Kangaroo Island bushfires: Emergency warnings for Parndana and Vivonne Bay as fight to contain blazes continues
Kangaroo Island residents face a nervous wait as bushfires threaten Parndana and Vivonne Bay, ahead of more tough conditions today.
SA News
Don't miss out on the headlines from SA News. Followed categories will be added to My News.
- Rolling blog: Latest fire coverage
- Mayor demands forestry ban
- Battle to save birds and bees
- Craftsman makes fiery escape
Residents were again on tenterhooks on Thursday night as blazes threatened two towns ahead of more dangerous firefighting conditions today.
The area around Parndana is under an emergency warning, along with Vivonne Bay in the island’s south.
A Watch and Act message is also current for north eastern KI, including the outskirts of Kingscote, American River, Nepean Bay, Cygnet River, Emu Bay, Brownlow, Bay of Shoals, Wisanger and Smith Bay.
Another total fire ban has been issued for the whole of Kangaroo Island today.
A cool change moved over the island late Thursday, with between 3mm and 15mm of rain expected at Parndana this morning.
But Country Fire Service chief officer Mark Jones said while welcome, the rain would not extinguish the island’s fires, which have been burning since December 20.
“As the fire moves east with the change, anywhere to the east of Parndana (will be threatened) and the northeast of Parndana will be affected … as the fires travel,” he said.
“It takes a huge amount of rain to put out bushfires of this intensity and this scale, and that’s not forecast.
“There’s going to be strong winds again (today) and even though the relative humidities will be higher, we anticipate difficult firefighting conditions throughout the day, as well.”
The fires have so far burned more than 156,000ha of farmland and national parks.
The fire near Parndana on Thursday scorched 2558ha and the blaze threatening Vivonne Bay ravaged 415ha.
Pointing to the scale of the emergency, Mr Jones said 650,000 litres of water was dumped on to the fireground by aircraft.
There were 250 personnel from combined agencies working on the island, including 200 firefighters.
“I’d urge everybody to heed our advice and head to the east part of the island, which is deemed as safe at this point,” Mr Jones said.
Kingscote was still considered safe and he said there was “no information” to suggest that would change overnight.
Meanwhile, a marron farmer near Parndana was on Thursday seen walking barefoot, west on the Playford Highway, directly towards the fire zone about 3pm.
Nick Martlew told The Advertiser he camped on his 60ha farm on Wednesday night to closely monitor the bushfire threat.
Then on Thursday morning, a fire near Duncan flared and began to threaten Parndana.
“We saw the fire come up to our farm and saw all the bush was on fire,” Mr Martlew said. “The fire burnt all my farm and got within 200m of us, so we got in the car and had to take off.”
Mr Martlew said his car broke down and he was walking back to his farm, which he had owned for 28 years.
He did not know where his 22-year-old son was.
“He’s not scared; he’s big tough and brave,” Mr Martlew said. The Advertiser assured Mr Martlew’s safety.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has also announced the 42 bushfire-affected councils would each receive $1 million from today.
Councils can use the no-strings-attached payment for whatever they deem necessary, including immediate repairs, rebuilding damaged roads or extra staff. Mr Morrison said the payment, which comes from the Federal Government’s $2 billion bushfire recovery fund, was “initial and urgent”.
Kangaroo Island Mayor Michael Pengilly welcomed the announcement as his community was again under threat on Thursday night.