Queensland, NSW fires: Satellite images show devastation
Coastal towns threatened as new images show the imminent danger to properties and lives.
Over 130 fires are burning across NSW and Queensland in the worst start to the bushfire season in recorded history.
Charlie Peel 6.10pm: ‘The whole sky was just orange’
Residents living in the small bushland suburbs west of Peregian Beach have been forced to evacuate after the fire that threatened the beachside community on Monday turned westward.
The blaze had been tracking north but shifted direction about noon.
A thick black plume of smoke billowed into the sky as the fire moved across the Noosa National Park towards Lake Weyba and the nearby suburbs of West Peregian and Peregian Breeze Estate.
Dozens of people congregated at elevated points in nearby Peregian Springs, watching the plume advance, while others waited on the side of the road at police roadblocks.
They gathered at the local golf course to watch a team of helicopters scoop water from the lake to dump on the flames in a bid to bring the blaze under control.
Andrew and Rachel Sellman, who live on an acreage block in West Peregian spent a sleepless Monday night monitoring the bright orange glow across the national park.
“The whole sky was just orange,” Mr Sellman said.
“We were trying to judge, ‘is it brighter, is it darker’.”
The couple feared the wind would turn at any moment, sending the bushfire racing their way.
Their fears were realised about 2pm Tuesday when the strong wind whipped up the fire and sent it towards their home.
After spending the morning loading pets and some supplies into their car, they were forced to evacuate about 11am Tuesday.
“Police did some door knocking and they said they weren’t asking us to leave, they were telling us to leave,” Ms Sellman said.
“We didn’t expect the wind to change.”
Mr Sellman said the scenes in Peregian were reminiscent of a Hollywood blockbuster.
“I never thought you’d see embers and fires running down the street like that,” he said.
“It was scary.”
Real estate Johnathan Tomasini was in Peregian checking on his clients’ properties as the carnage unfolded about 9pm Monday.
He watched as about eight fire trucks in the middle of the township, around the shopping village, sprayed buildings and the burning scrub with water.
The cascade of embers windswept from the national park and across David Low Way hit gardens and bushland closer to the beach, sparking new blazes.
Firefighters raced from one spot fire to another.
“The fire actually went over the top of David Low Way and the first streets and lit up the nature reserve on the beachfront,” Mr Tomasini said.
“That’s what took out the old timber home on Plover Street.
“People’s retaining walls were on fires at the back of their yards on the beachfront.
“It was scary stuff, doomsday like, with sparks flying across the road.”
Mr Tomasini noticed a clients’ fence, at the back of a new home, was on fire.
“(The owners) are in Florence so they had no idea until I phoned them,” he said.
“I dialled it in to the fireys and they were there very quickly.”
Firefighters concentrated on stopping the wall of flames from catching alight on the beach side of David Low Way.
Others ran lines of hoses from a fire hydrant in the middle of Plover Street, focusing on the spot fires burning at the back of homes.
“They were doing a terrific job, I don’t know how they do it,” Mr Tomasini said.
“If the fireys weren’t there, a stack of stuff would have gone up, 100 per cent.
“The firefighters were doing the best they could.
“It got really dangerous there, the air was getting really thick, you could see sparks flying everywhere.”
Charlie Peel 2.02pm: Couple waits for Peregian Beach return
Peregian Beach couple Hugh and Bernadette Bauer were on Tuesday eagerly awaiting to hear whether they would be allowed back in to the community to check on their home.
The couple, who live in Oriole Avenue, evacuated just after 6pm Monday.
At that time the flames were already lapping at David Low Way and threatening to jump the road to the homes and shops on the other side.
“It was burning trees in the median strip near the service station,” Ms Bauer told The Australian.
“It was just raining embers and that’s what was catching the trees alight.
“It didn’t take long to spread.”
Mr Bauer said the strong wind was pushing the flames from the nearby national park towards the beachside community.
“It was blowing its ring off,” Mr Bauer said.
The couple evacuated to a community centre in Coolum and spent the night in their two cars.
“There were about 100 people there,” Ms Bauer said.
“A lot of us chose to just sleep in our cars in the car park.”
A neighbour, who did not evacuate, told the couple that their home, and the home of their son who lives nearby, had not been damaged.
“He told us they were very much under threat because we back onto David Low Way and it’s so bushy there,” Ms Bauer said.
“Apparently they were wetting down the bushland behind us on our back fence because the embers were in there.
“It might have been just as well we weren’t there.”
Roadblocks prevented access to the community on Tuesday afternoon, but authorities had not given the couple any reason about why they were not allowed back in to see their home.
“I don’t know what’s happening tonight, but I hope we can get in,” Mr Bauer said.
The fire has died down significantly and is no longer burning close to homes but continues to burn in the bushland west of Peregian.
Authorities have urged residents living in the predicted path of the fire to evacuate.
1.31am: ‘Nightmare’ blazes in NSW
Strong winds threaten to push at least one of three major bushfires towards homes on the NSW north coast, with the local mayor describing the situation as very serious.
Three watch-and-act warnings are in place for fires at Bees Nest near Armidale, Drake near Tenterfield and Shark Creek in the Clarence Valley just south of Yamba.
At least nine homes and 34 outbuildings have so far been destroyed and six homes damaged but crews are yet to fully assess the damage.
Of greatest concern is the Shark Creek fire, with gusts of more than 60km/h hitting the area just before midday on Tuesday.
“When we see those strong southerly winds strengthen … (it will) potentially threaten the areas of Angourie, Wooloweyahand Yamba,” RFS Inspector Ben Shepherd told AAP.
Residents in those coastal villages are being warned to monitor the situation closely after the blaze breached containment lines overnight. Directly in the potential path of the fire is the Angourie Resort, south of Yamba.
Danielle, who runs the business with her husband and parents, said they’d managed to evacuate all of their guests within an hour at lunchtime on Monday. While easing conditions gave the family some hope overnight, strong winds on Tuesday have put them on edge.
“You just feel so helpless, you just want to do something … (we’re) just sitting here waiting to get the news it’s burnt down,” she told AAP. “My husband keeps going down there and wetting things down with hoses … the wind is not working in our favour, it’s less than a kilometre away.” The fire has already burnt through more than 7750 hectares of bushland in the Yuraygir National Park.
Clarence Valley mayor Jim Simmons said he can’t remember the area ever being so dry and has described the conditions as “really terrible”.
“We haven’t seen anything like this in my lifetime,” he told AAP on Tuesday. “It’s very serious.” Strong winds, smoke and dust caused “stifling conditions” on Monday, with much the same expected on Tuesday, Mr Simmons said.
Crews are also trying to get a hold on fires north of Ebor at Bees Nest — which has a perimeter of more than 300km and has burnt more than 66,500 hectares — and around Long Gully Road in Drake, which has razed 40,000ha.
Firefighters have spent the night trying to protect property but have been unable to bring the fires under control.
“Just trying to get containment on these fires is a nightmare,” NSW Rural Fire Service deputy commissioner Rob Rogers told Nine’s Today Show. “They are still burning in and around properties, and that’s going to continue on until hopefully there will be a break tomorrow from the winds. But today we’re expecting stronger winds again.” More favourable conditions are forecast for Wednesday but with no rain expected, the RFS has warned the Bees Nest and Long Gully Road blazes could burn for weeks.
The Bureau of Meteorology has issued a high fire danger rating for several regions on Tuesday including the far north coast, north coast, New England, central ranges and greater Hunter. The risk will be very high in the northern slopes region.
Nearly 400 firefighters were out in the field on Tuesday morning. That number is expected to almost double throughout the day as about 55 blazes continue to burn across the state, 20 of which are yet to be contained.
AAP
Sean Parnell 11.54am: Firefighters’ Sunshine Coast ‘miracle’
Firefighters delivered a “miracle” on the Sunshine Coast overnight, according to acting Queensland Premier Jackie Trad.
With an unpredictable firefront and “ember storm” threatening houses around Peregian Beach, there were fears of up to a dozen properties being destroyed.
Ms Trad told reporters on Tuesday that 400 residents were evacuated but none were injured and, on last inspection, only one property was totally damaged and another significantly damaged.
“Last night’s herculean efforts resulted in nothing short of a miracle,” Ms Trad said, after meeting with emergency services officials.
Sascha O’Sullivan 10.40am: Residents flee ‘tinderbox’ to Noosa
Residents of coastal towns on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast have been forced to flee towards Noosa, which is also in the line of sight of a ferocious bushfire at Peregian Beach, as huge winds continue to make swathes of the state “a tinderbox”.
Queensland Fire Emergency Service Assistant Commissioner John Cawcutt warned the southeast corner and Sunshine Coast are the two major areas of concern today as huge winds of up to 60km/h continue to stoke the flames.
“We had a considerable number of fires in the Peregian Spring area where we have had a number of properties damages or lost so those fires are still active,” Assistant Commissioner Cawcutt said.
“We have a lot of crews but we do not expect to be able to extinguish those flames today,” Assistant Commissioner Cawcutt said.
“It is a tinderbox and we can get breakouts everywhere, the winds are very strong so people need to keep monitoring conditions,” he said.
Assistant Commissioner said the winds were expected to ease Wednesday and Thursday and fire danger would hopefully be downgraded, but more windy conditions on Friday could bring that warning straight back up.
Charlie Peel 9.00am: Police talk to teens over blaze
Queensland Police are questioning a group of teenagers about the cause of a fire on the Sunshine Coast which burnt out of control and destroyed at least two homes on Monday.
Hundreds of people fled to evacuation centres on the Sunshine Coast overnight, after they were told to abandon their homes as the blaze took hold of Peregian Beach last night.
Queensland Police said they believe the fire may have been started deliberately and are currently speaking with a group of teenagers who they believe may have been involved.
About 60 properties have been destroyed or damaged by bushfires raging throughout Queensland, more than the total number of homes lost to fires in the past 130 years.
Queensland premier Annastacia Palaszczuk and politicians from the Sunshine Coast area may cut short a European trip where they are meeting over a potential bid for the 2023 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Ms Palaszczuk, federal member for Fairfax Ted O’Brien and the Sunshine Coast mayor Mark Jamieson were due to fly to Paris today after meetings in Lausanne, Switzerland.
The fire at Peregian Beach flared up late last Monday afternoon, tore through bushland and jumped a road, setting several properties alight.
It is currently still out of control and residents have been told to evacuate immediately as it threatens the nearby Peregian Springs housing development as well as Coolum State High School.
The fire is travelling in a north, northeastern direction from Emu Mountain Road towards Peregian Breeze estate. It is impacting both Peregian Beach and Peregian Breeze estate.
Dozens of other structures, including the historic Binna Burra Lodge, have also been razed.
Police declared an emergency at Peregian Beach, with residents urged to evacuate north to Noosa.
“We have a significant amount of houses that have been breached by fire,” chief superintendent Michelle Young told the ABC.
Five homes were also confirmed to have been destroyed in NSW, where firefighters are battling blazes near Armidale in the northern tablelands, Tenterfield on the Queensland border and Angourie on the north coast.
A fire raced through Yuragir National Park near Angourie and Wooloweyah, before it hit the two villages and was burning from both the north and south end of the area, closing them in on all sides.
NSW Rural Fire Service managed to halt the spread of the blaze by dropping retardant but overnight the fire breached containment lines north of Angourie. The fire was downgraded from emergency warning but still urged residents in nearby Yamba to stay alert as the fire pushed north, after a southerly change in the fierce winds which battered the coast yesterday.
While authorities hoped for rain to dampen the outbreaks, snow reportedly fell in elevated parts of northern NSW.
State Disaster Co-ordinator Steve Gollschewski said scores of homes had been impacted by the fires in Queensland, ranging from “totally destroyed to minor damage”.
On Sunday, Queensland Fire and Emergency Services forecaster Andrew Sturgess said in “roughly in 130 years”, only about 40 homes had been lost because of bushfires in Queensland, where high humidity usually acts as a buffer to more extreme blazes.
But the humidity has plunged in the past week while dry winds, gusting at 80km/h, have fanned the flames. Forecasters predict humidity to rise on Wednesday, bringing a reprieve to exhausted emergency services crews.
There were 65 bushfires burning across Queensland on Monday, from the NSW border to Cairns in the north.
Most troubling to authorities were the blazes in the Gold Coast hinterland and around Stanthorpe near the NSW border.
Residents in Ballandean, southwest of Stanthorpe, were urged to evacuate as a “fast-moving, dangerous fire” broke containment lines and advanced on the border town.
QFES Acting Fire Commissioner Mike Wassing said the fire in the Gold Coast hinterland, mostly in heavily forested national parks, was particularly difficult to control because of the mountainous terrain.
NSW Rural Fire Service spokesman Ben Shepherd said the fires were worse than those in the height of summer.
“It is not unusual to see fires at this time of year; what is unusual is the fires’ behaviour and the fire dangers that we have been seeing. It does not bode well,” he said.
The fires have been so ferocious that they have created their own weather systems, a phenomenon known as a pyrocumulonimbus cloud, sparking further blazes with bolts of lightning.
With Sascha O’Sullivan, Sean Parnell
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