Bushfire destroys property, ravages land at Mira Rd, Southport
An extreme bushfire which swept through the Darwin rural left devastating damage on the land and property. The NT News photographed the blackened damage.
Northern Territory
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Tensions ran high among Southport residents on Thursday after a bushfire ravaged a paddock, destroyed a home and left three others with minor damage.
The bushfire at Mira Rd sparked on Wednesday, with authorities forced to call an emergency warning, the highest level bushfire alert.
The warning was later decreased to a watch and act and decreased threat — but the damage and devastation was done.
A red and white sign hangs on a singed fence line, reading: ‘illegal fire activity detected in the area’, with locals urged to take any information to authorities.
Southport resident Jason Taylor was initially concerned about the looming plumes of smoke.
“It was concerning, people watering houses and the sirens from low-flying planes overhead,” Mr Tayor said.
“(But) then I drove closer to see the emergency services were doing their best.
“There were basically two ways out of Southport, through the fire or swimming across the Blackmore river.”
One resident said masses of gamba grass had inhabited the paddock for seven years and had allegedly not been properly maintained before it ignited on Wednesday afternoon.
The NT News understands four homes were caught in the firing line of the blaze, losing household objects like lawnmowers, boat motors and barbecues.
Vehicles sit gutted in paddocks, metres from where the blaze had blackened homes.
The state of the vehicles makes it unclear if the cars had been abandoned for years or were lost in the blaze.
Authorities continue to investigate the fire.
Multiple bushfires were reported across the Territory on Thursday.
A roadside fire raged along Jenkins Rd, leaving circling kites an easy feast of small animals and insects fleeing for refuge.
On Thursday throughout the day, fireys monitored grass and scrub blazes at Cox Peninsula Rd in Southport, Dorat Rd in Robin Falls and Raberaba Cct in Hermannsburg.
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