Tathra residents accuse Bega Valley Shire Council of negligence

Residents have accused authorities of negligence after failing to heed warnings about the lack of hazard reduction.

Some of the more than 70 houses and businesses destroyed by a bushfire in the coastal town of Tathra. Picture: AAP.

Residents of Tathra have accused authorities of negligence after they failed to heed warnings about the lack of bushfire hazard reduction in dense bushland around the NSW south coast town, now ­reeling from the loss of almost 70 homes.

The issue split the small beachside community yesterday, with one likening the town to a “box of matches ready to explode” while others said they opposed hazard reduction and accepted the risks.

The streets of Tathra were empty yesterday, hours after a firestorm of wind, flames and ­embers consumed 69 homes and 30 caravans and cabins, and caused damage to 39 other properties on Sunday night.

The area has been declared a national disaster zone.

Malcolm Turnbull, federal MPs Angus Taylor and Mike Kelly, NSW Premier Gladys ­Berejiklian and NSW MP ­Andrew Constance, among others, spoke to fire-affected families yesterday.

The NSW Rural Fire Service and several helicopters kept battling the broader blaze, which continued to flare west of Tathra. The worst of the heat and wind, however, had passed.

Locals spoke angrily about late evacuation notifications. Many said they received no fire warnings before they realised the town was gripped by a dangerous blaze, a claim the Prime Minister promised would be investigated.

Jimmy Eiuera has lived in Tathra for more than two decades and said he had unsuccessfully raised the issue of hazard ­reduction with two Bega Valley Shire councillors. “We’ve always told the (council) it was going to happen one day,” Mr Eiuera said. “It should all have been cleared or pre-burnt. These national parks, you are not even allowed to break a twig in there.’’

Mr Eiuera said locals struggled to get permission to cut trees down on their property to reduce their risk against fire.

Doug Spindler, a former volunteer for the NSW Rural Fire Service, said he was surprised the hot and windy conditions did not spark a stronger warning. “When the fire got to within a certain limit and everyone knew it was going to be on, it should have been broadcast as soon as possible,” he said.

Mr Spindler said he did not get a text message to evacuate Tathra until 4.44pm — close to two hours after the blaze had roared out of control. He attributed the delay to the town’s poor mobile phone coverage. He said hazard reduction had been “very very lax” on the south coast.

“Very bad,” he said. “This is a prime example of what can happen to intensify a fire when something like this does happen.”

But Tathra resident Hume Wilkinson said hazard-­reduction burns would not have averted the destruction wrought on Sunday. People should, he said, accept there were risks with living in the bush. “Hazard reduction I don’t think would have done anything,” he said. “The fire sounds like it was skipping across, it was going at a rate of knots. A bit of burning down the bottom doesn’t do anything.”

Leanne Jensen said she had made six face-to-face requests to Bega Valley Shire Council about making the town more fire-safe.

“We have been on the council’s back and on the national park rangers to get rid of the scrub before summer but they still don’t do it,” Ms Jensen said.

Inside the Tathra fire zone.

Barry Whittaker and his partner Chris Bond said they raised the issue of hazard reduction with the council three weeks ago. Yesterday they were stuck in a shelter in Bega and had no idea if their property had been destroyed by the fire.

“It has been a problem for over 30 years … All the build-up crackles underneath your feet. It is just like a box of matches ready to ­explode,” Mr Whittaker said.

The blaze yesterday moved west of Tathra, towards Joshua Shoobridge’s Kalaru property. He was evacuated on Sunday, but ­was allowed to return. He was evacuated again yesterday. “You look at the bushland, you look and think it’s going to happen sooner or later,” he said. “I’ve been here for five years and I’ve never seen (hazard reduction) done well. They’ve done it in certain areas only … but saying that, it’s either national park or Aboriginal land.”

An RFS spokesman said hundreds of hectares had been managed by hazard reduction in recent years, but this fire had been intense. Between 2006 and last year, he said, 517ha of land was treated in 93 hazard-reduction activities. More than half of this area was treated in the past four years.

“Despite these activities, the fire at the weekend was intense and burnt through these areas,” the spokesman said. “The fire was wind-driven and blew embers well ahead of the main fire front. The land to the west and northwest of the township of Tathra is a combination of private land, national park and state forest. The land owner or manager is responsible for the management of bushfire hazards on their property.”

Bega Valley Shire deputy mayor Liz Seckold denied claims the council had not considered bushfires in its land management plans. Speaking from Bega showground’s evacuation centre before finding out whether her own Tathra home was safe, Ms Seckold said hazard-reduction burns happened “pretty well every year” and those involved in planning them were “conscientious” about it.