'Hell on earth': Fireball engulfs property in minutes as owner fights blaze
Shocking footage has captured the moment a ball of fire swept across a man’s property as he defended his home with a hose during the devastating New Year’s Eve bushfires.
Jack Luscombe posted the “insane” video to Reddit on Monday, gaining the attention of hundreds of horrified viewers online.
Mr Luscombe said he set up a GoPro to film the blaze as it approached his home in Yerriong, south of Nowra, NSW, at 2pm on December 31.
Footage shows the sky turn pitch black before bright red flames latch onto trees lining the house.
Embers can be seen drifting through the sky as blue flames extend metres into the air.
Mr Luscombe, who is wearing protective gear and holding a hose, rushes to extinguish the embers with a hose.
Within seconds, excessive winds move in, causing the fire to engulf the surrounding bushland instantly.
“The southerly hit at about 60-80kms solid, higher gusts, when the fire was about 100 metres due south of us. After that though, the fire created its own wind and it just changed directions constantly,” Mr Luscombe wrote alongside his post.
“The wind never blew from a single direction for more than 30 seconds at a time. It just whipped around and around. There was even a fire generated thunderstorm after the fire front passed from all the superheated air meeting the cold air above it.
“At one point I watched it pick up a 30kg BBQ and throw it a few metres up and out.
“It was and still is unbelievable,” he said.
The man said the smoke made “everything blue”.
“The flames that look really blue were actually blue, meaning they were at least 1400 Celsius,” Mr Luscombe said.
Most of the man’s ducks and guinea fowls survived, but a handful of chickens perished after they ran into the bush out of fear.
“Managed to save absolutely everything because we had an amazing fire plan and all the essential equipment. We did lose a few chickens and the gardens, nothing compared to what others lost…”
Stunned viewers said the footage “looks like hell on earth.”
“Damn. Some of those 'bursts' of fire are insane,” another person wrote.
“Can't believe how black it gets. Absolutely frightening. Hope you're all okay,” a third person said.
Mr Luscombe told viewers he wanted to share the video to highlight the danger of bushfires.
“After the adrenalin wore off, I just thought it was beautiful, but also extremely sad…” he said.
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