Land of extremes

This time of year I'm usually posting about bushfires causing death and destruction in Australia.

We do indeed have fires, in the west. Not far from Perth a deliberately lit fire has destroyed a dozen homes:


Photo: Alf Sorbello perthnow.com.au

There's a large area burnt out but fortunately no casualties reported.

The animals won't be as lucky, although people do their best to rescue them:

Photo: Alf Sorbello perthnow.com.au

But this 'fire season' the big news is the flood disaster hitting Queensland.

The news an hour ago was that thirteen people are dead and another forty three are missing...and the worst of the flood is yet to come.

Towns have been destroyed by flash flooding, with 'tsunamis' of six to eight metres coming out of nowhere and catching people by surprise.

One third of Ipswich, a suburb of Brisbane, is under water. Brisbane itself, our third largest city, is on high alert with many suburbs already flooded and mass evacuations from the city centre. The river runs through the centre of the city and is due to peak at 4am Brisbane time. Fortunately the predicted 5.4 metre peak has been revised to 5.2 metres. It's still a hell of a lot of water - measure it!

5.4 metres down to 5.2 doesn't sound a big difference but it means thousands of properties won't be flooded. The current reports are that 20,000 properties will be.

The area under water is larger than France & Germany combined and the flood waters are headed south into New South Wales so the north east of my home state is threatened.

People are being rescued from cars which have been washed away and from the roof of their homes...

Photo: Sky News. Town of Lockyer

Photo: Courier Mail. The town of Toowoomba

This shot from a television camera in a chopper shows a family on their sinking 4X4. The mother and son were rescued but sadly the father, a well-known local personality James Perry, is missing.

Photo: The Australian

The animals are affected too and people are doing their best to help them:

Men jumped in and battled to rescue this trapped horse, which was disoriented and couldn't find its way to the nearby high ground:

Photo: Network 10

The wild animals are in trouble of course, finding any high ground or something, anything, to cling on to, like this goanna:

Photo treehugger.com

And animals help each other in times of danger too.

This is one of the most amazing photos to come out of it so far. Armin Gerlach was visiting friends in the flood-hit town of Dalby when he spotted a brown snake (the world's second most venomous) giving a green frog a ride through the flood waters:

Photo: Armin Gerlach

Meanwhile, back home...

"It has never been this hot, dry and windy in combination ever before," Premier Nathan Rees told reporters on Saturday.

There is no immediate threat to lives or property from 66 fires burning across NSW however, "unprecedented conditions" call for extreme vigilance, the premier says.

On Friday there were more than 120 fires across the state so the firefighters have done a huge job to halve the number.

No chance for them to relax though:

Sydney Forecast

Tomorrow 41°C

Wind NNW 26km/h

Plus dry lightning strikes. The Blue Mountains National Park, visited by around 3 million tourists a year and covering over half a million acres, was closed because of fires lit by lightning strikes on Friday.A total ban on open fires was declared in New South Wales.

The new level of 'Catastrophic' fire warning is in place for towns in large areas of western NSW.

The new highest category category was introduced after Black Saturday, when 173 people died in February's fires around Melbourne.

'Catastrophic' level is: Even specially constructed and actively defended homes may not provide shelter. Safest to leave the night before the expected fire. Under no circumstances will it be safe to stay and defend the home.

For months the authorities have been warning that this could well be the worst fire season ever and it's looking ominously as though they could be right.

But it isn't just bushfires they have to worry about.

A story from our local paper this week, close to our home an hour north of Sydney:

ANASTASIA Stead lived through many people’s worst nightmare at her Glenning Valley home on Sunday night.

Reaching out to turn off her bedlight, the girl, 14, was confronted by a 2m snake curled around her alarm clock.

The agitated adult diamond python hissed at Anastasia, who yelled to her mother for help.

I'd have yelled too.

A snake wrangler from WIRES, our wildlife rescue organisation, came and removed it...



Photo: Express Advocate


Never a dull moment in the sunburnt country.



NSW faces unprecedented conditions.

Snake alarm.

Australia burning again

Photos: Chris Ison, Courier Mail


Photo: ABC

Not long after the country's deadly worst ever fires in Victoria, (which I posted about here) there were warnings that this year's fire season could be the worst ever.

It's looking ominously as though those predictions may have been accurate, with big bushfires already in Western Australia, in New South Wales and even up in tropical Queensland.

Worst hit is Queensland where there are over fifty fires blazing, but there are other big fires in northern NSW and down to my home area just north of Sydney.

Yesterday the fires were reported as easing but today the firefighters' worst enemy the winds have strengthened and residents are being told they face days of threat.

It's happening very early too, the fires are usually at their worst around Christmas time.



There's a gallery of photos and the stories here.

Wildfires all over

There seem to be wildfires, or bushfires, across the planet.

California has big fires blazing now:

Photo Wally Skalij LA Times

Athens has just been through the same, with fires getting into the suburbs:

Photo AP

And even in Australia where it's winter and months before the fire season is due to begin there are fires to the north and south of Sydney.

This is near our home town just north of Sydney this week:


Photo Waide Maguire ExpressAdvocate

To the south of the city the Rural Fire Service has declared an emergency over several bushfires. The worst weather for firefighters, high winds, is forecast.

After Australia's deadliest fires in February, when 173 people died in Victoria's Black Saturday fires, there are warnings that their upcoming fire season will be the worst in the state's history.

Back in our home state I've just looked at the New South Wales Rural Fire Service website to check the current incidents.

Remember this is not the fire season, it's winter, yet they currently have 26 bushfires listed which are affecting over 12,800 hectares (28,000 acres).

Something's going on out there.

California fires.

Athens fires.

Oz fires.

Worst-ever to come.

NSW Current Incidents.

Celebrity koala's sad end

You might remember this photo from my post back in February:



A koala with badly burned paws from the terrible bushfires which devastated Victoria taking water from a firefighter.

She was treated an animal hospital and recovered well from that ordeal.

But now ABC has reported:

Sam the koala, made famous by footage of her drinking from a firefighter's water bottle during Victoria's bushfires, has died.

The badly burned koala became a symbol of hope for the survivors of the deadly bushfires that killed 173 people and left 7,500 homeless.

But just months after her rescue from the fires, Sam was diagnosed with cysts linked to the life-threatening disease chlamydia that has ravaged the koala population.

The four-year-old koala was due to have surgery on Thursday to remove the cysts but John Butler of the Morwell Vet Clinic discovered Sam had severe changes in her urinary and reproductive tract that were non-operable.

"Unfortunately Sam has been put to sleep. It's very, very sad," said Peita Elkhorne of TressCox Lawyers on behalf of the Southern Ash Wildlife Shelter.

"It was so severe that there was no possible way to be able to manage her pain."

A sad end to what was a heartwarming story.



The ABC report is here.

What a fantastic photograph

Photo. Russell Vickery. Herald Sun

Actually it's not the photograph but the moment it captures that I find so heartwarming.

A wild animal which would usually run away or scratch & bite with firefighter David Tree giving it some of his own water.

In a bushfire all living things share the danger. These two have experienced the horrors of the fires, fought the common enemy, and now in the middle of the devastation they share a moment together.

A sombre Oz trip

We're due to arrive in Sydney on Monday to spend about two weeks in Oz, catching up with friends and family.

That part will be good but I'm expecting a much more sombre time than when we planned the trip a few weeks ago.

The death toll in the Victorian bushfire disaster is now at 173 with still many areas not entered yet by the emergency services and over twenty fires still blazing out of control. Police are saying they fear the death toll could rise to around three hundred.

I'm staggered and horrified, I find it hard to believe. Not the destruction of property because property is often lost in our bushfires, so sadly are tens of thousands of animals. Given the extended drought we've been going through for years the scale of the fires and therefore the property loss is not a surprise to me. The bush was ready to explode.

What I find hard to get my head around is the number of deaths.

I'm sure there will be an enquiry, probably a Royal Commission I expect, to investigate how so many people could have died.

The Age newspaper in Melbourne has a big library of video, audio and photographs of the disaster in addition to all the stories and a couple of photographs which stood out to me.

This one gives an indication of what the people were going through.

It was obviously zero visibility because of the smoke, you can see that the trees were burning, people were trying to get away in their cars. As is being reported from several areas, a tree was blocking the road.

That stopped four vehicles which are all burnt out. You can only pray the people survived.

The two nearest cars crashed but aren't burnt. They must have arrived after the firefront had gone through but presumably crashed because of the smoke.

The scene at the time doesn't bear thinking about.


Photo Angela Wylie The Age

And a cheerier photo. Somehow the koala survived, apparently unharmed and how he managed that I can't imagine.

Even with all the death and destruction around them, someone had thought of the animals and left food and water for any survivors.


Photo Tina McCarthy The Age


Our plan is to spend some time in Sydney, in our home town on the NSW Central Coast and then head north to Queensland's Sunshine Coast to meet up with family.

There are currently about fifty fires burning in NSW though, so we'll keep our plans flexible. It's about 1,000 kilometres with most of it through the countryside of course, so if there are still fires about I won't take the chance and we'll spend more time in Sydney instead.


If you're interested, The Age coverage is here.

By the way, as I'm looking at it it's showing the Melbourne temperature as only 18C while a couple of days ago it was 47C. That's much needed good news for everyone there.

"We really need help right now"

All major events are actually a jigsaw of small personal events, as with the bushfires devastating Victoria.

You can look at the photographs, read the stories that 130 are dead, that whole townships are destroyed but while it's a terrible story it's somehow at arms length, it's a news story, it's not on a personal level.

Then you hear real time audio of one person trapped right in the middle of it and it makes the hair on your neck stand on end.

Rhiannon, only twenty years old, called radio station 3AW as the fires raced towards the house where she and a group had taken shelter.

She was matter of fact, calm, well organised but obviously terrified. Here are a few snatches of the conversation:

"The property we've located to is surrounded completely by fire and we're just waiting for it to hit...

We've seen no emergency services and we really need help right now."

How many of you are there?

"Eight kids under ten, two elderly ladies, four adults...there's quite a few of us."

How far is the firefront from you?

"Half a kilometre...not even..."

And it's burning towards you?

"That's correct."

Is there any capacity at that property in terms of pumps, sprinklers?

We have pumps and sprinklers going but I don't know if that's enough.

We heard there's a strike force coming our way. If they're near we really need help...it's just minutes away."

How far away did you say the flames are, half a kilometre?

"I can't even see the flames, there's too much smoke now.

Please send help."

The emergency services were simply overwhelmed, the situation was obviously critical, the conversation ended.

Then sometime later the line with Rhiannon was reconnected.

"Hi Rhiannon. You're OK!"

"For the moment. I can't see much there's smoke everywhere. We need as much help as we can get up here.

The house we were at was engulfed in flames and there are still people in the house.

We're going back for them in the tractor."

Rhianna was saved by her eighteen year old brother Rhys who had driven a tiny tractor through the burning paddocks, cut his way through the fences to the house and got them all out.


Emotional stuff.


If you want the real story behind the headlines, and get a feel for what people are going through, the full audio tape is here.

Bushfire nightmare

Aussie radio is reporting that 130 people are now dead in the horrific bushfires around Melbourne.

Many more victims are expected to be found as emergency services investigate the burnt out areas, and many badly burned survivors are not expected to survive.

There are around thirty massive fires burning in Victoria, one for example is burning over 30,000 hectares. Radio has just reported that the one which has killed twenty-one people so far has now broken containment lines and is out of control, as are several others.

Many people have died trying to save their homes instead of evacuating, others have died in their cars as they tried to get away.

The scale of the disaster is hard to imagine. Fifteen percent of the population of the small town of Strathewen, pop 200, was killed when the town was destroyed.

At least twenty-two people died when Maryville, which I mentioned in my last post, was destroyed and more victims are expected to be found as the ruins are investigated.

In Kingslake, also destroyed, many fleeing motorists didn't make it out. In thick smoke, which is worse than the worst fog you can imagine, they were caught by towering flames. Some crashed into each other, others crashed into trees. There is a five car crash on the road out of town with all the cars burnt out.

The horrors awaiting the emergency services as they are able to go in don't bear thinking about. Utter destruction, bodies in houses, cars and in the open and a resident says there are dead animals all over the road.

That's another result of fires like these, the appalling loss of animal life, pets, domestic herds and wildlife.

It's hard to imagine what these fires are like. Listening to some of the interviews on radio gives some idea. The fires burn all the oxygen from the air, so water pumps stop operating and people can't breathe. They come so fast that people who have good fire plans and equipment don't have time to do anything but try to flee. The gum trees, which are full of eucalyptus oil, explode. The fires roar, there's heat, smoke, a wall of flames tens of metres high.

There are videos and audio tapes here.

Unbelievably a number of the fires have been started by arsonists. Some have been caught and will be charged. I've always believed that they should be charged with murder with a mandatory life sentence and no parole.

The cooler weather that has helped the exhausted firefighters a little but the forecast is for strong gusty winds and much higher temperatures over the next couple of days, the worst possible news.

God help them.

Eighty-four people killed by Aussie bushfires...so far.

Photo: AFP




There's a terrible deathtoll in the bushfires which are destroying huge areas of southern Australia. South Australia and New South Wales are being badly hit but the real tragedy is in Victoria.

As of ten minutes ago, eighty-four people are confirmed dead and emergency services fear they will find many more as they get into fire ravaged areas.

Whole townships have been destroyed, over 700 homes so far. Up to 80 per cent of the township of Marysville has been reported destroyed, emergency services haven't got in yet and the death toll doesn't include anyone from there.

As they go in they're finding bodies in cars, in burnt out houses, in the streets.

The ABC reports that Melbourne hospitals are dealing with large numbers of burns victims. Some patients are so severely burned that they're not expected to survive.

Thousands of firefighters, including volunteers from other states, are trying to save lives, property, pets and livestock and thousands of people have fled to relief centres set up by the Red Cross, the Salvation Army and others. The army has been put on standby.

A current report:

Residents and tourists are stranded in Yarra Glen, north-east of Melbourne, after fires cut roads going in and out of town.

Visitors and locals have herded into the main street as farms, homes and hotels are evacuated and people are left with nowhere to go.

"The fire's really close, we can see the flames from the middle of town", said tourist Jacqui Cheng.

"There's hundreds of people, cars are packed full, there are dogs and people with horse floats, they're all in the street, they're just wandering around.

"The fire is on three sides and all the roads are cut."



The Age in Melbourne has the stories, videos and photos here.

ABC report.


UPDATE


It's just getting worse and worse. At 10pm Dubai time the death toll has reached a confirmed 93 and more are expected. There are thirty-one huge fires burning in Victoria, twelve out of control.

Entire townships have been destroyed. This is a shot from ABC TV film showing Marysville:

Lightning's different results

Reports on the same day about storms in Dubai and Sydney demonstrate the difference results they can create.

In Dubai we had thunder and lightning, around Sydney they also had thunder and lighning.

With our storms we have temperature around 21C. In Sydney's west they have over 43C.

In Dubai they came with heavy rain and flooded roads. Around Sydney it caused bushfires which are causing a lot of damage.


Photos Jessica Drake and Kim Roper. Sydney Morning Herald


The Sydney Morning Herald report is here.

Better news on California fires

Having seen a few bushfires and the destruction they can cause, the news from California has been terrible.

But today it's a little better. The strong winds which are always firefighters' most feared factor are dropping and humidity is rising. We can only hope that continues.

These are huge fires. Around a thousand homes have been lost and tens of thousands of people have had to evacuate.

There are many graphic photographs in the Los Angeles Times and a lot of them make the hair on my neck stand up.

A wild fire like this is hard to describe. At a distance there's a strange hush in the air, an incredibly eerie redness all around.

Closer to, the noise is deafening. In Australia our ubiquitous eucalypt trees, full of oil, literally explode into flame.

After so many days of battling these monsters the firefighters must be exhausted. I can't tell you how much admiration I have for them.

The word is much over-used, but these men and women are true heroes. Risking their lives to save others' lives and property, going towards and facing a terrifying situation others run from.

Some examples of what they're currently up against in California.



Photo. Luis Sinco. LA Times


Photo. KatRose LA Times


Photo. AA Fisher. LA Times

The full stories and amazing photographs are here in the Los Angeles Times.

Another firefighter dies

The seemingly endless fires in the UAE have claimed another firefighter's life and two others were injured when they fought a blaze in a store in Al Ain

Reports say it was a nine-hour long operation for the firefighters. The fire generated thick black smoke and very high heat from highly inflammable material stored in the building.

No details of the casualties were given in the report, which you can read here.

Meanwhile firefighters in California are struggling with out of control wildfires. Over half a million acres have already been burnt and nearly forty homes destroyed. State of emergency has been declared in various areas and mass evacuations are being carried out.

The LA Times has the story here.

California wildfire tragedy.

I talk about the horrors of the Aussie bushfires every southern summer, and a few months ago the terrible fires in Greece.

Now it's the USA's turn to suffer again, or at least California, from their regular wildfire season.

I remember a couple of years ago when Aussie firefighters went to the US to help fight very bad fires, they came back amazed at the amount of equipment, people, resources their colleagues there had at their disposal.

Even with that it seems they're in danger of being overwhelmed in Southern California. The conditions are familiar to us down-under with the driest year on record, high temperatures, then the high winds. It then only takes a lightning strike, a carelessly dropped cigarette or a campfire not extinguished properly - or an insane arsonist - to start the inferno.

The winds are what firefighters fear the most and meteorologists are saying the worst winds are still to come over the fire areas.

Sadly, one person has been killed and four firefighters seriously injured, plus over a dozen other people injured. Over 200,000 acres have burnt already, while the LA Times is reporting over half a million residents have been ordered to evacuate and Reuters says over 700 homes have been destroyed.

Fire is a terrible, terrible thing.



LA Times photo

Many more photographs plus the ongoing story at LA Times.

Addition on Wednesday...the LA Times is now reporting nearly half a million acres burnt, 1155 homes destroyed and five more deaths 'linked' to the fires. The good news is that winds are slowing, temperature is dropping and humidity is rising.

A Greek tragedy

I posted a series back in January on the last Aussie bushfire season, and I can't let the Greek wildfire disaster pass without comment.

The loss of life is appalling, nearly seventy so far according to the latest reports, and I dread to think what the final toll will be.

In Australia bushfires are a fact of life, an annual event. With thankfully few exceptions the authorities are prepared, we have equipment such as water-bombing planes & helicopters, we have thousands of volunteer firefighters in the bush fire brigades, highly trained and well equipped. As a general rule people know what to do, how to prepare their homes to minimise the risk, we know the speed the fires can reach and the need to evacuate in time.

None of that seems to have been the case in Greece. From all the reports coming out of the country it seems the authorities were unprepared, the response tardy, people were left to their own devices without understanding what they needed to do.

It seems that many of the fires were deliberately started by arsonists. We get those murderous cretins in Oz too. Penalties have been increased for those convicted but we don't charge them as I've long argued they should be charged, with murder. Or if no-one is killed, with attempted murder.

If the reports out of Athens are correct, Greece is taking a tougher line with a man being charged with arson and murder.

That's a decision I applaud.

Aussie bushfire crisis worsening...

...eight homes lost, over one million hectares burnt in Victoria.

Fire crosses into New South Wales, ski resort town evacuated, National Parks closed.


Photo: Angela Wylie. Sydney Morning Herald

Residents of Thredbo were given the bad news this afternoon that bushfires 10 times worse than the 2003 blaze may threaten their properties, but with a typical steely resolve most were determined to remain and fight to save their homes and resorts should the need arise.

All visitors at the town have been evacuated, and entry is closed.

And in Victoria, also fighting the beast:

David Heffer and his partner Andy Corwe watched in horror last night as fire came to the doorstep of their Steiglitz home.

The couple managed to save their home near the tiny township, 80km west of Melbourne, but their neighbours weren't so lucky.

Mark Wilkinson, his wife Helen and their two young children lost their home in the blaze last night.

Today, Mr Heffer's red-brick home is untouched by fire, but the yard and surrounds are scorched and still smouldering. All that is left of the garden, once full of tussocks and native grasses, is stumps and ash.

'Bugger it, this is my place'

Pauline Lorenz and her family were preparing for the worst. They packed two cars full of their possessions and were waiting on the verandah for the fire to come.

"It's like, 'Bugger it, this is my place, and you're not going to have it.'"

Currently there are plenty of urgent warnings:

URGENT THREAT Archerton, Toombullup, Tolmie, Bunstons sub-division, Masons Road, Upper 15 Mile Creek. Spot fires and erratic fire behaviour in the Stringybark Road, Peppermint Road, Spring Creek Road and Bunstons Road areas.

And it's not looking good for the next few days:

'Worst bushfre crisis'

Earlier today, Premier Steve Bracks warned that Victoria is in the grip of the one of the worst bushfire crises in the state's history.

The Premier has cut short his holiday and returned to work after a fire in north-east Victoria cut transmission lines yesterday and sparked blackouts across the state.

Today Mr Bracks attended a briefing with Emergency Services Commissioner Bruce Esplin and Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Christine Nixon.

The meeting was told the next three days were critical and conditions were expected to be even worse on Saturday than they were yesterday, when eight houses were lost and temperatures soared into the 40s, Mr Bracks said.

"When I came back in this morning and had the briefing and learned that Saturday was going to be worse than yesterday, it just sends shivers up your spine because we all saw how bad yesterday was," he said.

"I think it will go down as one of our worst bushfire episodes in Victoria ever, and that's saying something in the state that had the 1939 fires, the 1983 fires and even the 2002/03 fires.

"This is the worst bushfire conditions we have ever had in Victoria's history because it is going to go on and it is going to get worse.

"We have never encountered this in Victoria before.

"This is 48 days ... of fire activity and one million hectares which have been burnt, and of course we are bracing ourselves for some very, very tough conditions."

Fingers crossed...

The stories:

House spared as fire hits neighbours.

Thredbo evacuated as fires cross border

Fire heading for Thredbo.

I despair...

Mother, son charged with Gippsland arson

Michael Davis and AAP
December 21, 2006

POLICE have charged a mother and her teenage son with arson over a bushfire that raged through Gippsland last week as firefighters continue to battle blazes around the state.

The pair -- a 29-year-old and a 15-year-old -- have been charged with deliberately lighting a fire at Driffield last week.

The arrests came as the two major firefronts tonight centre on the snow region of Mt Buller in the state's north east and parts of Gippsland, south east of Melbourne.

With temperatures well above 30C today, the firefighters and residents are bracing for strong winds hitting the fire areas and propellng the blazes later tonight.

The report is here.

The tragedies...

Cooler weather, and even some rain, over many of the fires has meant that there's been a temporary reprieve.

For some.

Every fire leaves tragedies, from lost homes & belongings to lives lost and animals killed in their thousands.Today's news reports start to tell some of the stories from the fires in Victoria and Tasmania.

Firefighters caught in blaze.

A number of New Zealand firefighters have been injured while battling blazes on campsites north of Melbourne.

One has critical burns, four suffered burns and smoke inhalation while another suffered smoke inhalation.

Fire victim was helping a mate protect his home.

DONALD Dosser, the man who was killed defending a mate's home from fire, has been described as a "real mate who helped anyone who was in trouble".

Mr Dosser, 48, of Longford, died on Thursday while protecting a property at Seaton.

Gutted residents will stay and rebuild.

AS GRAHAM Harker rushed from work to his burning Stoney Creek home, knocking over fences and racing through charred paddocks, the glare coming from where he used to live was almost too much to bear.

"I got to the gate and all I could see here was flames coming out of the doors and the windows and great columns of smoke." They have little left, apart from their car, some clothes and photo albums and their dogs, Bob and Brandy.

Theirs was one of 11 houses razed in the Toongabbie district on Thursday afternoon.

In Cowwarr, concrete stumps, twisted corrugated iron and rubble are all that is left of Alex Krstic's three-bedroom weatherboard house. No possessions were saved. All Mr Krstic, his wife, Lynda, and 13-year-old daughter, Shelby, have are the clothes they were wearing.

And when everyone living in Australia knows exactly what bushfires mean, this is just incomprehensible to me:

Police want to question teenagers.

POLICE were last night searching for two teenagers over a fire that began at Coopers Creek, south-east of Erica, that led to the death of a Longford man and the loss of several houses.

And this is what we all know bushfires mean:


An apocalyptic sky descends over Bairnsdale, south Gippsland,
early on Thursday afternoon, growing darker, and scarier,
as the day wore on, The nearest fires were still at least 30kms away.
Photo: Ahren Morris/The Age


Street lights and headlights come on in Bairnsdale yesterday - at 2pm.
Photo: Natalie Fisher/The Age


Lynda and Alex Krstic tried to defend their Cowwarr house but lost it and all their
possessions when they had to flee the fires.
Photo: Paul Rovere/The Age


Homes were destroyed in the Gippsland area when fire raced through late
Thursday afternoon. Photo. Jason South/The Age


This would have been full of wildlife.
Photo. Jason South/The Age

Firefighters caught in blaze

Fire victim was helping a mate protect his home

Gutted residents will stay and rebuild

Police want to question teenagers

It's bad...

Tasmania:

One home lost as residents flee

ONE house has been lost and several other buildings gutted as bushfires tore through the beachside hamlet of Four Mile Creek this afternoon.

Residents were forced to flee to the beach about 3pm after what some described as "a fireball" jumped containment lines and raced towards the sea.

Others were stopped at police roadblocks north and south of the village as massive gusts of smoke blackened the air above their homes.

Smoke was so thick drivers could not see their own car bonnets, while the energy draw of the massive firestorm turned the wind into a roaring force.

Those who had planned to stay and defend their homes were advised to stick to their plans, but those who wanted to leave were advised to head for the beach.

"When the fire hit Four Mile Creek it came in a rush and it was too late for people to get out by road," said Mr Reid.

Earlier the fire went through the nearby town of Cornwall. Fire rushed the village just after 1pm after a predicted westerly wind change took hold.

An ABC reporter in Cornwall said firefighters had managed to save three or four homes in the path of "a great wall of fire''.

"They just stood in the flames with hoses and not a lot more,'' she said.

I've said it before and I'll repeat it - these men & women are heroes.

The east coast bushfire has burnt through 14,200 hectares since Sunday and exhausted firefighters are struggling to contain the 80-kilometre perimeter.

Victoria:

It's just like Armageddon

Horror fire conditions have seen fires rage out of control this afternoon, jumping containment lines and launching ember attacks at populated areas.

URGENT THREAT: Fernbank, Glenaladale, Kevington, Gaffneys Creek, A1 Mine and Woods Point. Jamieson district, including Burns Bridge.

ON ALERT: North East: Howqua River Road area, Mount Beauty and Bogong townships. Gippsland: Glencairn, areas north of Valencia Creek and east to Culloden, Castleburn, Dargo, Briagolong and Crooked River.

NEWS UPDATE: Houses threatened and two schools evacuated at Drysdale, near Geelong.

CFA deputy chief officer Graham Fountain told The Age:

"The fires have jumped containment lines, they've spotted, there's been ember attacks in a number of areas. There is a risk of that (buildings being lost), these are populated areas.''


Towns under threat:

Residents in Fernbank, Glenaladale, Kevington, Licola, Gaffney's Creek and A1 Mine have been issued with urgent threat messages, while those in Merrijig , Mt Buller, Sawmill Settlement and Woods Point are being urged to remain alert.

The towns of Dargo, Crooked River, Castleburn, Waterford and Cobbannah that may come under threat as winds shift north to north-easterly.

Glenmaggie, Valencia Creek, Briagalong and Heyfield are advised to remain on high alert with the expected northerly wind change.

New South Wales:

Major fire breaks containment

A MAJOR bushfire has broken containment lines overnight and is threatening properties in rugged high country near Tumut in southern NSW.

Authorities say the blaze burning out of control in the Bondo pine plantation, is igniting spot fires ahead of its front. The fire has burnt out about 13,000ha of pine plantation.

The NSW Rural Fire Service (RFS) has advised people in Argalong and the Upper Goobragandra River Valley to prepare for ember attacks.

The thin yellow line.

STRUGGLE: Worried residents watch as firefighters
battle flames away from their house on the edge of
Scamander yesterday.

From Tasmania's 'Mercury' newspaper, an uncredited photo taken in Scamander sums the situation up.

People prepare their homes, making them as fire-resistant as possible. Then, you do as one resident describes: A little way into St Marys Pass -- still closed even to fire trucks because of burning trees and power poles -- Linda Watts did not know where the fire was.

She had her three children ready to "grab the clothes, grab the dogs and get into the car".

The paper reports an awful lot of damage for a town of around 600 people:

Firefighters estimated Scamander's losses at 13 homes, an art gallery, a jewellery business, an electrical business, 24 large workshops, a caravan and a wrecking yard including 70 vehicles.

About 120 personnel were fighting the fire in rotation around the clock late yesterday, aided by 40 trucks, four bulldozers and four helicopters.

Meanwhile, a fire burning for the past 10 days on the lower East Coast also remains out of control.

The blaze at Kellevie, near Bream Creek, has burned 8000ha and remains a threat to homes.

About 90 firefighters, six bulldozers and three helicopters are battling the blaze.

Residents of Nugent, Twamley and Wielangta were last night advised to remain vigilant in preparation for today's weather conditions.

At least another 18 fires were also burning around the state late yesterday, affecting other East Coast locations.

The Tasmania Fire Service warned that northeasterly winds up to 50km/h would increase fire activity through the night, encouraging what has become the state's worst fire in 25 years.

By 2pm the man in charge of defending St Marys, division commander Andrew Skelly, was sure of the fire's threat.

"It is going to get hairy," he said. "It's going to happen sooner or later, whether it's this afternoon or tomorrow.

"We are going to have a fire of biblical proportions."

Dire weather predictions expected.