The Grey Gum International Cafe in Putty is serving free meals to firefighters continuing to battle the Gospers Mountain Fire.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The blaze has grown from a size of 2,000 ha (when the Singleton Argus first inquired on October 30) to 160,000 by Wednesday morning and continues to threaten lives and property across the Wollomi National Park.
Cafe owner Kim Grace has been working round the clock to provide around 130-140 meals a day to the heroic firefighters based in Putty.
"Obviously we've been incredibly busy," she told the Argus on Wednesday afternoon.
"It appears chaotic but it's not."
A GoFundMe campaign has raised over $16,000 from 300 donations the past four days to support the Grey Gum team's efforts.
"I want to thank the motorbike community for setting up the page," she explained.
"They are just the most marvelous group of young motorbike riders and they set up the page because they don't want us to be in danger of not being here.
"They are just a fantastic community."
As the Wollomi National Park continues to burn, fire fighters will only have to provide their own lunch while the cafe will cater for their breakfast and dinner.
"They all seem pretty cool, calm and collected," she continued.
"I think our danger has passed considering they've set up the base camp here after everything was burnt out and cleared.
"It came very close coming down the back of the ridge (200m from the cafe) on Saturday but I couldn't praise them more highly."
"They (fire fighters) just got in, back burned into it and saved everything."
Attending crew members from the Hawkesbury, Blue Mountains and Hunter Valley RFS regions have continue to receive support in the Putty area.
Yet the heroic stand of Grey Gum's proprietor, who has refused to leave in recent weeks, must also be recognised less than a year after the death of her husband (and co-owner) John.
"This place was our concept and he (John) built it nine years ago," she concluded.
"Unfortunately he passed away nine weeks after he was diagnosed with brain cancer.
"So this fire is only a fraction of it because (sadly) I've lost five people in the last nine months."