Bushfires disaster: thousands stranded in New Year’s Eve fury

Thousands of holidaymakers have been forced to take shelter on beaches in NSW and Victoria as catastrophic fires killed three people and left five others missing.

Holidaymakers take refuge on the beach as fires bear down on the NSW south coast town of Batemans Bay on New Year’s Eve. Picture: Alastair Prior

Thousands of holidaymakers have been forced to take shelter on beaches in southern NSW and Victoria as catastrophic fires ripped through coastal towns on New Year’s Eve, killing three people and leaving five others missing.

Homes, shops, and schools were razed in a continuing crisis, with 16 emergency fire warnings remaining in place across both states and hundreds of fires still burning.

The Australian Defence Force was called in on Tuesday to assist in the national emergency, with naval vessels, planes and helicopters to be deployed on evacuation missions and to ferry essential supplies­ to the fire zones.

An estimated 4000 people who had sought refuge on the foreshore at Mallacoota in Victoria’s east remained stranded on Tuesday night, with fire officers telling them it was too dangerous to ­return to their homes.

They had arrived on the beach on Monday, all fleeing a fast-­moving fire closing in on the town.

Father and son Robert and Patrick­ Salway, 63 and 29, died near the fire-ravaged town of Cobargo on Monday evening while defending their farm at Wandella.

Patrick’s widow, Renee, said she was “broken”. “I love you now, I love you still, I always have and I always will,” she wrote.

Property and stock damage across the two states was extensive, with NSW Rural Fire Service Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons saying it had been “a truly awful day”. “We need to brace ourselves for a considerable number of properties, a considerable number­ of homes that are likely to have been damaged or destroyed,’’ Mr Fitzimmons said.

 

A volunteer firefighter who died on Monday was identified as Samuel McPaul, a 28-year-old mechanic expecting his first child with wife Megan.

He died while battling a fire at Jingellic, about 100km east of Albury­ in southern NSW.

He became the third firefighter to be killed in the bushfire crisis, when the firetruck he was travelling in was flipped by a tornado created by the fires.

The Princes Highway remained closed at several locations in Victoria and NSW, leaving thousands of holidaymakers stranded in fire-affected areas.

An estimated 5000 people sheltered at the Bermagui Surf Lifesaving Club on the NSW south coast as fires threatened the region on Tuesday. Up to 2000 people were facing the prospect of sleeping in their cars or in the open.

Scenes of devastation and communities in crisis were developing along the NSW south coast, where telecommunications were cut, complicating the situation and adding to already high anxiety.

The fires are the latest in a ­tragic bushfire season across the nation, which has started earlier than usual and in which 13 people are confirmed dead, about 1000 homes have been destroyed and more than four million hectares of land burnt.

The death toll from this latest fire outbreak remains uncertain, with some smaller communities in Victoria and NSW inaccessible to emergency services.

A 72-year-old man was un­accounted for at the small town of Belowra, about 50km northwest of Cobargo, with authorities unable to reach the property.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrew­s said four Victorians, none of them firefighters, remained unaccounted for in fire-affecte­d areas, but at this stage was not disclosing the locations.

“We do have very real fears for their safety. They’ve been in active fire environments and we can’t account for them,” Mr Andrews said.

The NSW town of Batemans Bay was a particular concern, with dozens of homes understood to have been lost in the blaze after a significant wind change. As in Mallacoota, many residents and holidaymakers retreated to the water’s edge to flee the flames.

Winds continue to push fires along the NSW coast, creating more and more dangerous conditions. Cobargo, a historic town, had shops, houses and the local school destroyed.

In Victoria, the state’s ­Emergency Management Commissioner, Andrew Crisp, said at least 43 homes or buildings were confirme­d lost in the small East Gippsland towns of Buchan and Sarsfield.

Up to a dozen homes were also understood to have been lost on the outskirts of Mallacoota. In Clifton Creek, the primary school was destroyed. Other losses were expected to be discovered when inspections became safe to carry out. Mr Crisp said while the fire danger had eased in Mallacoota after a wind change, the risk of flare-ups continued and those on the beach had to remain there.

“Unfortunately, that is just not possible (for them to leave). There is no quick in-out — we’re not ­talking hours, we’re potentially talking days,” Mr Crisp said.

This has led to the deployment of the vessels HMAS Choules and the MV Sycamore, both of which have a capacity to carry out evacuations.

And to assist in the relief efforts, in which firefighters have become fatigued after weeks battling blazes­, a request has been made for 70 firefighters from Canada and the US. Across Australia, from Western Australia’s Stirling Ranges to South Australia’s Kangaroo Island to Tasmania, bushfires continue to burn, with at least one home lost about 50km north of Hobart on Tuesday.

Already more than 400,000ha have burned in the East Gippsland region in this round of fires. But new firefronts continue to open up, driven by dry lightning storms.

Victoria’s Country Fire Authority Chief Officer Steve Warrington said new fires had broken out near Mount Buller, Mount Hotham and Mount Buffalo in the state’s northeast.

Mallacoota remains a significant concern, with surrounding fires still at emergency levels. Temperatures hit 49C early on Tuesday, with high winds whipping embers towards the town.