Rescue efforts escalate as horror weekend begins

Fire dangers and temperatures are again at critical levels, as they have been for much of the time since the current season began in Queensland in early September. From the outset, green politicians and activists seized on the bushfires to demand unrealistically ambitious climate change targets and the end of the coal industry. Then, as spring gave way to a blazing summer, state by state, long-term drought turned excessive overgrowth of scrub into tinderboxes. The southeast has been hardest hit. But the west, South Australia, Tasmania and Queensland have also suffered. Parched countryside is vulnerable to dry lightning and arsonists, whose contribution to the crisis warrants close scrutiny and effective penalties. By the time Scott Morrison and his family took their short holiday to Hawaii before Christmas, a series of raging bushfires was becoming a national disaster. Outside the Canberra bubble, attention shifted a few weeks ago to the need for practical, effective and swift action. Some, however, still cannot resist dragging the discussion back to climate change at every opportunity.

The Prime Minister acknowledged on Thursday that climate change and the drought had extended Australia’s fire season. He also flagged an important overhaul of hazard reduction operations in national parks, and laws dictating where land could be cleared and houses built. After the fires are brought under control, those issues will be priorities for policymakers. For now, however, the rescue challenge remains mammoth. But many people on the frontlines and on the sidelines have a disgruntled inkling that emergency responses have been slow to move into top gear. On Friday, after waiting since New Year’s Eve, thousands of holidaymakers were finally evacuated from Mallacoota beach on the Victorian coast by the navy. The reasons for the delay are not clear. Thousands more, however, remained isolated in rural settlements late on Friday, encircled by fire. The total area burnt in Victoria is now more than 785,000ha. In 2009, the Black Saturday fires devastated 450,000ha.

In Victoria and NSW, tens of thousands of people, including an unknown number trapped in dozens of isolated communities, remain in the danger zone for raging bushfires. Both NSW and Victoria have declared states of emergency — referred to as a “state of disaster” in Victoria. On Friday, Victorian fire authorities estimated as many as 100,000 people were in the potential fire impact area. And in NSW, 120,000 people could find themselves trapped as looming firestorms threaten to engulf small communities stretching hundreds of kilometres from Nowra to the Victorian border, and west to Kosciuszko. The “brief window” to get out of the disaster zone closed on Friday night.

On Friday, The Australian argued the need for a greater sense of urgency and for the appointment of a respected leader, with disaster management experience, to take charge and co-ordinate the national response. The day’s unfolding events underlined that need, as did the magnitude of the emergency response being mounted. Angry claims about shortages of firefighting equipment, including aircraft, and counterclaims that lack of volunteer personnel is the real problem, were made on Friday. But fire chiefs are adamant they have enough support. Any shortages of equipment must be plugged as soon as possible.

The national security committee of cabinet, sensibly, is meeting on Saturday morning rather than waiting until Monday to decide if Mr Morrison proceeds with his planned trip to India and Japan this month. At the Bairnsdale Incident Control Centre in Victoria on Friday, he said he was inclined not to go. The trip is important to the nation, but it can be rescheduled. The response to the current emergency cannot wait. While the states, not the commonwealth, are in charge of fire and emergency services, federal backing amid such a vast crisis, including Australian Defence Force support and extra resources, is critical to saving lives. At Saturday’s meeting, ministers also should consider what is needed to boost firefighting efforts.

On Friday, former NSW fire chief Greg Mullins denounced Mr Morrison for not phoning his counterparts in France, Portugal, Spain and Canada to ask for a loan of their water bombers to help combat the bushfires. “If you had 20 to 30 of these medium-sized aircraft that have rapid turnaround, you could make a material difference,” Mr Mullins said. That is a serious claim that must be addressed by fire authorities and the government. If the aircraft are needed in greater numbers, it must be acted upon without delay. Mr Mullins’s grievances about climate policy were unhelpful, however. No amount of carbon abatement in Australia would or could have averted the crisis. Australia is on track to meet its emissions reduction targets, but that debate belongs to a later time. Given current circumstances, playing the blame game is contemptible, a lesson NSW Transport Minister Andrew Constance should heed.

Mr Morrison, who was out and about on Friday as he needs to be, said the ADF’s role would increase in the days ahead with airlifting, evacuations and other support. The ADF, he said, was not just waiting for requests but trying to pre-empt them. That was reassuring to many communities. He also activated compensation payments of up to $6000 for volunteer firefighters in SA and Tasmania and said SA has also asked for aircraft. As of Friday night, the east coast power grid was facing threats with faults at two AGL Energy power stations in Victoria and NSW. Bushfires also threaten transmission lines from the Snowy Mountains hydro scheme. The death toll from the fires stood at 20, with 28 people unaccounted for. But with temperatures in Victoria to exceed 40C and reach the mid to high 30s in NSW, the weekend will be critical, especially for people in remote, isolated areas.