Two hundred people gather in Wytaliba, where rain has brought relief, but also more concern for the long-term effects of the fires

In the northern New South Wales town of Wytaliba, one of the areas hardest hit by bushfires that have killed nine people, destroyed a thousand homes and burned 5m hectares of Australia in the past three months, a small team has cooked Christmas lunch for 200 people.

Everyone is invited, from the dozens who lost their homes, to the volunteer firefighters, to the Canadian firefighting contingent who have been working to relieve local crews.

Yes, Australia has always had bushfires: but 2019 is like nothing we've seen before Read more

Among those planning to attend is Carol Sparks, the mayor of the Glen Innes Severn council, who has given her husband the year off cooking Christmas lunch in favour of celebrating with their community.

“This is a little respite and a chance for the community to get together,” she said. “It is a matter of trying to relax too, which is hard – we keep getting hit by natural disasters.”

First she has to get through the Gwydir Highway, which was closed on Christmas morning for the third time since the fires began.

“We have had some rain – it fell very heavily and washed out the road down at Wytaliba again,” Sparks said. “It comes very quickly and it’s torrential and then it goes away. So it’s washed the road out.”

The rain was patchy: Glen Innes got just 2mm, but in Wytaliba it was 30mm, enough to fill up a few water tanks and maybe flush the ash out of the creek – both desperately needed in Wytaliba and surrounding communities such as Tenterfield, which have been without clean water for weeks.

Unfortunately, it has also washed away the topsoil which is no longer protected by groundcover.

“It washed down a lot of the earth that has been exposed since the fire,” Sparks said. “The mountain is basically leaking sand every time it rains.”

Sparks’s house at Wytaliba suffered severe damage in the 8 November fire but she counts herself among the lucky ones: she has a place to stay, adequate insurance and a home that is still standing even if the walls are blackened.

She misses the trees more every time she returns home. It is one thing to lose a house, Sparks said, but another to have your whole community transformed into an unrecognisable landscape. Familiar landmarks offer no comfort if they no longer look familiar.

“Everyone keeps saying the trees will come back, but how can you come back from being a charcoal stick?” Sparks said. “All I am thinking about is the environment … All the trees are going to fall over. It is very sad for everybody who has lost their houses and their environment and their trees.”

SA fires: Adelaide Hills wine industry devastated as bushfires sweep through Read more

Two thousand firefighters worked through Christmas Eve to strengthen containment lines around 73 fires that are burning across NSW.

Shane Fitzsimmons (@RFSCommissioner) With Premier @GladysB & Minister @DavidElliottMP for Christmas Day breakfast in Colo.

Community volunteers provided food, company, conversation, wrapped presents & hampers to share for crews heading into the field.

It was just lovely & spirits were high.

Thanks again all#NSWRFS pic.twitter.com/tRTT9Bu27M

Almost 700km south of Wytaliba, in the small Blue Mountains town of Colo under the shadow of the Gospers Mountain megafire, the NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian, the emergency management minster David Elliott and the fire commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons had breakfast with volunteer firefighters who had given up their Christmas to keep those communities safe.

NSW RFS (@NSWRFS) It's been an incredibly busy fire season. There are still fires across the state, & more work to do. We hope our hard working members can spend time with their loved ones today. Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas. #nswrfs #nswfires 📷by Adam Stevenson at Wallabi Point 12.11.19 pic.twitter.com/1pzMmzXfyn

Nine people – including two volunteer firefighters – have died, and dozens more, including many volunteer firefighters, have been injured in fires in NSW, South Australia and Queensland.

Milder temperatures brought some respite on Christmas Day, with fires downgraded to advice level in every state except South Australia, where watch and act warnings remained in place in some areas of the Cudlee Creek fire in the Adelaide Hills.

The Bureau of Meteorology warned that hot, windy weather would bring a return to dangerous fire conditions, starting in South Australia this weekend and working across to Victoria on Monday and NSW on Tuesday.