Cooler conditions expected and ‘reasonable chance’ of statewide rain on Thursday gives firefighters hope

Multiple emergency warnings were issued as fire conditions worsened yesterday, but firefighters are hoping cooler conditions today will give them a chance to contain a number of fires.

Fire activity on the Huon Highway around 2km out of Geeveston towards Cairns Bay yesterday. Picture: NIKKI DAVIS-JONES

MULTIPLE emergency warnings were issued as fire conditions worsened yesterday, but firefighters are hoping cooler conditions today will give them a chance to contain a number of fires.

Early indications of rain expected on Thursday are also giving firefighters hope.

Tasmania Fire Service deputy chief officer Bruce Byatt said firefighters yesterday deployed defensive tactics on the fire lines.

He said there were breakouts in the North-West, the North and the South. “The approach we’re taking is to try and keep those breakouts low, to contain them,” Mr Byatt said.

The Bureau of Meteorology’s acting state manager Simon McCulloch said a cold front moving across the state would bring cooler temperatures today but little in the way of rainfall.

Mr McCulloch said modelling was showing a “reasonable chance of some statewide rain on Thursday”, which he said was the most optimistic looking rain event seen in the past couple of weeks.

“We’re suggesting around 10-20mm of rain across much of the state,” he said. “There will be some areas likely to get more, but we’re uncertain as to exactly where that will be.”

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Aerial photo of Tasmania's south-west after being ravaged by this year’s bushfire. Picture: DAIN CAIRNS/PAR AVION

Mr McCulloch said the interaction between a trough over Tasmania and a trough over the mainland on Thursday would be a significant driver of that rain. “We’ll be monitoring that very closely,” he said.

Emergency warnings were issued yesterday afternoon for some communities near a fire at Brittons Swamp near Smithton in the North-West, and some communities near the Riveaux Rd fire near Geeveston, and the Great Pine Tier fire on the Central Plateau.

The Tasmania Fire Service warned property loss was highly likely yesterday, particularly in townships south of Geeveston in the Waterloo area.

The fire service said the Brittons Swamp fire was burning in paddocks and farmland, resulting in a fast moving, difficult to control grass fire.

Liawenee came under increasing threat from the Great Pine Tier fire, and Tasmania Fire Service senior station officer John Holloway said there was increased activity on the Gell River fire. Mr Holloway said waterbombing was occurring on most of the boundaries of that fire yesterday.

Mr Byatt said if predicted rain on Thursday falls in the right places, it could be of great value. “Sadly if it misses our fires we’ll have a lot of work in front of us still,” he said.

Mr Byatt said there were “ample resources” being used to fight the fires and there was no need at this stage to call for additional resources from North America or Europe.

“We’re rotating all our staff through, managing their fatigue breaks, and we have national resource-sharing arrangements in place throughout Australia and Australasia so that has been enacted,” he said.

Police, Fire and Emergency Management Minister Michael Ferguson said it was important Tasmanians remained vigilant following yesterday’s total fire ban.

He said Tasmanians should be “completely confident” in the firefighting effort. “We have got a highly skilled, sophisticated team working to take command and control of these fires to keep our communities safe,” he said.

Parks and Wildlife Service southern regional manager Ashley Rushton said he hoped some parks could reopen soon.

“But as it stands everything west of Mt Field, including Mt Field, and everything south of Huonville to Cockle Creek is closed,” he said.