Thieves 'stole' from bushfire victims

Volunteers at Tasmania's largest bushfire refuge say thieves stole handbags and fuel in the chaos of the disaster.

The refuge at the Nubeena civic centre on the Tasman Peninsula housed as many as 2000 people fleeing fires at the height of the crisis.

Many left private and hire cars behind when they were evacuated by boat at the weekend.

Nubeena local Graeme Parremore, who has been using his crayfish delivery truck to take urgent supplies to residents around the peninsula, said petty criminals had targeted the refuge.

"There's been a lot of looters stealing handbags and taking fuel out of cars and boats," he told AAP.

"(They're) just people coming down from Hobart knowing cars are stuck here, sneaking down, coming across by boat."

Mr Parremore said others had stolen fuel to get their cars off the peninsula in convoys arranged by police in recent days.

Another volunteer, Alder Thompson, said she had heard reports of stealing.

"We lost three handbags in one day, which was not nice," she said.

"There were a few bad people. I think they were just opportunists."

Tensions between locals and tourists at Nubeena rose when some visitors refused to leave, fearing they would be charged for hire cars or their own vehicles would be damaged.

There were arguments as thousands of people lined up to leave on boats taking around 200 passengers at a time.

"The biggest relief was lessening the numbers," Mrs Thompson said.

"Once we could get the evacuees out we could concentrate on our own.

"The locals all thought we were only here for (the visitors) and we had to put the word out, `no, we're here for everyone'.

"We said 'please come in and get a meal'. Once we got that word out it wasn't too bad."

As well as coping with large numbers of people, the volunteers were beset by a two-day toilet blockage and a shortage of supplies before the boats brought food and water.

Volunteers have also provided shoulders to cry on as lost tourists and people who'd lost everything streamed into the centre.

"Some people just needed to have a cry and a quiet word," Mrs Thompson said.

"It was just a matter of being there and giving them a bit of a cuddle."

Police were yet to respond to a request for comment on the stealing claims.