Australia scrambles to reach fire victims as death toll rises
Australia deployed military ships and aircraft Wednesday to help communities ravaged by deadly wildfires that have sent thousands of residents and tourists fleeing to the shoreline.
Navy ships and military aircraft were bringing water, food and fuel to towns where supplies were depleted and roads were cut off by the fires. Authorities confirmed three bodies were found Wednesday at Lake Conjola on the south coast of New South Wales, bringing the death toll in the state to at least 15.
More than 175 homes have been destroyed in the region.
Some 4,000 people in the coastal town of Mallacoota fled to the shore as winds pushed a fire toward their homes under a sky darkened by smoke and turned blood-red by flames. Stranded residents and vacationers slept in their cars, and gas stations and surf clubs transformed into evacuation areas. Dozens of homes burned before winds changed direction late Tuesday, sparing the rest of the town.
«The fire just continued to grow and then the black started to descend. I couldn’t see the hand in front in my face, and it then it started to glow red and we knew the fire was coming,» local resident Mark Tregellas told Reuters.
«Ash started to fall from the air and then the embers started to come down. At that point, people started to bring their kids and families into the water. Thankfully, the wind changed and the fire moved away.»
Victoria Emergency Commissioner Andrew Crisp told reporters the Australian Defence Force was moving naval assets to Mallacoota on a supply mission that would last two weeks, and helicopters would also fly in more firefighters since roads were inaccessible.
«I think that was our biggest threat in terms of what are we doing with the children if we need to go in the water to protect ourselves given the fact that they are only 1, 3 and 5,» tourist Kai Kirschbaum told ABC Australia.
«If you’re a good swimmer, it doesn’t really matter if you have to be in the water for a longer time. But doing that with three kids that would have been, I think, a nightmare.»
‘Dynamic’ and ‘dangerous’ situation
Conditions cooled Wednesday, but the fire danger remained high across the state, where four people alone were reported missing.
«We have three months of hot weather to come. We do have a dynamic and a dangerous fire situation across the state,» Crisp said.
In the New South Wales town of Conjola Park, 89 properties were confirmed destroyed and cars were melted by Tuesday’s fires. More than 100 were still burning in the state Wednesday, though none at an emergency level.
Seven people have died this week, including a volunteer firefighter, a man found in a burnt car, and a father and son who died in their house.
Firefighting crews took advantage of easing conditions on Wednesday to restore power to critical infrastructure and conduct some back burning, before conditions were expected to deteriorate Saturday as high temperatures and strong winds return.
«There is every potential that the conditions on Saturday will be as bad or worse than we saw yesterday,» said Rob Rogers, deputy commissioner of the New South Wales Rural Fire Service.
The early and devastating start to Australia’s summer wildfires has led authorities to rate this season the worst on record, and reignited debate about whether Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s conservative government has taken enough action on climate change. Australia is the world’s largest exporter of coal and liquefied natural gas, but Morrison rejected calls last month to downsize the lucrative coal industry.
Morrison won a surprise third term in May. Among his government’s pledges was to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 26 per cent by 2030 — a modest figure compared to the centre-left opposition Labor Party’s pledge of 45 per cent.
The leader of the minor Australian Greens party, Richard Di Natale, demanded a royal commission, the nation’s highest form of inquiry, on the wildfire crisis.
About five million hectares of land have burned nationwide over the past few months, with more than 1,000 homes destroyed.
Some communities cancelled New Year’s fireworks celebrations, but Sydney’s popular display over its iconic harbour controversially went ahead in front of more than a million revellers. The city was granted an exemption to a total fireworks ban in place there and elsewhere to prevent new wildfires.
Smoke from the wildfires meant Canberra, the nation’s capital, on Wednesday had air quality more than 21 times the hazardous rating to be reportedly the worst in the world.
The smoke has also wafted across the Tasman Sea and into New Zealand.
