Balmoral’s Black Summer bushfire victims mark 12 traumatic months as scammer burns those who lost it all

It has been a year since Victoria Herrera lost everything when the Green Wattle Creek fire hit the New South Wales Southern Highlands town of Balmoral.

The Rural Fire Service (RFS) volunteer made the difficult decision to evacuate the day before fire ripped through the village on Saturday, December 21, and was one of 20 residents who returned to their properties the day afterwards to find nothing but burnt rubble where their houses had been.

She never suspected that in the following weeks she would have everything taken from her again.

“I did everything right, I was insured and unfortunately for me a man turned up in the village pretending to be a builder and he ripped me off $660,000,” Ms Herrera said.