‘Just coping’: Man who lost everything in bushfires describes the devastation in his community

The New South Wales town of Bobin has been devastated by bushfires.

In an emotional interview, Paul Miscamble, one of the Bobin residents who lost everything, described the devastation in his town.

“We lost so many properties in Bobin. Quite a few of the families were uninsured because of this insurance problem, others only had contents insurance,” he said.

“Just in my road alone I think there are eight, up to 12 houses … that were lost.

Mr Miscamble said he is struggling to come to terms with the loss.

“Coping is the best way to describe it. Just coping,” he said.

The Bobin man was uninsured, so has lost it all.

“I lost my house, sheds, stables, tractors, quads, mother’s antiques that had come out from Scotland and had been in the family for nearly 200 odd years … photos,” he said.

“I was uninsured, and the reason being they took my policies from $1800 to $4900 because I was in a fire prone area.

“They wouldn’t let me pay quarterly, they wouldn’t let me play six-monthly, that money had to be upfront.”

Mr Miscamble said he had a fire plan, but the conditions changed unexpectedly.

“We tried to fight that fire, we tried to back burn, we had fire plans, but as you personally would know, fire is unpredictable, it changed,” he said.

“The wind came up and we had huge flames racing at us. The only thing the young fella and I could do was grab what we could at the time and jump in the car and drive through the flames and get out.”

The Bobin community has set up a GoFundMe to help rebuild the lives of the affected people.

Donate HERE to help the Bobin community get back on their feet.

Image: Peter Parks