NSW, Queensland fires: In the line of fire: we can’t save all of you
NSW and Queensland residents prepare for possible evacuations as fires tear across huge swathes of country.
Thousands of residents in NSW and Queensland remain on edge ahead of possible mass evacuations as bushfires of unprecedented scale tear across huge swathes of country, threatening city suburbs and regional towns.
As more than 100 fires in the two states raged mostly out of control, the NSW government declared a state of emergency and for the first time a “catastrophic” fire rating for the Sydney region as forecasts of extreme, hot weather on Tuesday drew warnings of severe danger to lives and property. “It’s where people die,” NSW Rural Fire Service Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons said of the expected conditions.
READ MORE: ‘We have lost our patch of paradise forever’ | Hippies of Nimbin admit bush got too wild | Where the bushfire catastrophe will hit | Bushfire threat ‘created by the Greens’ | NSW state of emergency declared |
In areas thought most at risk, authorities told residents to leave on Monday.
“We cannot guarantee a firetruck at every home,” Mr Fitzsimmons said. “We cannot guarantee that someone will knock on your door and give you a warning.”
MAP: Regions facing the worst of Tuesday’s bushfire crisis
A bushfire also broke out on South Australia’s Eyre Peninsula. It was declared a threat to lives and property.
Across the country, the death toll continued to stand at three, with 100 people injured, including 20 firefighters, and at least 150 houses destroyed.
NSW will experience very dangerous fire conditions tomorrow, with Catastrophic fire danger forecast for Greater Sydney and Greater Hunter. Lives and homes will be at risk. A Total Fire Ban is in place for the all of NSW. More info here: https://t.co/6Rk3vcj6uv#nswrfs #nswfires pic.twitter.com/CfqNsxKJLs
— NSW RFS (@NSWRFS) November 11, 2019
Several hundred schools are to close on Tuesday, and the armed forces are on standby to assist with evacuation or other duties.
In numerous towns threatened by fire in northern NSW and southern Queensland, residents were debating whether to leave.
The surfing town of Wallabi on the NSW mid-north coast was described by one resident as “in a lull between two sets of waves” on Monday, after wild blazes circled the town of about 700 on Friday night, wreaking havoc on the lush landscape and cutting electricity and communications.
With children in the town having no school, and adults taking the day off work to prepare their properties ahead of Tuesday’s grim predictions, residents descended on the Wallabi Point Coastal Cafe on Monday to watch as firefighters performed backburning just metres away.
“We’ve been in blackout since Saturday, we’ve had no internet or TV. You get all your stories from around town at the cafe,” said teacher Melissa Clarke, whose house sits less than a kilometre from bushland devastated on Friday night.
She and her husband, David, spent Monday sawing off tree branches outside their two-storey wooden house and hosing its roof, in an attempt to minimise Tuesday’s risk.
They also packed their car with supplies and essential belongings, and, if necessary, planned to evacuate to a cave along the nearby coast.
The Clarkes have lived in Wallabi since 1994, but this was the first time they had taken such drastic preparations.
“It’s never been like this before. The game has changed,” Mr Clarke said.
The local mayor, David West, tried to dampen rumours that with the state government declaring the Sydney region as being in catastrophic danger, firetrucks would be diverted from his region to the city.
Across Queensland, 1200 firefighters battled 51 fires on Monday, with three of major concern being at Cobraball west of Yeppoon on Queensland’s central coast; Cooroibah on the Sunshine Coast; and Thornton in the Lockyer Valley.
A state of fire emergency was in force across 42 local government areas in the state, with high and very high fire danger forecast for most of Queensland on Tuesday and severe conditions expected in the Darling Downs and Granite Belt. In Brisbane, smoke encroached on the city to cloak it in a haze.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said Queenslanders had to be prepared to leave their homes if authorities told them to.
“Don’t second-guess them, just do it because it’s in the best interests of you and your family,” she told the ABC.
“It’s going to be too hard for people to go back in and do rescues once those conditions get out of control.”
In NSW, exhausted firefighters are battling up to 60 bushfires from the mid-north coast to the Queensland border.
The “catastrophic” declaration — the first since a new rating system was introduced 10 years ago — covers greater Sydney, the Hunter region to the north and the Illawarra/Shoalhaven region to the south.
In greater Sydney, the declaration covers 35 local government areas running from beachside suburbs such as Manly to the Blue Mountains in the west.
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said the week-long emergency declaration, the first since 2013, would give Mr Fitzsimmons authority to “protect life and property as much as possible”.
Parts of Sydney were forecast to have temperatures of 38C on Tuesday, with winds of 50km/h possibly gusting twice that speed.
“We have got to keep reminding ourselves that catastrophic is off the conventional scale,” Mr Fitzsimmons said.
University of Wollongong bushfire management expert Ross Bradstock said while the timing of the bushfires was not unusual in late spring, the extent of them was.
“What is unprecedented is the scale, it’s almost an order of magnitude greater than what we would normally expect,” Professor Bradstock said. Adding up all the bushfires of the past decade or so, Professor Bradstock said, “it’s like all of those have been replayed all at the same time”.
The severity was the product of drought conditions that had dried out forests, with record low rainfall and record high temperatures, he said.
In the uncontrolled South Australian fire at Duck Ponds, strong winds were pushing flames towards Port Lincoln, with authorities cutting power to much of the area amid emergency conditions.
Additional reporting: AAP
More Coverage
Pro-Gazan pianist and MSO open to mediation
Jayson Gillham is suing the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra in the Federal Court, with a trial likely to be scheduled in March next year if mediation fails.
RBA leaves all options on the table in inflation fight
Despite keeping interest rates on hold at its September meeting, the RBA left the door open for additional tightening in its efforts to tame inflation, minutes show.