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| NSW and SA fires live: volunteer firefighters call for support as Australia's bushfires crisis continues - latest | NSW and SA fires live: volunteer firefighters call for support as Australia's bushfires crisis continues - latest |
| (30 minutes later) | |
| The president of the NSW Volunteer Fire Fighters Association says the situation on the ground is ‘out of control’ as he calls for volunteers to receive expenses. Follow latest news and updates | The president of the NSW Volunteer Fire Fighters Association says the situation on the ground is ‘out of control’ as he calls for volunteers to receive expenses. Follow latest news and updates |
| The minister in charge of the bushfire crisis in NSW, emergency services minister David Elliot, has reportedly told The Australian that a proposal by Labor that volunteer firefighters should be paid for their time would undermine volunteer ethos and potentially undermine firefighting efforts — because the Rural Fire Service could never afford to pay all of its 70,000 volunteer members. | |
| Said Elliot: | |
| Elliot said there was “no evidence that volunteers join up for the money,” which is correct but as there is not, and has never been, any money on offer, I am not sure how far that takes us. | |
| This next point probably takes us further: | |
| Elliot says that volunteer firefighters are motivated by protecting their community above all else — which is true. The debate around compensation is, I think, whether it is reasonable to continue to ask volunteers to sacrifice so much — weeks of their time, weeks of their income, potentially their lives — while bushfire conditions worsen each year under global heating. | |
| At the moment the public discussion about how best to support volunteer firefighters is being conducted largely in the absence of the firefighters themselves, who are busy actively fighting fires. The question of what volunteer firefighters want and need is probably best answered by the volunteer brigade members themselves, don’t you think? | |
| Prime minister Scott Morrison is in South Australia today and will be visiting communities affected by the catastrophic bushfires there, which burned through 47,000ha and destroyed 87 houses. | |
| Our photographer-at-large Mike Bowers was in Balmoral yesterday and captured some of the devastation of the town that was among the worst hit by the Green Wattle Creek fire in the Southern Highlands. | |
| Reporters Michael McGowan and Helen Davidson have been in Balmoral over the past few days. They spoke to survivors like Steve Harrison, a 67-year-old potter who described climbing into a “coffin-sized” flame-proof kiln when the fire approached. | |
| I spoke too soon. The CFS has just issued a watch and act alert for the Cudlee Creek fire in South Australia. | I spoke too soon. The CFS has just issued a watch and act alert for the Cudlee Creek fire in South Australia. |
| Only one fire at watch and act | |
| There is only one fire at watch and act level in south-eastern Australia this morning. | |
| That’s the 54,000-hectare Marthavale – Barmouth Spur bushfire in east Gippsland, about 200km east of Melbourne. A watch and act alert remains in place for Tambo Crossing and there is a community meeting scheduled for 10am in the Omeo memorial hall. | |
| The Great Alpine Road — the main road in and out of the region — remains closed between Ensay and Bruthen, a 54km stretch across Tambo Crossing and Mount Elizabeth. Most of the alternative routes are unsealed roads or 4WD tracks and they have also been closed. | The Great Alpine Road — the main road in and out of the region — remains closed between Ensay and Bruthen, a 54km stretch across Tambo Crossing and Mount Elizabeth. Most of the alternative routes are unsealed roads or 4WD tracks and they have also been closed. |
| Power outages cut NBN-connected phones and internet services, but as of 7am this morning that power should be restored. | Power outages cut NBN-connected phones and internet services, but as of 7am this morning that power should be restored. |
| I spoke to Luke Hegarty from the Victorian State Control Centre about this fire yesterday. He said the conditions were too dangerous for firefighters to tackle the blaze head on. It’s in very dry, very mountainous, very heavily forested country, and it is spreading even on days like today, where fire conditions are low to moderate. | |
| He said: | He said: |
| Five other fires are at advice level in Victoria, four are at advice level in South Australia, and three are at advice level in Queensland. | Five other fires are at advice level in Victoria, four are at advice level in South Australia, and three are at advice level in Queensland. |
| New South Wales still has more than 50 fires at advice level. The fires of most concern over the past few days – Gospers Mountain in the Blue Mountains and Green Wattle Creek fire in the southern highlands – will be subject to backburning today. | |
| More than 4 million hectares of Australia has burned since the start of spring, according to figures collated by Guardian Australia. | More than 4 million hectares of Australia has burned since the start of spring, according to figures collated by Guardian Australia. |
| That figure is likely to increase — not just because we have three months to go in the southern fire season, but because the split between state-run and local government-run firefighting forces in WA means the figure from that state is incomplete.Debate about whether volunteer firefighters should be compensated, and what form any compensation should take, is continuing today. Labor is pushing the debate and it has the support of the volunteer firefighters’ association, but Scott Morrison yesterday ruled out making a “knee-jerk” response. Some employees, like public servants, get paid leave for their volunteer bushfire duties but not everyone is in that position. | That figure is likely to increase — not just because we have three months to go in the southern fire season, but because the split between state-run and local government-run firefighting forces in WA means the figure from that state is incomplete.Debate about whether volunteer firefighters should be compensated, and what form any compensation should take, is continuing today. Labor is pushing the debate and it has the support of the volunteer firefighters’ association, but Scott Morrison yesterday ruled out making a “knee-jerk” response. Some employees, like public servants, get paid leave for their volunteer bushfire duties but not everyone is in that position. |
| Volunteer firefighters often pay out of pocket for better respiratory protection, fuel to drive to and from the fire ground, and other expenses, the NSW Volunteer Fire Fighters Association president, Mick Holton, told Radio National on Tuesday. | Volunteer firefighters often pay out of pocket for better respiratory protection, fuel to drive to and from the fire ground, and other expenses, the NSW Volunteer Fire Fighters Association president, Mick Holton, told Radio National on Tuesday. |
| And as we begin our live coverage of the bushfire crisis, my colleague Josh Taylor reports that the Department of Home Affairs warned minister Peter Dutton in May that Australia faced more frequent and severe heatwaves and bushfires, and that “without effective action more Australians’ livelihoods will be impacted by disasters into the future and the cost of those disasters will continue to grow”. | And as we begin our live coverage of the bushfire crisis, my colleague Josh Taylor reports that the Department of Home Affairs warned minister Peter Dutton in May that Australia faced more frequent and severe heatwaves and bushfires, and that “without effective action more Australians’ livelihoods will be impacted by disasters into the future and the cost of those disasters will continue to grow”. |