Australia braces for extreme bushfire risk

NSW firefighters work through the night to prevent a flare-up from crossing the Kings Highway in...
NSW firefighters work through the night to prevent a flare-up from crossing the Kings Highway in between Nelligen and Batemans Bay on January 2. Photo: Getty Images
Authorities have urged Australians to evacuate parts of the eastern states of Victoria and New South Wales to escape bushfires they fear are set to burn out of control this weekend.

In a harbinger of the searing conditions expected, a number of fires burnt out of control in South Australia as temperatures topped 40degC across much of the state and strong winds fanned flames.

Victoria declared a state of disaster across areas home to about 100,000 people, with authorities urging people to evacuate before a deterioration expected on Saturday.

"If they value their safety they must leave," Michael Grainger of the state's police emergency responders told reporters. "I'd suggest personal belongings are of very, very little value in these circumstances.

"These are dire circumstances, there is no doubt."

At the summer holiday peak, authorities have advised tens of thousands of holidaymakers and residents to leave national parks and tourist areas on the south coast of New South Wales, where a week-long state of emergency has been called.

A death confirmed on Friday takes the state's toll this week to eight. Two people have died in Victoria, and 28 are unaccounted for.

In Victoria, naval vessels Choules and Sycamore started evacuations of about a quarter of the 4,000 people stranded on a beach in the isolated town of Malla­coota.

With roads blocked, sea transport and some airlifts are the only way out of the stricken town, although heavy smoke prevented flights on Friday.

People in the fire-devastated New South Wales town of Cobargo angrily confronted Prime Minister Scott Morrison during a visit on Thursday, with one shouting that the leader should be "ashamed of himself" and had "left the country to burn".

Morrison's conservative government has long drawn criticism for not doing enough to battle climate change as a cause of Australia's savage drought and fires.

This season's fires have scorched more than 5.25 million hectares (13 million acres) of bushland, with 1,365 homes destroyed in New South Wales alone, including 449 this week on the south coast.

Weather officials yesterday rated the danger from fire "very high" to "extreme" in most districts in South Australia, with a similar outlook for New South Wales and Victoria on Saturday.

The situation in Victoria

Evacuees from Mallacoota are transported MV Sycamore in Victoria, Australia on January 3, 2020....
Evacuees from Mallacoota are transported MV Sycamore in Victoria, Australia on January 3, 2020. Photo: Australian Department of Defence/Helen Frank/ Handout/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
Massive bushfires continue to tear through Victoria's east, with authorities fearing lightning may spark fresh blazes as hotter temperatures lash the state on Saturday.

Almost 50 fires were raging in Victoria on Friday evening, predominantly in East Gippsland, the alpine region and the northeast.

There are 28 people missing in East Gippsland, in addition to two men confirmed dead in the fires.

Communities in the worst-hit areas have been urged to evacuate and emergency warnings - the highest alert level - were in place for five fires late on Friday night.

Temperatures are expected to creep higher on Saturday, with parts of Gippsland forecast to hit 40C and areas of the northeast to reach 45C, before a gusty southerly change in the afternoon.

But the change won't bring a reprieve from the risk of dry lightning, which Victorian Emergency Management Commissioner Andrew Crisp says could mean new fires.

"Don't just be focused on the fires we've got at the moment. Be thinking about where there would be other fires," he warned Victorians on Thursday.

Mr Crisp said it is also possible some current fires could merge on Saturday or the days to follow, including a blaze in Corryong in the northeast and another in southern NSW.

Total fire bans have been declared on Saturday for the Mallee, Northern Country, North Central, North East, East Gippsland, West and South Gippsland weather districts.

A unprecedented state of disaster was declared on Thursday, triggering powers introduced after the devastating 2009 Black Saturday bushfires, including allowing authorities to compel people to leave.

Areas covered by the declaration are the East Gippsland Shire, Mansfield Shire, Wellington Shire, Wangaratta Rural Shire, Towong Shire and Alpine Shire. It also covers Mount Buller, Mount Hotham and the Mount Stirling Alpine Resorts.

Evacuation alerts were in place late on Friday night for blazes near the Buchan Valley, Abbeyard, Bruthen and surrounds, the upper Snowy area, and north of Mount Taylor.

Emergency warnings were active for a blaze near Corryong in the northeast and for Biggara, Towong and surrounding communties.

Others are in place for East Gippsland's Anglers Rest, Goongerah, Bendoc, Bonang and Cabanandra.

The fire danger has also spread to Victoria's west, with an emergency warning issued for a blaze at Wade Junction, near Nelson.

More than 780,000 hectares have already been razed and two people found dead in East Gippsland, including Buchan man Mick Roberts at his home on Wednesday.

A second man's body was later found in the fire zone at a Maramingo Creek property, near Genoa. He is believed to have suffered a medical episode while fighting the fires.

About 1200 people who had been stranded in the coastal town of Mallacoota were bundled onto two naval ships Friday, bound for the Mornington Peninsula.

The first 60 evacuees who fled on the MV Sycamore are expected to arrive at Hastings, at Western Port, on Saturday morning, with at least some heading to a relief centre at nearby Somerville.

Another 1100 will reach the site on HMAS Choules in the afternoon, at the end of a journey of almost 20 hours.

The situation in New South Wales

A view of a burnt residential area, aftermath of bushfires, in Jenolan Caves, New South Wales....
A view of a burnt residential area, aftermath of bushfires, in Jenolan Caves, New South Wales. Photo: via Reuters

NSW is ready for dangerous winds and heat to send deadly fires towards dozens of towns on Saturday, authorities say.

Extreme fire danger is predicted for six fire districts in NSW's southeast and the ACT, while severe conditions are forecast for Sydney, the Hunter and the central ranges.

Temperatures are forecast to reach 45C inland and up to 44C on the coast. Sydney's outskirts could hit 46C. A gusty southerly is forecast to reach the far south coast from mid-afternoon, reaching Sydney about midnight.

Despite at least 449 homes being lost since Tuesday, the Rural Fire Service's key priority will not be property. Success on Saturday will be measured on whether everyone stays alive, with 17 lives already lost this bushfire season.

"We will be very happy and call it a success if there are no lives lost," RFS Deputy Commissioner Rob Rogers said on Friday.

"This state of readiness for NSW can't be matched anywhere.

"We are as ready as we can be."

Five 'no go' zones have been established across broad sections of the south coast, parts of the alpine region and on fire-threatened parts of Sydney's fringes.

Mr Rogers urged people there to head to cities, large towns, already-burnt areas or beaches if they hadn't already left.

"We need people to be safe," he said.

More than 130 fires were burning across NSW on Friday night including 40 in the state's southeast.

A statewide total fire ban will remain in place on Saturday, as will the state of emergency - which is the third declared in as many months.

Eight people, including a firefighter, have died since Monday. Another man, seriously burnt in a bushfire in November, died in hospital on Sunday.

Those whose towns burned down on Tuesday have been able to return to their properties to survey the damage.

Raelene Wilson returned to Conjola Park to find her home and her son's home still standing.

But at least 89 homes in the tiny hamlet were lost and some people escaped with just the clothes on their backs.

"(The guilt is) that we survived and we've got our house and they've got nothing," Ms Wilson told AAP.

Ms Berejiklian acknowledged the mental trauma communities were experiencing and said extra staff were working at evacuation centres to assist with counselling.

"I know that some people have experienced things unseen things they never thought they would in their lifetime," she told reporters on Friday.

"During this difficult time and in the coming days, the focus of the government will be to ensure that we have enough welfare support to support people."

Disaster relief payments are available for some residents.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison, who faced some angry victims while visiting bushfire-ravaged Cobargo, defended his government's response to the crisis.

Police said they are investigating "all aspects" of the south coast fires, including the eight deaths and the cause of the blazes. Mr Rogers previously said the majority of fires were sparked by lightning.

In Sydney, the Royal National Park will be closed from Saturday until further notice, as will Heathcote National Park and other western Sydney parklands.

With Reuters

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