In the Australian coastal town of Mallacoota, thousands of tourists and residents seek shelter from the bush fires surrounding the city in shops and on the beach. Robert Phillips, a co-owner of a local supermarket, told Reuters on Tuesday that he had around 45 people in his shop while others had fled to the city’s port.
“There are fires everywhere – embers are blowing in the streets,” Phillips told Reuters on the phone. “There are many children here who cannot breathe properly.” The city is cut off from the outside world.
Incredible – and frightening – photos are emerging from Mallacoota, a small town in the East Gippsland region of Victoria, where about 4000 people are sheltering near water, protected by CFA tankers. Visit @theage‘s live blog for updates: https://t.co/VAPFn2Yc20 #vicfires pic.twitter.com/BV8JZqmvBU
– The Sydney Morning Herald (@smh) December 31, 2019
Social media posts by people still trapped in the city show blood-red, smoke-covered skies and tourists lying shoulder to shoulder on the beach, some wearing respirators.
«Absolutely terrible»
Victoria Crisis Director Andrew Crisp said around 4,000 people would seek shelter from the flames on the beach. Among them is resident Mark Tregellas, a retired policeman who packed his most valuable possessions in his motorhome to take himself to safety in the crowded boat ramp parking lot.
Tregellas said the scale of the threat is incredible, the evacuation measures unprecedented. He had heard about a dozen gas bottles explode all morning. In Australia, gas from bottles mounted on the outside walls of houses is used for cooking and water heating. “This is catastrophic,” he said to Reuters on the phone.
Local radio host Francesca Winterson, who found refuge in a building on the city’s main street, told Australian broadcaster ABC that sirens would be accompanied by loudspeaker announcements across the city, warning people to seek immediate shelter. “It’s absolutely terrible right now,” Winterson told ABC. “We have stormy winds, we are surrounded by red skies and dust, acrid smoke and embers are falling on the city and we are completely isolated.”
Fire tornado whirls up trucks
A new death, meanwhile, documents the destructive force of the bush fires in southeastern Australia: a fire truck weighing twelve tons was torn up by a tornado triggered by the flames and then crashed to the ground with the roof.
The driver was killed and two other firefighters came to the hospital with burns and other injuries, the New South Wales fire department said on Tuesday. Even a smaller emergency vehicle was whirled through the air in tornado strength by the fires ignited by huge fires and landed on the roof. Another fireman was seriously injured.
The regional fire chief, Shane Fitzsimmons, described the situation as “truly terrible” in view of the huge bush fire near Albury in the south of the state. The fire burns out of control 550 kilometers southwest of Sydney.
Firewheel is approaching Melbourne
The bush fires now also threaten the metropolis of Melbourne. On Monday, the fire department called on around 100,000 residents from five Melbourne suburbs to get to safety.
Dozens of fires raged on Monday in the East Gippsland region east of Melbourne, which is also popular with tourists. The civil protection team warned tourists and residents who had not yet responded to the evacuation calls that the flames threatened to be trapped: “It is too late to leave,” said civil protection chief Adrew Crisp. The flames threatened the only major arterial road.
EMERGENCY WARNING – BUSHFIRE
Incident Location: 5Km N Of Suggan BugganThis Emergency Warning is being issued for Suggan Buggan.
The safest option is to take shelter indoors immediately. It is too late to leave.
More details at https://t.co/pYoqBdHRQj pic.twitter.com/HzhflWXO5t
– VicEmergency (@vicemergency) December 30, 2019
It was also not possible to help all visitors to the area. Some of the fires were so violent that hundreds of firefighters were pulled out. It is too dangerous for them to stay in the scrubland, said operations manager Ben Rankin.
In Bundoora, around 16 kilometers north of Melbourne city center, firefighters were able to temporarily push back a bush fire, but according to the rescue workers, the fire was still not under control. Television pictures showed how fire-fighting planes dropped water charges over residential areas and residents sprayed their houses with the garden hose to prevent the flames from spreading.
“Very dangerous day” with lightning
The situation was also tense in the state of South Australia. Fire chief Brenton Eden said that there was a “very dangerous” day with thunderstorms that should bring lightning but no rain.
Thousands of tourists and residents leave large parts of the state of Victoria. The authorities had called on residents and holidaymakers to evacuate immediately due to the extreme weather conditions due to the risk of further bush fires.
EMERGENCY WARNING – Dunns Road (Snowy Valleys LGA)
Fire is burning south of Snowy Mountains H’way in the Ellerslie Range west of Ellerslie and Yaven Creek Rds. Fire activity is increasing on eastern side. Fire is spotting in the Yaven Creek Road area.#nswrfs #nswfires pic.twitter.com/FKk7t7Z90s– NSW RFS (@NSWRFS) December 30, 2019
The Australian capital Canberra canceled a planned New Year’s Eve fireworks due to the fire risk. The city administration of the metropolis of Sydney, the capital of the state of New South Wales, has overruled a petition with 260,000 signatures, which are against the spectacle and which instead use the funds of the equivalent of four million euros for the fireworks to fight the fires and want to use to help affected farmers.
Under political pressure, the government said it would compensate the volunteer firefighters for lost income as this year’s bushfire season was more labor intensive. Prime Minister Scott Morrison said payments of up to $ 6,000 would be available to beneficiaries who had spent more than 10 days in the field.
The bushfires have raged in five Australian states since September. (Roy / SCL / SDA / Reuters)
Created: 12/31/2019, 5:20 AM
–
