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Bushfires: Homes, lives under threat as fires flare in Victoria, near NSW border

An emergency warning remains in place near the Victoria-NSW border as residents are told ‘to act immediately to survive’.

Angelica SnowdenAngelica Snowden
@ang3snowden
17 min read
3:36PMJanuary 13, 2020.
Updated 10:55PMJanuary 13, 2020
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Two emergency warnings in place in Victoria's Alpine, Gippsland regions

Welcome to The Australian’s live coverage of the ongoing bushfire crisis. Rain and milder conditions in NSW and Victoria have brought some relief to exhausted firefighters in fire-ravaged regions but dozens of fires are still raging, with many still uncontained.

Lachlan Moffet Gray 8.08pm: Fire season ‘far from over’

An emergency warning remains active in East Gippsland, threatening homes and lives in the Noorinbee and Noorinbee North areas around the Cann Road Bridge on the Monaro Highway.

The fire is travelling in a southerly direction towards Leslie’s Track, prompting Forest Fire Management Victoria to close the Monaro Highway from the Cann River to the border with NSW and warn anyone still in the area to seek shelter indoors.

All other warnings across the state were downgraded to watch-and-act level at midday on Monday and milder weather is forecast across the week, with rain set to fall on Wednesday through to Saturday in Victoria and some bushfire-affected areas in NSW.

The military continued to assist people in the state, bringing more than 100 people out of the stranded coastal town of Mallacoota as they escorted fire assessors in so they can survey the extent of the damage.

Four men have died as a result of the fires and at least 340 homes have been destroyed but Premier Daniel Andrews today warned that the danger is not over.

“This fire season is far from over,” he said.

“With such a big fire edge pushing up to almost 1.4 million hectares so early on, we have a couple of months of very, very challenging conditions.”

The Andrews government also announced land tax and stamp duty exemptions, similar to waivers introduced after the 2009 Black Saturday bushfires. State government grants totalling almost $9 million have been given to Victorians to date.

With AAP

Lachlan Moffet Gray 6.46pm: Electricity on for most NSW homes

More than 90 per cent of the tens of thousands of homes that lost power on NSW’s south coast in the New Year’s Eve fires have now been reconnected to the network.

Endeavour Energy’s Janine Cullen told The Australian “virtually everyone” on their network between Nowra and Batemans Bay who had lost power have been reconnected, save a few remote properties.

“If we couldn’t get them back on the network, we supplied generators. One way or another they have power,” she said.

Essential Energy, which provides power to homes and businesses from Batemans Bay down to the border with Victoria said on Monday afternoon that approximately 3300 customers remained without power after 370 customers were reconnected to the network in the Carbo area yesterday.

“Work being carried out today is hoped to restore power to approximately 200 customers in the Bega area,” said Essential Energy’s David Crough.

“Access for Essential Energy crews to complete electrical network repairs remains challenging with some areas still inaccessible,” he said.

“In other areas, significant vegetation management scoping is occurring to ensure team safety when working on the network and to remove the likelihood of burnt trees falling on the network once re-energised.”

Approximately 50,000 households lost power for a week or more in the aftermath of the devastating New Year’s Eve Fires which blackened almost one million hectares and destroyed hundreds of homes.

This afternoon the NSW Rural Fire Service confirmed that 2162 homes have been destroyed during the bushfire season, with the number to climb as damage assessment teams continue to tally properties.

Adeshola Ore 5.54pm: ‘Significant impact to timber supply’

The NSW bushfires have impacted almost 50,000 hectares of softwood plantations, with a local mayor warning a “deficit could last years”.

“This will have a large impact going into the future,” said the Snowy Valley Councils Mayor James Hayes.

“We need to be acting very quickly to have these areas planted as soon as possible.”

The impacted areas of Tumut and Tumbarumba include the plantation that feeds the local Visy paper mill.

Australian Forest Products Association CEO Ross Hampton said more analysis was needed to know the full scope of the damage.

“I think what is clear is that there will be a significant gap in the timber supply that was being programmed for and that’s a gap we need to work on filling and with creative solutions.”

But he said some trees in the impacted plantations could be salvaged.

“The research shows that if you move quickly you do have a year to a year and a half to save trees that otherwise would die. So we need to make sure all of the salvageable timber is sawn and that replanting takes place at an incredibly fast rate which may require special assistance.”

Mr Hayes said forestry corporations were vital for the local economy.

“We are talking big numbers and big number of employees. Visy employs 300 people on site and then there are all the forest harvesters, contractors and truck drivers that supports the industry.”

But Mr Hampton said the recovery efforts needed to fill the hole in timber supplies could lead to more jobs available for the local area.

“That would be great for the region because more than 50 per cent of people in that region rely on forest industries directly for their employment.”

3pm: Fire threatens homes, lives

Homes and lives are again under threat as an emergency warning in Victoria’s far east was issued, despite cooler conditions dampening the statewide threat, AAP reports.

The Cann Road bridge fire flared up on Monday afternoon with an emergency warning issued for Noorinbee and Noorinbee North, near the NSW border. “This fire is threatening homes and lives,” the alert states. “You are in danger and need to act immediately to survive.”

It comes as the fire threat across the east was slightly downgraded, with all alerts across the state sitting at a watch and act level or lower at midday Monday.

Milder weather is forecast across the week with rain developing in the state’s east on Wednesday and extending at least until Saturday.

Despite the respite, temperatures will hover about 30C and winds are still gusting, meaning the danger lingers and fires show no sign of relenting. “These fires aren’t out and they’re not going to be out until they burn themselves out or we finish with a really big rain event,” Premier Daniel Andrews told KIIS FM on Monday.

“The weather bureau’s not telling us that’s likely.”

There are 19 active fires across Victoria, more than 1.3 million hectares have been burnt and 1500 firefighters remain on the job.

Four men have died as a result of the fires and hundreds of properties and structures have been lost.

Poor and very poor air quality conditions due to the bushfires are forecast statewide, with smoke and haze in the east, northeast and central Victoria. Visibility has been reduced to about 500m in East Gippsland and about 5 kilometres in Melbourne due to smoke from fires in the state’s far east and NSW.

— AAP

Rachel Baxendale 2.10pm: Man charged over fatal crash

Victorian police have charged a man over a two vehicle collision which killed Forest Fire management Victoria firefighter Matt Kavanagh on January 3.

Black Saturday hero Mr Kavanagh, 43, was on duty and had extinguished seven unattended campfires the day he died.

Police released a statement on Monday, saying Major Collision Investigation Unit detectives had charged a 46-year-old Alexandra man over the incident, which took place on the Goulburn Valley Highway at Thornton, south west of Lake Eildon, in Victoria’s north east.

“Investigators have been told a car and a ute were travelling along Goulburn Valley Highway when they collided head on about 1.45pm,” police said in a statement.

“Emergency services were not able to revive a 43-year-old Alexandra man, the passenger from the ute, and he died at the scene.

“The driver of the ute, a 47-year-old Narbethong man, was taken to hospital in a serious condition.

“The driver of the car, a 46-year-old Alexandra man, was initially flown to hospital in a critical condition and has since been charged with dangerous driving causing death.”

The car driver has been remanded to appear in Wangaratta Magistrates’ Court on April 28, 2020.

The death toll from Victoria’s fires stands at four, following the deaths of two men in the East Gippsland fires and the death over the weekend near Omeo of veteran firefighter Bill Slade.

Twenty people have died as a result of fires in NSW this season, and three have died in South Australia.

David Ross 1.30pm: Koalas may be listed as endangered

The federal government is warning the scale of destruction of koala populations from the bushfires has been so great they may soon be officially listed as “endangered’’. Read more here

A koala is treated for burns at a koala hospital in Port Macquarie, NSW.
A koala is treated for burns at a koala hospital in Port Macquarie, NSW.

12.50pm: ‘All our Christmas, birthday, wedding presents’

Fire conditions are expected to ease throughout the week with rain on the horizon for NSW. “We would love rain everywhere,” NSW Rural Fire Service spokesman Anthony Bradstreet said.

“Hopefully we will receive some good rainfall in fire affected areas.”

Rain is forecast for pockets of the central and northern coasts on Monday, with thunderstorms and showers forecast for most of NSW on Thursday when up to 25 millimetres is expected to fall on parts of the South Coast. “If this @BOM_NSW rainfall forecast comes to fruition then this will be all of our Christmas, birthday, engagement, anniversary, wedding and graduation presents rolled into one. Fingers crossed,” the RFS tweeted on Monday.

Mr Bradstreet warned thunderstorms could create the risk of falling trees and landslips.

Crews will take advantage of the easing conditions to establish and strengthen containment lines for some 40 bushfires which are not yet contained, he added. The RFS has said there are more than 100 fires still burning across the state and many will take some time to fully contain.

Air quality across much of the state including Sydney was very poor as a result of smoke from the bushfires.

Hazardous air quality was recorded in parts of Sydney’s northwest, southwest, the Illawarra, Albury and Wagga Wagga.

11.20am: PM ‘did everything humanly possible’

Natural Disaster Minister David Littleproud has defended Scott Morrison’s handling of the bushfires crisis that has gripped the nation, saying the Prime Minister did “everything he possibly, humanly could” in response to the fires emergency.

“This could have been so much worse if we had not meticulously planned (a response),” Mr Littleproud said today.

“We modelled it (the bushfires response) in November.”

Mr Littleproud said climate change was a “national commitment” and industry needed to help lead it.

“We need the rest of the world to come with us (on climate change),” he said.

Eli Greenblat 10.15am: Fires’ cloud over spending

Images of a burnt Australian landscape, destroyed homes and evacuated towns could depress consumer spending, especially on discretionary goods, as people become uncomfortable to spend money or celebrate social occasions as others in the country are struggling, JP Morgan warns.

Click here for the full story.

9.10am: Garnaut – aim for zero emissions

Australia should be aiming for zero greenhouse gas emissions as soon as possible otherwise bushfire conditions will become worse in the future, economist Ross Garnaut says.

Professor Garnaut undertook a review for the then-Labor government in 2008, which concluded climate change would make bushfires worse in Australia by 2020.

“Things will keep getting more challenging ... until the world has zero net emissions. It’s in Australia’s national interest that we’re part of the global effort to get to zero net emissions as soon as possible,” he told ABC radio on Monday.

“That will continue to be the case until the world has zero net emissions. It’s in Australia’s national interest that we’re part of the global effort to get to zero net emissions as soon as possible.”

Australia has pledged to cut emissions by 26 to 28 per cent on 2005 levels by 2030 under the Paris Agreement.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has come under pressure for his handling of the bushfire crisis as well as his government’s attitude towards the link between climate change and carbon emissions.

Mr Morrison says he accepts climate change is driving longer, hotter and drier summer seasons and the government’s emissions targets need to “evolve”. But he says this won’t include introducing a carbon tax or shutting down industries.

Prof Garnaut says the government could ensure the coal and natural gas industries buy carbon credits to offset their future emissions, which continue to grow.

“It’s really important that Australia be part of the international community that’s seeking more ambitious outcomes, rather than a drag on the global effort,” he said.

“We’ve been a drag in recent years.” But Prof Garnaut, an economic adviser to late prime minister Bob Hawke, concedes a higher target is unlikely until Australians next head to the polls. “Prime Minister Howard went to the 1996 election saying there would never ever be a GST, and he won the 1998 election promising a GST,” he said. “Let’s hope we see much stronger commitments after this electoral term.” Natural Disaster Minister David Littleproud has continued to stand by the government’s plan to use carry-over credits towards achieving the Paris target. Australia is the only country which plans to use the accounting technique.

Angelica Snowden 9.00am: Hanson: throw climate change out window

One Nation leader Pauline Hanson has agreed that a royal commission should investigate management of the bushfires, but blamed the severity of the crisis on fuel loads.

“If you are going to have a royal commission into it, throw bloody climate change out the window and let us look at the pure facts of why we have had the bushfires …,” Ms Hanson told the Today show.

“As far as predicting climate change, well, they can’t even get my weather right.”

Ms Hanson conceded that the climate is changing, but that this was “pure to our relationship with nature”.

“If you are fair dinkum about climate change, pull the aeroplanes out of the sky,” she said.

“Taxing people and putting up electricity costs is going to change the climate.”

Ms Hanson also said she was not surprised at Scott Morrison’s plunge in popularity.

“I have been dismally disappointed with him – he is not the strong leader he was then (when he was the immigration minister).”

Ms Hanson accused the prime minister of lack of leadership on drought and for failing to support dairy farmers through it.

“I have had a lot of people around the country tell me they are disappointed with Scott Morrison since the election,” she said.

“People don’t feel that he has done enough in dealing with the drought.”

Anne Barrowclough 8.25am: Folau in tears over bushfires

Israel Folau has broken down in tears while speaking of the bushfire emergency in church, saying Australians ‘should have asked Jesus for help’ before the fires ravaged the country.

In a sermon at the Church of Jesus Christ in Sydney, Folau, who has previously claimed the fires are “god’s punishment” for gay marriage, asked why it took the bushfire crisis for people to turn to God.

Israel Folau in tears discussing bushfires

“Look at this country here and all these devastating bushfires that have happened. I see on the news there are a lot of people out there because of the things that they’ve lost and it’s been a tragic event for this country,” he told the congregation.

“I see people saying that they’ve never prayed so hard in their life … why does it take something so devastating like the bushfires for people to humble themselves and get down on their knees and ask God for help?”

Pausing repeatedly to wipe his eyes, he added: “God turns his face against the wicked, but … as born again believers in the faith, we need to pray because of what’s happening in this nation with these devastating fires … this event can cause people to turn, and to come to the lord Jesus Christ. That’s what our prayer is, for people to come to know who the lord is.’

Angelica Snowden 8.00am: 40 fires out of control in NSW

The NSW Rural Fire Service is warning it will take time to extinguish many bushfires across the state even though rain looks set to provide some relief.

Senior meteorologist Bureau of Meteorology Dean Sgarbossa said while a small amount of rain fell on parts of NSW and Victoria, we can expect about five to 10 millimetres daily in Illawarra, south coast and the central and southern tablelands.

Mr Sgarbossa said that generally there was one to five mm of rain across the central coast of NSW and little to no rainfall over bushfire affected zones in NSW or Victoria in the last 24-hours.

Increased showers and thunderstorms are expected from Wednesday across the entire eastern seaboard providing much needed relief to bushfire affected areas including in eastern Victoria, eastern NSW, eastern Queensland and Tasmania.

Mr Sgarbossa said that moisture is increasing over the topics along with a trough of low pressure that is building over eastern Australia which will help generate showers and thunderstorms.

But the RFS said many fires are yet to be contained and there were 111 fires still burning in NSW late on Sunday night.

“While it’s been pleasing to hear of rain falling across parts of the state today, many of these fires will still take some time to fully contain,” the RFS said on Twitter.

Air quality was again expected to be poor in Sydney after the city was blanketed by a smoky haze on Sunday.

The department of planning, industry and environment warned that it would be unhealthy for sensitive people and could cause symptoms, especially in people with heart or lung disease.

On Sunday firefighters brought under control one of the county’s most damaging blazes – the Gospers Mountain fire, which has burned for two-and-a-half months northwest of Sydney.

“After lightning started the fire on October 26, it has burnt through more than 512,000 hectares across the Lithgow, Hawkesbury, Hunter Valley, Cudgegong, Blue Mountains and Central Coast local government areas,” the Hawkesbury RFS said on Facebook.

“The firefighting effort has seen a range of local, interstate, federal and international agencies involved.

“Containment took longer than expected due to unfavourable weather conditions, however due to our hardworking crews, we have achieved that today.

“It is important to remember not to be complacent as there are still a few months of the bush fire season to go with some bushland that still has not been burnt.”

7.50am: $50m for fire devastated wildlife

Vets and volunteers treat Koalas at Kangaroo Island Wildlife Park. Picture: AAP.
Vets and volunteers treat Koalas at Kangaroo Island Wildlife Park. Picture: AAP.

The federal government has put $50 million towards helping restore Australia’s devastated wildlife. Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said the initial contribution would be evenly split with $25 million to an Emergency Recovery Fund and $25 million divvied up between frontline environmental groups.

Money in the fund will be steered by Australia’s threatened species commissioner Sally Box, who will work with scientists to put a recovery plan in place to protect wildlife.

Mr Frydenberg has described the bushfires as an ecological disaster, telling Sky News on Monday eight million hectares had been lost so far while more than one billion animals are estimated to have died.

Meanwhile, thousands of kilograms of carrots and sweet potatoes are being dropped by planes in fire-affected areas of New South Wales to help wallabies. The state’s Environment Minister Matt Kean said initial fire assessments indicate the habitats of several important brush-tailed wallaby populations were burnt in the recent bushfires.

Injured animals are also being treated in bushfire-ravaged areas of Victoria. RSPCA Victoria has deployed a mobile animal care unit to Bairnsdale to care for injured wildlife, including animals evacuated from the stranded town of Mallacoota.

RSPCA South Australia has converted a wildlife refuge into a treatment centre for animals injured on Kangaroo Island.

Up to 80 animals are being rescued every day in Queensland, prompting the state government to announce $250,000 in grants for wildlife carers.

AAP

7.40am: Queen to headline fire relief concert

Adam Lambert and Brian May of Queen will headline a bushfire relief gig in February. Picture; Getty Images.
Adam Lambert and Brian May of Queen will headline a bushfire relief gig in February. Picture; Getty Images.

Queen and Adam Lambert, k.d. lang, Alice Cooper and Olivia Newton-John are expected to perform at a special nine hour long benefit concert in Sydney to raise funds for the bushfire relief effort.

The Fire Fight Australia event at the ANZ Stadium in Olympic Park, set for Sunday February 16, will be hosted by comedian Celeste Barber, whose online bushfire fundraiser has collected more than $50 million in donations.

The concert includes artists Amy Shark, Baker Boy, Conrad Sewell, Daryl Braithwaite, Delta Goodrem, Grinspoon and Guy Sebastian Hilltop Hoods, Icehouse, Illy, Jessica Mauboy, Lee Kernaghan, Pete Murray, Peking Duk, Tina Arena and William Barton are also set to play. Tickets for the event, which starts at 1pm, go on sale from midday on Monday through Ticketek at $100, $85 and $70 with an option to make further contributions to bushfire relief.

Angelica Snowden 7.00am: Victoria emergency warning

Two bushfires in Victoria are burning at emergency level despite milder conditions with temperatures forecast to remain between the 20s and the low 30s.

One emergency warning remained in place in Victoria’s northeast on Sunday evening, about 8km east of Abbeyard.

Early on Monday an emergency warning was issued for an east Gippsland fire, with people in Tamboon, Tamboon South and Furnell urged to leave before it became too dangerous.

Milder conditions are expected to last throughout the week, with rain developing in the state’s east on Wednesday and extending at least until Saturday.

Fire authorities said that despite the milder conditions, people needed to remain aware of conditions in their area because fires were still active.

“We’ve got fairly benign weather conditions, but we still have very active fires in the landscape and people need to stay across their local conditions,” Emergency Management Victoria Commissioner Andrew Crisp said on Sunday.

The reprieve comes after the state’s death toll from the fires rose to four with the death of a veteran firefighter.

6.55am: ATP donates $725,000 to bushfire relief

The ATP is to donate $725,000 to the WWF Australian Wildlife and Nature Recovery Fund as part of the bushfire relief efforts.

The donation from players was announced by Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal after Serbia defeated Spain to capture the inaugural ATP Cup team event in Sydney. The Australian bush has been burning for nearly three months and the fires have killed 28 people, claimed 2000 homes and consumed millions of acres of land and wildlife.

“This donation with the ATP is on behalf of all the players and our thoughts and support go out to all those who have been affected,” ATP Player Council president Djokovic added in a statement.

“Australia is such an amazing and welcoming country and it feels like home for us at the start of each season. To see the damage to wildlife and nature … has been devastating.”

As part of the #Aces4BushfireRelief campaign, several ATP and WTA players have pledged personal donations towards relief and recovery efforts.

Serena Williams. who donated her earnings after winning the Auckland Classic on Sunday, Roger Federer and Nadal will also feature in an exhibition match on January 15 ahead of the Australian Open to raise funds.

The Great Alpine Road was devastated after a bushfire tore through the region. Picture: Jason Edwards.
The Great Alpine Road was devastated after a bushfire tore through the region. Picture: Jason Edwards.

6.45am: NSW livestock tops 13,000

The number of livestock killed as a result of bushfires in NSW has now topped 13,000 and the toll is expected to climb.

Farmers and animals in the state’s south have been worst-hit, with more than 12,000 stock having died since Christmas, Agriculture Minister Adam Marshall says.

“The toll is expected to continue to climb in coming days – it’s absolutely devastating for producers and our state’s agricultural sector,” he said in a statement on Monday.

Crews from the NSW Department of Primary Industries and Local Land Services have been assessing livestock and burying dead animals in fire-affected areas. “Livestock assessment and burial is a grim task but it is one way we can support our landholders during the emergency,” Mr Marshall said.

More than 10,500 tonnes of fodder have been distributed to farmers, with more than 16,000 landholders thought to have been affected by the fires.

AAP

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Angelica Snowden
Angelica SnowdenJournalist

Angelica Snowden is a reporter at The Australian's Melbourne bureau covering crime, state politics and breaking news. She has worked at the Herald Sun, ABC and at Monash University's Mojo.

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Original URL: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/bushfires-rain-brings-relief-but-fires-still-active/news-story/ffaf205d9711905229e0825e1a5990e1