Malcolm Turnbull disappointed Greens linked Tathra bushfires to climate change
The RFS has downgraded its alert level to ‘advice’ tonight as bushfire activity eased, although it remains uncontained.
Malcolm Turnbull said he is “disappointed” the Greens linked devastating bushfires on the NSW south coast hat destroyed close to 70 homes to climate change, as he visited fire-affected areas.
The Prime Minister spoke to those who were evacuated from suburbs surrounding Tathra, after hot, dry and windy conditions prompted a “perfect storm” that whipped flames into a firestorm and consumed more than 1000 hectares in the Bega Valley.
In the Senate earlier today, Greens leader Richard Di Natale said the government had been slowing the transition to renewable energy and that “Australians are bearing the brunt of their failure”.
The Prime Minister said he was “disappointed that the Greens would try to politicise an event like this”.
“This has been a shocking destruction of property,” he said. “Thank heaven there have been no lives lost. But that’s a great tribute to the community, to the firefighters, to all of that preparation and resilience. This is not the time to politicise a disaster like this.
“You can’t attribute any particular event, whether it’s a flood or fire or a drought, to — or a storm — to climate change. We are the land of droughts and flooding rains, we’re the land of bushfires. Nature hurls her worst at Australians and has — for always and always will and always has. Often unpredictably.”
Angus Taylor, the Minister for Law Enforcement and Cyber Security, said the government had activated the national disaster relief assistance scheme.
“We will be keeping an eye on whether there is a need for further assistance beyond that,” he said.
“There is work going on now to see the level of damage and the nature of the damage that has occurred. The most important thing is while homes can be replaced — and it is tragic to have lost 70 homes — lives can’t.”
The Tathra firestorm
* 69 houses and 30 caravans or cabins destroyed; 39 houses damaged; 398 homes saved or not affected
* A handful of people were treated for smoke inhalation and breathing problems; two firefighters suffered heat exhaustion; one woman was treated for minor burns
* No one missing at this stage
* Fire moved incredibly fast; began to consume homes within a couple of hours after breaking out after midday on Sunday
* RFS says the blaze was the result of a “perfect storm” - very hot conditions, strong winds, low humidity and extremely dry bush
* The fire has burned through more than 1200 hectares so far and is not yet under control
* Fire activity eased on Monday night, with the RFS downgrading its alert level to ‘advice’; crews remain on ground to contain it
* Cause not yet known but other fires in the same area were started by powerlines arcing in the wind
* It’s not yet safe for residents to return home but authorities say that is a priority; concerns of asbestos “floating around”
* Hundreds of people are in an evacuation centre in nearby Bega
* Power has been restored to parts of Tathra but mobile phone coverage is poor due to phone towers being impacted
Tathra blaze claims 100 homes
More than 100 homes on the NSW far south coast have been damaged or destroyed in updated figures released by the NSW Rural Fire Service.
The RFS shared on social media that, according to a damage assessment, 69 houses have been destroyed and 39 have been damaged. Another 30 caravans and cabins were destroyed.
The NSW RFS said 398 houses were saved or not affected.
“ NSW RFS Building Impact Assessment teams have assessed approximately 90 per cent of the fireground,” the organisation said in a media statement.
“The number of properties may change as these assessments are completed. Schools in the area have not been impacted by the fire.
“Information about specific homes which have been impacted is being provided to residents through the evacuation centre at Bega. Access to homes is being provided to residents as it is safe to do so.”
RFS ‘did all we could’ to alert
The NSW Rural Fire Service says it did all in its power to inform residents on the state’s south coast of the approaching bushfire that ultimately damaged or destroyed more than 70 properties around Tathra, but said people should also seek information themselves.
RFS Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons said the organisation used “a combination of SMS alerts and also telephoning alert system to landlines in people’s homes”.
“We use the available technologies to us to seek, warn and advise communities that might be in harm’s way. Every fire season, every disaster, people should not be relying on single tools and products to be aware of what is going on around them,” Mr Fitzsimmons said.
“It was a day of heightened activity and risks and which is why those areas were in severe warning. Everyone needs to be vigilant and monitor the conditions and we will use whatever tool we have available to get messages out to the communities. We update our website, and where we can we seek to engage tools like emergency alert and get messages out via mobile phones and landlines into people ‘s homes.”
Mr Fitzsimmons said there are still 19 fires across the state, 12 of which are uncontained.
“There is still a fair bit of work to do before we can call this fire contained,” he said.
“We have fire which has been on the western side of the river, where it started. It sparked across to the eastern side of the river, to the south. Crews are trying hard to establish strategies to bring the fire under control.”
Those defending properties are believed to have saved more than 100, he said.
“The number of saved properties, with the efforts of people in town, was something like 150 at least ... Whether it is 30 homes or 70 homes or some other number, this is still a very awful situation which will have a big impact on the community of Tathra. You cannot lose that sort of property and not have an impact and influence on the make-up of the community.”
Two volunteer firefighters were treated for heat stress, and a woman in her 40s was treated for respiratory issues.
The NSW government has announced it will appoint former chief of the Victorian Country Fire Authority, Euan Ferguson, to co-ordinate support to communities hit by the devastating fires.
NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian this afternoon announced that Mr Ferguson, who managed the recovery from floods in the Northern Rivers area last year, will be appointed co-ordinator general.
“I want to thank all the volunteers and the emergency services personnel for their professionalism, and for the local residents, who have handed together, many people went to help others, not knowing whether their own homes were safe or not,” Ms Berejiklian said.
Transport Minister Andrew Constance, who is the local member for Bega, said the state government, council, and emergency services will work to clean up the devastation “as quickly as possible”.
“We are a resilient community. We are not out of this emergency. That is the key point,” he said.
“People are very patiently waiting to get out all clear, to go back to Tathra and find out what has happened. My message to them, as their representative in parliament, is that we are going to stand by you.”
Tathra ‘a ghost town’
The NSW beachside town of Tathra is akin to a ghost town with residents still being blocked from the area after yesterday’s fire.
Streets close to the beach of the NSW south coast town have been virtually untouched by fires, with the affected areas being up the town’s hill close to the forest.
Dozens of homes close to the forest have been ruined including on the streets of Ocean View Terrace, Francis Holland Drive and Bayview Drive.
Two men in their 20s were this morning the only residents seen viewing the devastation of their house which burnt to the ground.
They were visibly upset and shaken as they surveyed the ruins of the property.
Small fires remained in the town this morning although they were mostly contained. Several firetrucks rushed to the badly impacted Thompson Street after 9.30am when there were reports a fire had reignited.
The NSW Rural Fire Service has asked for help from an air tanker firefighting plane as sections of a bushfire on the NSW south coast flare up in winds.
NSW Rural Fire Service Incident Controller Superintendent Mark Williams said there are “unburnt pockets” of bushland that mean they are taking extra precautions.
“An air tanker has been requested to contain the fire in the section north of the Bega river,” he said in a statement shared on the Tathra RFS Facebook page.
“This is a dynamic and live fire situation, still threatening to impact unburnt pockets. We cannot allow people back into Tathra, we acknowledge that there are still residents in Tathra who were unable to evacuate, and we are working to keep them safe as we work around them.
“Many homes have been saved by fire fighters, and we are working to get people back into Tathra, this needs to be done in a co-ordinated fashion.”
Local man Jimmy Eiuera said it was a traumatic time for the community of about 3000 people.
“The bloody smoke — it just went straight through the forest,” Mr Eiuera said outside a neighbour’s home that had burnt to the ground.
“These two houses were up in smoke and there was nothing I could do. It was just too hot. We just had to stand and watch.”
Mr Eiuera said he was hosing his property down with water while watching other homes around him disintegrate.
His wife evacuated to the beach but he stayed to protect the house.
“It is so shocking,” he said.
“It is the first time this has happened here.”
Residents in the suburb of Kalaru, west of Tathra, are being evacuated as the wind change today shifted the direction of the blaze towards them.
Joshua Shoobridge, a Kalaru resident, said while they were told to leave yesterday, the direction of the wind meant they were given the all clear to return home. Around midday, that changed.
“We were told that the fire was following the gully and the river,” Mr Shoobridge said.
“My mother-in-law lives on Lake Cohen Drive. They were told to evacuate, they had 30 minutes to get out. That was about 20 minutes ago. We had dinner at her place, the fire was going the other.”
The fire started to his northwest, in the Reedy Swamp area, and yesterday was heading east. Within 30 minutes, the strong winds had pushed it directly north of his home on Black Fellows Lake Road.
Tathra blaze ‘remains dangerous’
NSW RFS spokesman Matthew Reeves has told residents who were evacuated to Bega’s showgrounds, while the fire is not expected to grow in size, the blaze “remains dangerous” and could flare up in unburnt pockets of bushland.
“The bushfire started northwest of Tathra near Reedy Swamp Road yesterday, and it continues to burn. This morning, there was an unknown number of properties which were damaged or destroyed. At least 70 properties have been destroyed,” he told evacuees.
“The fire has burned around 1050 ha of bushland. Overnight our crews have continued to work on the fireground, they had the benefit of a south-easterly wind last night, it’s a cooler, more moist breeze.
Mr Reeves said last night was risky for volunteers, who had to dodge falling trees and power lines.
“Having gone out and traversed the fire ground, I can assure you our crews were working in no less than highly dangerous conditions last night,” he said.
“You only had to drive into some areas to see telegraph pole after telegraph pole burning at the base, fallen power lines, fallen telegraph poles and fallen trees that continued to fall around us while we were starting our assessment on the ground.
“This is part of the reason we cannot let you back into Tathra just yet.”
Fires ‘still dangerous, dynamic’
Easing weather conditions have boosted firefighting efforts on the NSW south coast where at least 70 buildings have either been destroyed or damaged, but the state’s Rural Fire Service chief said the situation remains “dangerous and dynamic” and the main fire front is still out of control.
NSW RFS Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons said there are 24 fires burning across the state, but most resources are focused on the area around Tathra.
“It’s far from being under control at this stage. Not only have we got that 1000ha of fire still with lots of burning, very active edge, that needs to be contained and consolidated,” he told Channel Seven, “but we’ve still got this awful situation throughout the community in Tathra where we’ve got damaged buildings, damaged homes and other infrastructure.
“Our overnight assessment, our early indications are, that the number of buildings impacted damaged and destroyed is likely to climb above 70, but we’ll confirm that. this morning we’ve got 24 fires burning across NSW as a result of yesterday’s weather and conditions.”
Mr Fitzsimmons said a damaged telecommunications tower has “added to the anxiety” of the fire, and crews are working to restore all utilities.
“Clearly some of the key infrastructure is the key focus today,” he said.
“The focus is to get utilities working, sewerage, water, and of course power and the telecommunications systems.
“The pleasing thing out of all of this, without being insensitive, is that we’re still not looking for unaccounted-for people and that everyone is alive and well. We did have one woman to the west of Tathra hospitalised with burn injuries and inhalation of hot air. She had hair singed and respiratory issues but the reports are she is doing okay. The focus today is trying to secure the township. It’s still a fairly dangerous and dynamic situation.”
Scores of homes razed
The threat from the firestorm that ripped through the NSW south coast has been downgraded after a southerly wind change helped ease conditions.
But it is believed that at least 70 buildings, including 35 homes, were razed in the “hellish” wild fires. Residents were left traumatised by the speed of the flames which took barely half an hour to cross the Bega River and hit the Tathra area. “It’s horrible but it could have been a lot, lot worse,” one resident told Nine Network this morning.
Tathra: Homes lost in fire. "We're looking at 35, if not, more" - @benjoshep - @NSWRFS. "We need to insure their safety before we let anyone into this fire ground." https://t.co/hqY7uVpPsW @AngieAsimus #Tathra #7News pic.twitter.com/GF6Wo8OBGr
— 7 News Sydney (@7NewsSydney) March 18, 2018
Bega Valley mayor Kristy McBain said about 35 properties had been damaged or destroyed and the town’s roads, water system and sewage treatment plant were also damaged.
Communication were affected after a mobile phone tower collapsed, making it difficult to determine how many people remained in the town. “There are no reports of any loss of life, so it will be very much about trying to track these people down,” Ms McBain said.
A cool change has also eased concerns in Victoria where up to 18 homes are believed to have been lost in bushfires across the state’s southwest.
Victoria’s emergency management commissioner Craig Lapsley said the main concerns are fires at Cobden and Penshurst, where watch and act alerts remain active.
“We’re getting on top of the fires. The winds are down. The day’s a milder day. The temperature backed off. Today will be a good day in that sense,” Mr Lapsley told Nine Network on Monday.
About 1700 properties remain without power and Mr Lapsley warned those affected might have to make do for a bit longer because power poles and other infrastructure has been damaged.
Sylvia joins us from Cobden and brings us the latest on the bush fire catastrophe. #9News pic.twitter.com/RpooMr87fc
— Nine News Australia (@9NewsAUS) March 18, 2018
Homes lost in ‘hellish’ bushfire
As many as 35 homes are believed to have been razed in a “hellish” bushfire on the NSW south coast, but hundreds of people were spared by a last-minute wind change that pushed flames away from them as they sheltered on a beach.
Strong winds combined with temperatures close to 40C to turn a fire that began near the township of Tarraganda into a ferocious blaze which jumped the Bega River, tore through a housing estate and gutted the town of Tathra.
As many as 10 homes were also destroyed by fires burning 200km southwest of Melbourne, with the largest fire, near Terang and Camperdown, scorching more than 40,000ha.
Shortly after 2.30pm the Tarraganda fire on the NSW south coast intensified as winds picked up. By 4pm the fire had hit Tathra and NSW Rural Fire Service volunteers warned residents it was too late to leave. Residents were told to seek shelter on the beach as the fire bore down on them. “It happened extremely quickly,” Tathra Beach House Apartments owner Rob White told The Australian. “Within half an hour it went from nothing, really, and then it just raced through to Tathra. It got within 100m of the beach where we are but the wind saved us.”
Bega Valley Shire councillors last night said about 35 homes had been destroyed but hundreds were in the path of the fire and crews had only just begun to assess the damage.
Mr White said he had no power, no phone lines, no internet and no Telstra mobile reception because Tathra was a “black spot”.
There was also anger about a lack of warnings. Local ABC Radio broadcast the Canberra Raiders v Newcastle Knights NRL game “all afternoon”, according to one resident who decided to leave home without knowing the full extent of the emergency.
“Tathra. 2018. Power goes out. No internet no TV. Smell smoke. Helicopter starts water bombing behind the house. There is no mobile coverage in Tathra. It’s a black spot. Radio is playing NRL. Decide to leave,” a resident tweeted.
The ABC, which has a requirement to broadcast emergency alerts, did not respond to a request for comment.
NSW Rural Fire Service deputy commissioner Rob Rogers said crews were moving into fire-affected areas last night alongside police to “systematically catalogue what has been destroyed” but stressed a full picture of the disaster would not be known until today. “We know dozens of houses have been lost or badly damaged,” he said.
NSW state education authorities were unable to confirm Tathra Public School had been destroyed.
Kate Roberts, her husband and their two-year-old daughter took to the beach as the fire rushed toward homes and a caravan park. They were among hundreds of people forced to seek sanctuary. “I’ve never seen a fire move so fast,” she said.
“At the time I didn’t stop to think that it was scary, I think we were just running on adrenaline and we just had to keep moving.
“It was pretty surreal though, hundreds of people walking and running along the beach. When we got (to Bermagui) I was shaking.”
The Bermagui Surf Lifesaving Club was being used as an evacuation centre last night, with hundreds of people awaiting news of their homes and belongings.
Emergency services said they were unaware of anyone unaccounted for.
Tas Fitzer, a 21-year-old university student from Tathra, said it was “traumatising” to witness his home town go up in flames. “When the smoke got so thick that you could hardly see a few metres in front of you — that was pretty scary,” he said.
Mr Fitzer and his mother Jo left home about midday when they saw smoke but went to the beach where police told them to get out just before 4pm.
The pair and their pets managed to escape to nearby Bega but were last night unsure as to the fate of their home.
“It’s definitely worrying not knowing, but the main thing is that we’re alive,” Mr Fitzer said.
Tathra resident Zachary Sequoia said the fire “turned pretty hellish” within half an hour. “It was very, very smoky and there was a lot of chaos,” he said from an evacuation centre in Bega.
About 100 firefighters and 41 trucks were at the scene last night dampening fires as the front turned north. The fire remained out of control.
Bega Valley Shire councillor Mitchell Nadin said he was told by friends their homes had been lost.
Additional reporting: Rick Morton, Emily Ritchie
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