Firefighters ‘fully committed’ as four bushfires rage in the Darwin rural area
FIREFIGHTERS are battling at least four bushfires in the area between Darwin and Adelaide River amid ‘extreme to catastrophic’ fire weather conditions today
Emergency Services
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FIREFIGHTERS are battling at least four fires in the area between Darwin and Adelaide River amid “extreme to catastrophic” fire weather conditions today.
At a press conference this afternoon, Bushfires NT chief fire control officer Andrew Turner said crews were currently “100 per cent committed” as they battled four blazes of concern, two of which are subject to “watch and act” status.
(One of) those fires in watch and act (is) near Strickland Rd and Stuart Hwy near Adelaide River,” he said.
“We’ve got several crew and aircraft trying to bring that under control. Previously in the day it was contained, but the winds have picked fuel up in the middle of the fire ground and sent it into unburnt country.
“The second fire in watch and act is (at) Fowler Rd, just west of Batchelor.
“It’s broken a containment line. It’s got a potential to run though to the Rum Jungle Estate, and there are a number of houses out there and business as well, so there’s a fair amount of concern in regard to that.
“In addition to that, we’ve got a report of a fire on Dorat Rd, just west of Adelaide River … and about 10km south of Adelaide River, another fire that currently we haven’t got the resources to attend, so we’re still investigating that.”
Bureau of Meteorology NT manager Todd Smith said the dangerous fire conditions were expected to last for the rest of today and throughout the weekend.
”We’ve currently got temperatures in the mid to high 30s out there, relative humidity is down in the single figures and we’ve been recording wind gusts over 60 km per hour,” he said.
“In the rural area, these very dangerous fire weather conditions are going to persist for some time yet. They'll persist right through this afternoon before starting to ease a little later on in this evening.
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“A warning for severe fire danger still remains in place tomorrow for the western Top End, the Carpenteria district, Katherine, and also the Gregory.
While the winds might be a little bit less tomorrow, it’s still going to be very dry and it’s still going to be very dangerous.”
He urged rural area residents to “remain vigilant”.
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