Evacuees on the beach at Rosedale, NSW. Screenshot from the video below.
Residents and visitors in the New South Wales coastal town of Rosedale (map) had to evacuate to the beach on New Years Eve as a bushfire spread into the area.
Description of the Guardian video below:
Madeleine Kelly, 17, and her family were among people staying in Rosedale, a tiny coastal town 300km south of Sydney, when they were forced to flee to the beach ahead of huge bushfires on New Year’s Eve. The fires destroyed numerous properties in the town as horrified onlookers watched. The fire’s onslaught was halted when the wind changed, but people remained on the beach for hours afterwards before they could be evacuated to Moruya showgrounds by bus through the devastated town.
The National Interagency Fire Center in Boise announced on their Situation Report December 27 that a total of 32 fire personnel had been deployed to Australia from the United States.
From CBC.ca, December 30, 2019:
Stephen Tulle, duty officer with the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre, said a group of 15 set out for Queensland Monday, while another 21 will fly out later in the week.
The contingent of Canadian wildfire specialists stationed in Queensland and New South Wales will reach 87 by Jan. 4, he said.
This is the first time Canada has made a co-ordinated effort to send firefighters to Australia, although crews from Down Under have visited here and were vital in helping British Columbia handle widespread wildfires in 2017 and 2018, Tulle said.
On December 31, 2019 Andrew Crisp of the Victoria Emergency Management Commission in Australia, said they have ordered additional fire aviation specialists from US and Canada, and firefighters “who can work in remote and arduous conditions”.
The U.S. is putting together another wave. On December 31 a 20-person hand crew was being assembled on the Angeles National Forest in Southern California. Other firefighters from the U.S. may also be deployed. We will update this article as additional information becomes available.
Two residents have been killed and dozens of structures destroyed
Extremely large pyrocumulus clouds tower over bushfires in New South Wales and spread over the Pacific Ocean. Sentinel-2A image, December 31, 2019, processed by @andrewmiskelly.
Very large bushfires continue to rapidly spread through areas of New South Wales and Victoria in southeast Australia, leaving behind hundreds of thousands of burned hectares, blackened forests, and destroyed structures in their wakes.
Victoria
Authorities in Victoria have confirmed that at least 43 structures have been destroyed in the Gippsland region where more than 400,000 hectares (988,000 acres) have burned. Many of the structures were in the Sarsfield and Buchan areas.
The military is being activated to assist firefighters and the public. The Australian Defense Force will deploy Black Hawk and Chinook helicopters, as well as fixed-wing aircraft and Navy vessels for firefighting support and evacuations. Authorities were considering using helicopters to fly in food and other supplies to people cut off by fires and road closures. Over the last few weeks fire aviation specialists from the United States and Canada have arrived in Australia help manage aircraft.
People sought refuge at the Mallacoota boat ramp as the fire approached the town. Instagram by @travelling_aus_family
In Mallacoota, a coastal community popular with vacationers, an estimated 4,000 to 5,000 people were directed to evacuate and take refuge on the beach. They endured dense smoke that turned day into night as the fire spread into the outskirts of the town, sparing most of the buildings as it passed by the area.
Map showing warning areas near bushfires in Victoria, Australia. The areas with a black line and grey fill are designated for evacuation. The red lines indicate “emergency warning”. The width of the largest emergency warning area is approximately 204km (110 miles), east to west. Map by Vic Emergency, Jan. 1, 2020 (local time).
Thousands of people have been left without power in East Gippsland, which AusNet said may not be restored for days.
Country Fire Authority chief officer Steve Warrington said the main fire front has passed the town of Corryong in northeast Victoria near the NSW border after destroying an unknown number of homes on the outskirts of community. An evacuation center was set up at Corryong College.
One resident described the situation in Corryong as “an absolute mess. Fires are everywhere but the town was standing strong.”
New South Wales
At least 40 homes appear to have been destroyed by fires in Conjola Park on the south coast of NSW as the fire burned through on December 31. Many residents fled to the beach.
An unknown number of structures have burned in Cobargo, including some of those along Princes Highway, the main street going through the town.
Before the fire. A scene on the Princes Highway, the main street going through Cobargo, New South Wales. Google Streets image.The same area after the fire, December 31, 2019. Princes Highway, the main street going through Cobargo, New South Wales.
Two men, a father and son, were killed in the Cobardgo area where they had remained to defend their property. Patrick Salway, 29 and his father Robert, 63, perished at the family property at Wandella, about 10 kilometers northwest of Cobargo as the 82,000-hectare (202,000-acre) Badja Forest Road fire approached Monday night.
Police said Patrick’s mother discovered the men’s bodies when she returned to the burnt-out property Tuesday morning.
An excerpt from an article at the Australian Broadcasting Network:
Susanne Lewington, who owns the Breakfast Creek Vineyard in Bermagui, near Cobargo, was forced to evacuate her property at 5 am. She is now at a shelter down the road and does not know if the devastation has reached her property.
“It’s very eerie down here, it’s really smoky, there’s ash everywhere,” she said. “I have no idea if we’ve lost our property. If we have a wind change it could go because we’ve very close to the creek and we’re close to the forest. The sky was black, we only got daylight a few hours ago.”
She said the drought had left her property without any significant water bodies that may have helped dampen the blaze.
“There’s not much left on the property, about 100 ducks, four cattle and 10 sheep, that’s all we’ve got left because I had to sell the rest due to the drought,” she said. “We’ve got no water left so we weren’t able to defend.”
Andrew Crisp, Vic Emergency Mgt Commission in Australia, said they have ordered fire aviation specialists from US and Canada, and firefighters “who can work in remote and arduous conditions”. Presumably in addition to previous orders. At 3:10 in the audio: https://t.co/0mkhgzNQnJ
A NSW engine crew is overrun by a bushfire. Screenshot from the video below. Po
The engine crew from Fire and Rescue New South Wales Station 509 Wyoming recorded the video below showing the moment their truck was overrun by a fire south of Nowra, NSW. The crew was forced to shelter in their truck as the fire front passed through. The video was posted by NSW Rural Fire Service December 31, 2019 local time.
The crew from Fire and Rescue NSW Station 509 Wyoming recorded this video showing the moment their truck was overrun by the bushfire burning South of Nowra. The crew was forced to shelter in their truck as the fire front passed through. #NSWFires#ProtectTheIrreplaceablepic.twitter.com/Hb0yVrefi9
The NSW RFS Commissioner provides more information about the firefighter who was killed when a fire tornado or column collapse flipped his fire engine, causing his death and injuries to two other firefighters. https://t.co/MLVqXPUVSd
Firefighters are protecting 4,000 people at the beach near Mallacoota, Victoria
Map showing warning areas near bushfires in Victoria, Australia. The areas with a black line and grey fill are designated for evacuation. The red lines indicate “emergency warning”. The arrow points toward Mallacoota, Victoria. The width of the largest emergency warning area is approximately 204km (110 miles), east to west. Map by Vic Emergency, Dec. 31, 2019 (local time)
According to numerous reports Tuesday morning local time, rapidly spreading bushfires in northeast Victoria are forcing residents and campers in the Mallacoota area to evacuate the town and take refuge on the coast. Approximately 4,000 to 5,000 people are hunkering down at the beach as a fire approaches the community.
Heavy smoke and huge pyrocumulus clouds created by the fires are putting Mallacoota in near darkness hours after the sun rose Tuesday, December 31.
