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NSW fires live updates: RFS warns south coast tourists to leave as Victoria bushfires continue – latest
NSW fires live: RFS warns south coast tourists to leave as Victoria bushfires continue – latest
(32 minutes later)
At least nine people have died since Christmas Day, and the RFS is urging people to evacuate the New South Wales south coast before dangerous conditions on the weekend. Follow the live news and latest updates today
At least nine people have died since Christmas Day, and the RFS is urging people to evacuate the New South Wales south coast before dangerous conditions on the weekend. Follow the live news and latest updates today
I mentioned earlier this morning that Scott Morrison has declined to go on ABC News Breakfast to discuss the fires. That’s according to Michael Rowland, who noted the PM was yesterday entertaining the Australian and NZ cricket teams at Kirribilli House.
I’ve been speaking to Kelly, who is down in the isolated town of Mallacoota who was holidaying with family when the fire hit on Tuesday. He was among the 4,000 people who took refuge on the foreshore.
“Hopefully we will see the Prime Minister touring some of the fire ravaged areas over the course of the next day or so,” Rowland told viewers.
As we have been hearing, supplies are running low in the town as the navy and police boats bring in food and water by sea. Reports are that about 100 homes have been destroyed.
The reaction to the fact Morrison is not front-and-centre during the crisis is continuing.
“The town’s food supplies are getting a belting so not sure how long the food is going last,” Kelly said. “The local bakery has closed as of this morning as their generator [is down] so bread is now out of the question.”
His wife, Stacey, is a nurse and has walked down to the medical centre to offer some help. “They could not have been happier to see her as they are so under the pump with patients,” Kelly said.
“My boys done a sweep of the lake and picked up all the rubbish around the edges to help out in any way. We were meant to go home Saturday but that won’t be happening and to be honest we are happy to stay and help out in any way we can.
“One thing I will say is fuck I’m a proud Australian because when the shit hits the fan people stop their lives to help those who are struggling to give them a hand back up.”
For those looking to get out of the NSW south coast before Saturday, the ABC has this very useful article.
Kerri Warren, a real estate agent in Mallacoota, says she estimates about 100 homes have been lost in the Victorian coastal town. That does not include other structures like sheds.
I mentioned earlier this morning that Scott Morrison has declined to go on ABC News Breakfast to discuss the fires. That’s according to Michael Rowland, who noted the PM was yesterday entertaining the Australian and New Zealand cricket teams at Kirribilli House.
“Hopefully we will see the prime minister touring some of the fire-ravaged areas over the course of the next day or so,” Rowland told viewers.
The reaction to the fact Morrison is not front and centre during the crisis is continuing.
The Ten Network’s national affairs editor, Hugh Riminton, has written this devastating piece.
The Ten Network’s national affairs editor, Hugh Riminton, has written this devastating piece.
Riminton argues that those arguing against action on the climate emergency have shifted from denial to the claim that Australia’s emissions are not globally significant.
Riminton argues that those arguing against action on the climate emergency have shifted from denial to the claim that Australia’s emissions are not globally significant.
But citing Australia’s efforts at war-time and comparing , he writes:
But citing Australia’s efforts at war time and comparing, he writes:
Arguing the response from Canberra has equated to “nothing”, he concludes:
Arguing the response from Canberra has equated to “nothing”, he concludes:
The full piece is definitely worth a read.
The full piece is definitely worth a read.
Some readers from outside Australia have been in touch about the current fundraising efforts. To remind you, the Red Cross is running a fundraising drive, which you can read about here.
Some readers from outside Australia have been in touch about the current fundraising efforts. To remind you, the Red Cross is running a fundraising drive, which you can read about here.
My colleague Naaman Zhou looked at the ways you can assist in this story. Note that he compiled this piece before the Red Cross drive was established.
My colleague Naaman Zhou looked at the ways you can assist in this story. Note that he compiled this piece before the Red Cross drive was established.
On the subject of the long queues at supermarkets on the NSW south coast, I have received this statement from a Woolworths spokesperson:
For those in Bateman’s Bay, due to power and phone issues, the Woolies there is only accepting cash. Eftpos is not available.
More from that press conference with authorities in eastern Victoria.
My colleague, Calla Wahlquist, was in Lake Tyers this week.
The Insurance Council has updated its figures this morning: there have now been 4,299 claims made totalling $297m.
We’ve just been to a briefing about the evacuation of Bendalong. There are about 1000 people in the caravan park, including huge numbers of kids, plus at least 3000 more in the villages of Bendalong, North Bendalong, Manyana and Cunjurong Point.
We’ve been told they will be letting people out in groups of 20 and we will be given time slots to leave over the next two days. They really want people out by Saturday, when the conditions are forecast to be catastrophic.
The Bendalong road, the only way in and out has been impacted heavily by fire and we were told we would be driving over downed power lines.
Once people reach the highway, they are expecting it to take 4 hours to reach Nowra, which usually takes 40 minutes.
The big message is: don’t go if you don’t have enough fuel.
The meeting was pretty calm but clearly families are keen to get out.
Police in Victoria have charged a 36-year-old man with arson for allegedly starting a small fire in Johnsonville, which is in the midst of the bushfire-affected area in East Gippsland between Nicholson and Swan Reach, at 6.45pm last night.
The charges, according to leading senior constable Natalie Dean, was “recklessly cause bushfire and drug-related offences. The man will appear in Bairnsdale magistrates court this morning.”
There is obviously a pretty emotional reaction to these kind of charges when Australia is in the grips of a bushfire crisis and federal politicians have been highlighting the role of arsonists in starting bushfires, but it is worth noting that the vast majority of the bushfires that are burning in Australia right now were started by lightning.
The three major fires that form the East Gippsland fire complex were all started by lightning, and hundreds more small fires were started by lightning when the pyrocumulonimbus from the 14km-high smoke column began generating its own thunderstorms. You can read more about that phenomenon here.
According to Crime Statistics Victoria, there were 32 recorded incidents of someone being charged with causing a bushfire between 1 January and 30 September, 2019. In 2018, 48 incidents of someone being charged with causing a bushfire were recorded.
The insurance industry has declared a catastrophe in hundreds of postcodes, stretching from East Gippsland in Victoria all the way north to the Sunshine Coast in Queensland.
So far there have been 3,870 insurance claims totalling more than $182m – but these numbers are bound to soar once damage is assessed from the fires over the new year period.
The Black Saturday fires in Victoria in 2009, which killed 173 people, caused about $1.7bn in damage, while the 1967 Black Tuesday fires in Tasmania, which killed 62 people, did more than $2bn in damage (in 2017 dollars).
There is huge concern among people on the NSW south coast, as there would be in East Gippsland, in areas that have not yet burned.
The situation that has fuelled much of this bushfire crisis – tinder-dry bushland after a severe drought – means the high risk remains in places that have not yet burned. The forecast for extreme weather conditions at the weekend are also scary.
Katherine Boland, an artist and author from Merimbula on the NSW south coast, told Guardian Australia yesterday she would be at great risk if the bush near her property was in the path of a fire.
“The worry for me is where I live at Merimbula is on the lake. My 90-year-old mother lives a couple of doors down from where I live. I’m thinking about how I could get her out and where could I go.
“I’ve actually lived in the area near the bush for 30 years. There were quite a few scary incidents but I’ve never experienced anything like this in my 30 years living in this area.
“We lived in the bush for all that time and never had to be evacuated. Everybody in this area knew this was going to happen, it’s been so bad here that even the natives, the gum trees were stressed out and dying. It’s tinder dry.”
Tony Murphy, the deputy emergency management Victoria commissioner, says authorities have already moved vulnerable people out of Mallacoota, the small coastal community on the Victoria-NSW border.
You’ll remember 4,000 people were huddled on the beach there on Tuesday as fire converged on the town. They have since been waiting for navy ship HMAS Choules to arrive.
Murphy says they will “have the opportunity” to evacuate 500 people today, but he notes some people with 4WDs and caravans may wish to stay and leave later by road.
