A GROUP of Tumbarumba evacuees fear there will be no town to return to once the bushfires are over.
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Like many others threatened by the Dunns Road and Green Valley fires, Russell Johns, Mick Jarvis and Ken Christie were forced to leave their homes yesterday.
The homes of all three men were threatened by the erratic conditions of the Dunns Road fire on New Year's Eve.
They fear their homes will be once again at risk after warnings that the Dunns Road and Green Valley fires might merge today.
Mr Christie said he just wants to forget what has happened in the past five days.
"At this point we don't know what is going to happen, we don't even know if a town will be left at all," he said.
His family evacuated when the fire on New Year's Eve ripped through the area. Mr Christie returned to the aftermath the following day and while their home was saved, his shed was destroyed - and with it uninsured equipment.
"We were in bed looking out the window and could see flames in the distance," he said.
Mr Christie said he discovered the town needed to be evacuated for a second time by chance.
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He was left in the dark when his phone line and mobile coverage failed him, so he drove into town to use the public phone.
"We saw the hall filled with people and one of us wander over and found out we needed to evacuate," he said.
"We were told we need to register that we left, but we can't find out where and have been asking around."
The evacuation centre set up at Wagga's Equex Centre on Copland Street is registering people, marking them as safe and assisting with finding accommodation, food and fuel.
Mr Jarvis evacuated Tumbarumba with his family, including his three-year-old son Archie.
He said everyone was in panic mode, grabbing everything they possibly could before leaving towards Wagga.
"Farmers were loading their horses and getting their livestock out of there. We just don't know what's going to happen," he said.