A bushfire in Shoalhaven crosses the Princes Highway on Tuesday night. Photo: Twitter/NSWRFS
IT WAS the day authorities had predicted NSW would burn - and it did.
More than 140 fires were ablaze across the state, up to 40 of them uncontained at any one time, destroying more than 55,000 hectares.
At times, the full-scale catastrophe everyone had feared looked as if it could be unleashed, as homes were threatened and firefighters battled to prevent the flames engulfing whole townships as temperatures soared into the mid-40s.
Residents and firefighters watch a bushfire on Mount Forest Road near Cooma. Photo: Jay Cronan
But incredibly, by 10.30pm on Tuesday there had been no reports of lives lost.
The Rural Fire Service Commissioner, Shane Fitzsimmons, said there had been one report of a home being lost to a bushfire in Jugiong, in southern NSW, and that 20 other homes in the area were under "imminent" threat. "There's a very real chance that we will see more losses," he said.
In addition, there were reports of 1000 dead animals including sheep and cattle. Thirty fires were still uncontained.
''We've still got many hours of very difficult conditions,'' he said. ''Particularly as this southerly change moves northward, we can expect some fairly intense and erratic weather behaviour.''
The Premier, Barry O'Farrell, said NSW was a long way from being out of the woods but it seemed there was private confidence at Rural Fire Service headquarters that months of planning and preparation might have averted a virtual armageddon, despite horrendous conditions in some areas not seen for close to a decade.
Mr Fitzsimmons praised the ''extraordinary'' firefighting effort that was still taking place overnight, in ''dirty, hot difficult conditions''.
''We have been very fortunate,'' he said.
However, major threats remained on Tuesday night, with the biggest concern being a raging bushfire at Deans Gap, in the Shoalhaven region, which was affecting Sussex Inlet and Wandandian. The Princes Highway was closed due to smoke.
Fire had burnt 1500 hectares, with 33 trucks, three aircraft and 190 firefighters responding to the emergency, fuelled by strong, hot wind gusts. Throughout the day, 11 fires prompted emergency warnings, with four still in place at 10pm.
Close to 1500 firefighters battled blazes, with thousands more volunteers on standby as temperatures soared, fanned by winds of more than 70km/h in some areas.
The federal Opposition Leader, Tony Abbott, was among those waiting to help if a fire broke out in bushland on Sydney's north, joining his local fire brigade where he is a volunteer.
Mr O'Farrell praised firefighters for their heroic efforts, and the entire community for responding so well.
''More than 1 million hits on the RFS website shows people are paying attention and doing what they're told,'' he said.
But not everyone took note of the dangers.
Police used fixed-wing RFS aircraft to identify and arrest three juveniles, two aged 15 and one 16, over what they believe was a deliberately lit fire in Shalvey, in western Sydney.
Up to 15 fire crews and five police cars battled for more than two hours to bring the blaze under control. Ten hectares of land were affected.
A 70-year-old man in the Illawarra region was charged for breaching the total fire ban after he allegedly lit a cooking fire and tried to prevent police extinguishing it as hot ash fell to the ground.
In total, 10 emergency alerts were issued in a number of locations. The worst fires were around Bega, Cooma, Wagga
Wagga and the Shoalhaven. The total fire ban that had been in force from midnight will continue on Wednesday, with Victoria's Country Fire Association sending 20 firefighters and an air crane to help the effort in NSW.
At the township of Tarcutta, in south-west NSW, a bushfire burnt through 1600 hectares and surrounded the town. But by the early evening the Hume Highway was reopened in both directions with the immediate threat to the village passing.
About 40 homes were under threat as fires tore through 1000 hectares of grasslands and dense acacia scrubland off the Kings Highway, east of Bungendore, late on Tuesday.
Crews said at least one home was ''impacted'' from fires, but it was unclear how many homes - if any - had been lost.
Another priority for firefighters was a huge blaze at Yarrabin, in the Cooma-Monaro area, where a fire destroyed 5200 hectares, with 90 firefighters, nine aircraft and 14 trucks still battling the blaze that continued to threaten homes late on Tuesday.
Across NSW at 4pm, there were 437 trucks and 81 firefighting aircraft in use, with 55,709 hectares razed.
Other emergency alerts were at Oura, Mates Gully and Munyabla, near Wagga, and Narrandera, south-west of Wagga.
Four firefighters had been injured. Their conditions were unknown.
Mr Fitzsimmons said a very real threat would remain in some parts, including around Sydney, until after midnight.
''It's very much a moveable feast with many fires still being identified,'' he said. ''The extraordinary efforts of firefighters across these areas is seeing many fires dealt with promptly.''
with James Robertson, Rachel Olding, Ilya Gridneff, Bianca Hall and Ben Grubb
No comments:
Post a Comment