This fire that was just visible above the cliffs of the lower Wolgan Valley on 16 October turned out to be the ‘State Mine Gully’ fire that was started by an explosives exercise on an army base west of Lithgow. When this fire was taken it was burning across Newnes Plateau, but by the next evening, driven by gale-force winds, it had reached Bilpin, nearly 40 km east of its ignition.