/swpage.html

Sarah Lonie

Sarah Lonie had only been living at the Tuntable Falls community for ten days before she and her children had to evacuate because of the Nightcap National Park bushfire

Living in a forested area meant her car was parked at the school, about half a kilometre from her house, and she had to carry four separate loads on her back to the car before she could evacuate. 

"The alarm went off on Friday and I realised it was to tell us to prepare and get ready to leave and my son said ‘let’s get out’," she said.

"So I packed my camping gear, my passport and important papers and left with my two sons.

“I didn’t even think to pack a jacket and spend a cold night in my car at the showgrounds. 

"I went back on Saturday with a plan to stay, but then I got a message that we needed to leave and I did.

"There are so many older people at Tuntable. 

"If they lose everything, what will they do? How will they start again?

"My neighbour has gone away and hasn’t prepared her house. There are still a few people up there."

She said there was a $5 charge to use the washing machine at Nimbin Showgrounds and thought it would be good if someone could donate a washing machine to those who had to evacuate.

"The Salvation Army and the Red Cross are here and they will cook us dinner last night, and the kids can get fruit and muesli bars," she said.

"We could be here for days. It’s a good thing that the people who live at Tuntable are good campers.

"If it’s safe, I’d like to get home tomorrow to get the gas bottles out and prepare the house for fire. Its so dry and I’m not sure how much water we have in the spring."

Read more about bushfire updates: Bushfire puts Nimbin community in 'uncharted territory'

Evacuees set up at Nimbin Showgrounds.

Nerelle Draisma

Nerelle Draisma from Tuntable Falls, her partner and her children decided to leave Tuntable on Friday too. 

“We decided to take the warning seriously and looked at the seven day weather forecast," she said.

“We were loading the car until 9.30pm. 

“People in Glen Innes who left it too late burned.

“Leaving was a small price to pay for piece of mind. 

“I’ve been in a bushfire situation before.

“The wettest valley in NSW is on fire. 

“We couldn’t see anything and already the wind is changing again. 

“When we look at successive years, we see depleted rainfall and about four weeks ago we had a lightning strike that caused a fire.

“Charlie Cohen from the Nimbin Rural Fire Service said this is the driest season he’s seen and there’s a load of fuel on the ground to burn.

“We are living in driest continent on earth and we haven’t heeded the warnings

“If we don’t look after land and weed management, this is what happens. 

“In the 1930s Black Friday and every state in Australia was burning. 

“The Government’s poor climate policies have escalated this situation.”

Read more: Lismore sees biggest record dry spell since 1941

Drew Aird and Maggie Bourne under yellow skies as the bushfire burns near their homes at Tuntable Falls.

Drew Aird

Drew Aird also evacuated from Tuntable Falls community, but took time before he left his house to remove plastic tarps from the outside of the house in an attempt to stop ember attack burning the building.  

I also put the sprinkler on around the house – its fed from a spring below the house, and took the plastic garbage bins away from the house and even the spare tyre that was under the house.

"I’ve been living in the bush 24 years and I haven’t seen this before.

"I’ve seen rainforest on fire, but the current environmental conditions are more scary.

“My back yard soil used to be cracked up, but now it’s powder dry.

“There’s no subterranean water from springs available for me.

“We’ve had little rain - Tuntable has always been a wet area and now even the spring that wets the road has dried up - it's scary."

Maggie Bourne

Maggie Bourne has lived at Tuntable Creek for 40 years.

Maggie lives deep inside the Tuntable community in a steep area and was glad she had evacuated with the support of her friends and neighbours.

“There are lots of people there who have built their own houses and birthed their kids there. It’s our home,” she said.

She said she’s seen fires in her area when she first came here, but nothing again until now.

“Tuntable has one road in and one road out," she said.

“We are a close community and we help each other.” 

Read more: Koala sanctuary full: what not to do if you want to help

Red Cross volunteers register Nimbin residents at Nimbin Showgrounds as they evacuate their homes.

Evacuation points, registering and urgent supplies needed

The Nimbin Showgrounds is one of the dedicated evacuation centres for people affected by the bushfires in the Nightcap National Park.

There are kitchen, toilet and shower facilities there, along with a place to house cats and dogs. These facilities are for people with camping equipment.

Lismore Showgrounds and the Goonellabah Sports and Aquatic Centre (GSAC) are also available to provide emergency accommodation services.

Lismore Showgrounds can help house livestock, and good for people who have camping equipment. 

At Nimbin Showgrounds, Anglicare and the Red Cross are coordinating donations of food, water, masks and toiletry supplies for evacuees, as well as the registration of evacuees from the Nimbin area. Evacuees are urges to register once they leave home wither in person at Nimbin Showgrounds, or online at the Red Cross website Register.Find.Reunite https://register.redcross.org.au/

Doug Ridley, Anglicare team leader said items needed include long lasting food supplies, toiletries such as eye drops, nappies, shampoo, sorbolene crème and women’s sanitary products and face masks were needed.

Chemist Warehouse and Woolworths have already donated supplies and the volunteers is always looking for more people to donate essential items.

He urged people not to donate clothing as there is nowhere they can be stored at the moment. 

The Lismore App now has a button linking people to essential services and phone contacts. You can find it here: Bush Fires