Bushfires: Death toll rises as troops prepare for emergency evacuations by sea

Eight people have died since Monday and at least four more are missing, feared dead, in the NSW and Victorian bushfires.

Gary Hinton surveys the debris, including his father’s boat, in Cobargo after a firestorm swept through the area on Wednesday. Picture: Stuart McEvoy

Eight people have been killed since Monday and at least four more are missing, feared dead, in the NSW and Victorian bushfires, as the Australian Defence Force and emergency ser­vices prepare to evacuate some of the thousands of people stranded in East ­Gippsland.

HMAS Choules is expected to reach the waters off Mallacoota by mid-morning on Thursday and Victorian Emergency Management Commissioner Andrew Crisp said the evacuation of some people from the town by sea was “an option that we’re seriously considering”.

“So if we were to do that, we would certainly be prioritising those who would be leaving,” Mr Crisp said.

Mallacoota’s population of 1063 typically rises to about 8000 at the height of summer, with many of the 4000 stranded in the town having gone there on holiday. HMAS Choules could take about 1000 people at a time.

The evacuation plans were being drawn up as coastal towns in southern NSW and Victoria counted the cost of Tuesday’s ­inferno, which darkened the sky and forced people to flee to beaches for safety.

NSW south coast towns such as Cobargo and Batemans Bay suffered extensive damage.

Firefighters spent Wednesday bolstering containment lines ahead of the return of dangerous conditions at the weekend. Mr Crisp said “thousands” of people also remained isolated in other communities across East Gippsland, with road access cut by the fires, including in Cann River, Buchan, Club Terrace, Omeo, Swifts Creek and Ensay.

At Mallacoota, ADF helicopters, Border Force barges and two ships and helicopters provided by gas company Esso were called in to provide food, fuel and drinking water. Mr Crisp said a barge loaded in Melbourne on Wednesday and destined for Mallacoota contained enough food and water to last a fortnight, as well as 30,000 litres of fuel.

Helicopters facilitated shift changeovers on Wednesday for 90 weary firefighters, while paramedics were set to be placed on a 25-bed barge moored off the town to provide medical care for those who need it.

On Wednesday, great-grandfather and Buchan town “larrikin” Mick Roberts, 67, became the first identified victim of the Gippsland bushfires. His niece Leah Parson confirmed the worst on the East Gippsland fire season Facebook page.

“He’s not missing anymore … sorry but his body has been found in his house … very sad day for us to start the year but we’re a bloody tight family and we will never forget­ our mate and my beautiful Uncle Mick,” Ms Parson wrote.

She described Mr Roberts­ as “old school” and said he would ­“always defend his home” if faced with fire.

Shocked residents console each other amid razed buildings in the main street of Cobargo on Wednesday. Picture: Stuart McEvoy

Three other Victorians remained missing, and Premier Daniel Andrews said authorities held “grave fears” for their safety.

Mr Andrews conceded the number could rise as isolated communities were reached.

In NSW, seven people have died since Monday and one other person is missing after a catas­trophic inferno engulfed large swaths of the state’s south coast on New Year’s Eve. Father and son Robert and Patrick­ Salway, 63 and 29, died near the town of ­Cobargo on Monday evening defending their dairy farm at Wandella.

The third victim of Tuesday’s fire was found at 7.30am on Wednesday­ in a burnt-out car at Yatte Yattah near Lake Conjola, off the Princes Highway, and was yet to be formally identified.

Police confirmed an additional three bodies were found on Wednesday: one in a vehicle at Sussex Inlet, one by ambulance officers outside a home at Coolagolite, and a 70-year-old man outside a home at Yatte Yattah. All were yet to be identified.

Col Burns, a 72-year-old off-duty firefighter, remained missing at Belowra, west of Narooma, while an 81-year-old woman missing after her home in Conjola Park was destroyed by fire on Tuesday was found safe and well.

On Monday night, 28-year-old volunteer firefighter and father-to-be Samuel McPaul was killed when his fire truck flipped near the NSW-Victoria border.

Mallacoota resident Mariska Ascher said she was concerned about when roads would reopen.

“We’ve been told it could be up to two weeks. I’ve also heard it could be a couple of weeks before we get power,” Ms Ascher said.

While authorities are yet to confirm the number of properties lost in the East Gippsland bushfires beyond 19 structures at Sarsfield and 24 at Buchan, local federal MP Darren Chester said he believed “dozens and dozens” of homes had been destroyed, including “dozens” in Mallacoota alone.

Ms Ascher, who runs the Mallacoota Fundraising Group for local emergency services, said she had heard estimates of between 40 and 60 houses lost in the town.

She said she would be opening a new fundraising account for residents who had lost their homes, and remained fearful as fire continued to burn on the nearby Howe Range ahead of temperatures in the high 30s forecast for Friday and Saturday. “We don’t know whether it’s going to jump the lake again and come back into Mallacoota. We’ve been told it might. It’s just terrible," she said.

Melbourne man Jake Giuliano, 26, and his wife, Laura, were camped at Mallacoota on Wednesday, with little idea when they would be able to leave.

“Everyone is calm and ­collected and waiting to see what happens. Everyone realises it’s a crisis and we’re stuck here for the time being,” he said.