My partner and I were in the fire zone on the NSW South Coast on holidays from Sunday 29th Dec until Thursday 2nd Jan. We were planning to stay until Mon 6th Jan.
The first two days were great, typical south coast summer weather. The third day, new years eve, was ominous. A large part of the sky was as black as soot as two major fires started just a few kms from where we were staying. Then all power to the town (a major coastal town) was cut, all roads in and out were closed and telecoms became, at best, intermittent.
The next day, new years day, we had to queue 2hrs just to get into a major supermarket for essential supplies. The supermarket had emergency generator power only for their freezers (and ironically, their cash registers) but no lights so they limited the number of customers who could enter at any one time. The local fisherman's co-op provided everyone with free ice and some of the cafes and restaurants gave away free food - without power they had no way to keep it. I had a multi-charge phone battery backup device that allowed me to keep my phone and another fully charged. There were warnings about another "fire holocaust day" coming on the Saturday with temperatures in the 40s (Celsius).
Power and full telecoms were restored later that afternoon. We took the opportunity to fill the fuel tank now that the petrol stations were working. There were some long queues.
When they re-opened the main road north to Sydney on the Thursday morning we immediately packed up and left. There were reports of bumper-to-bumper traffic coming from towns further south that would arrive in our location around noon that day, that provided an additional incentive.
The trip back was slow because of traffic and speed restrictions due to fire damage - 7hrs instead of the usual 4. On the way back many of the beautiful forests we had passed on the way down were smoking ruins of burnt sticks, not trees. We saw one house that had been destroyed but many that had somehow survived, some could only be described as "miraculous" survivors - a tribute to the firefighters and owners who stayed to fight. Shortly after we passed through the worst of the damaged areas, the fire there reignited (how it found anything left to burn we do not know) and the highway was closed again - but fortunately behind us. Friends who were camping in the area were not so lucky - they delayed their departure an hour after us and were trapped there for another night. The highway has re-opened and closed several times since.
Many communities are still without power and some still have no road access.
I can safely say that we escaped lightly compared to many. At no stage did we feel in danger but the possibility of being trapped for a long period without power, with a dwindling supply of food and no means of escape was the most worrying.
That was our saga, one we will long remember.