Flood and fire heroes from Shellharbour honoured with bravery awards

The Fishermans Paradise/Conjola bushfire on New Year's Eve 2019 and Eugowra flood in November 2022 took lives and livelihoods, and this week two Shellharbour men have been honoured for their bravery in saving scores of people.

The men are SES Shellharbour unit volunteers Ray Merz and John McCloghry and on Wednesday, June 19, they received the Commissioner's Commendation for Courage.

Along with fellow volunteers from their unit and Kiama unit, SES Acting Commissioner Debbie Platz praised their actions in saving lives.

Chaos, flames, smoke, embers and unbearable heat. These are the words Mr McCloghry utters when he remembers that day.

The raging bushfire raced towards Fishermans Paradise. roads were cut and visibility was almost zero when the chaos began.

Paramedics had retreated to safer ground, and as Mr McCloghry considered fleeing he spotted a badly damaged NSW Rural Fire Service truck racing out of the flames towards him. They vehicle had rolled and they had two very badly burnt and injured volunteer firefighters on board.

The injured firefighters were bundled into his car and they all fled, but the flames were everywhere and the heat so intense it was melting the flashing blue and red lights on top of emergency vehicles.

He found an ambulance handed over the injured firefighter. Moments later he came across a queue of about 80 cars at the intersection of Princes Highway and Bendalong Road, about eight kilometres north of Fishermans Paradise Road.

"There was fire to the north, fire to the south and there was a fire along Bendalong Road, there's nowhere to go," Mr McCloghry said.

"The police were there with me, along with the ambos and we had to make a decision to get these people out of here because we were sitting ducks. Ultimately, believe it or not, the police made a decision to run the gauntlet and run south back through the fire and try and make it down to Milton."

As the line of 80 cars and emergency services vehicles fled single-file away, ash rained down on them like snow and there was so much smoke it was difficult to see the bonnet of your own car.

"My greatest concern was if one car ran up the back of the other, or there was an accident, those people would have died, burnt to death in their cars," Mr McCloghry said. "I was concerned that we were about to lose 100 and something people."

Ultimately they made it to Milton and lives were saved thanks in part to Mr McCloghry actions.

"I don't know how we made it, but we did," he said.

When an inland tsunami struck Eugowra in the early hours of November 14, 2022 it almost wiped the place off the map.

The tiny town in the NSW Central West, 300 kilometres west of Sydney, has a population of 862 and none of them saw it coming.

SES Shellharbour unit commander Mr Merz was doing flood work in nearby Yass when it struck, and he was the only person with a licence to drive the SES' new unimog flood rescue vehicle in a 300-kilometre radius.

Eugowra is nowhere near a river, but that didn't stop a wall of water invading the town and leaving streets, homes and cars under two metres of filthy floodwaters.

Initially the unimog was the only vehicle capable of getting into the town, so paramedics and police packed essential items into the SES vehicle and raced in.

The unimog can only drive in water depths of 1.2 metres, but Mr Merz found a way in amid the rushing waters and people screaming for help.

"Some people were clearly panicking, you just had a range of emotions," he said. "Some people panicked, some were remarkably calm, like almost scary calm, and other people were almost catatonic."

In an emergency the first priority is always preservation of life, Mr Merz said.

"I don't care about a house the house can get rebuilt, it's always life," he said.

"There was so many people misplaced and then so many people trying to help to the best of their ability which, at times, can be a hindrance.

"It was challenging and I don't necessarily know that you've always got the right answer, sometimes it just has to be gut feel."

The day after receiving their bravery awards the volunteers are still shocked they were nominated for "just doing their jobs".

"I'm very flattered, I'm very honoured and I'm very humbled by it," Mr Merz said.

"I joined the SES to help the community, as far as I'm concerned yes it was a very extraordinary set of circumstances, but I was just doing what I joined to do."

McCloghry talked of feeling honoured and humbled, he also wonders if he's done enough to receive such an award.

"There's so many people doing so many good things," he said.

The following were presented by SES Assistant Commissioner Debbie Platz on Wednesday, June 19 as the SES Kiama unit.

National Emergency Medal

National Medal

NSW SES Commissioner's Certificate of Appreciation

NSW SES Commissioner's Unit Citation

NSW SES Long Service Awards