A STATE ABLAZE
AMAZING SATELLITE IMAGE, MAP INSIDE
A SMALL army of firefighters supported by aircraft is battling 72 bushfires across the state — including crews at Gell River, above — and fireys are bracing for more in coming days. An “Emergency Warning” was issued yesterday for a fire on the Central Plateau, but it was later downgraded to “Watch and Act”.
Most of the fires were sparked by dry lightning strikes this week and are burning in rugged terrain. They threaten popular wilderness bushwalking areas, including the Mt Anne circuit, where 50 hikers were evacuated yesterday.
DOZENS of bushwalkers have been evacuated and some of Tasmania’s most popular and pristine wilderness walks are under threat as fire ravages the state.
About 50 walkers were extracted by helicopter from Mt Anne in the Southwest National Park yesterday afternoon.
Another three were rescued by police from the rugged Western Arthur range about 8pm on Tuesday evening after lightning sparked a bushfire nearby.
I’ve been bushwalking since 1980, it’s really unprecedented what’s happening now
PETER GRANT
Tasmania Parks and Wildlife acting general manager Andrew Roberts said their key priority was ensuring the safety of all walkers.
“We’ve had staff out there checking log books, car parks and overflying tracks, just trying to get the ones that are in the fire active areas out of the park as quick as possible,” he said.
“The situation is fluid and the message is that visitors do not commence bushwalks or four-wheel driving in remote areas across the state until further notice.”
Mr Roberts said they would try to get helicopters to fly over dangerous areas and drop into campsites, but ide- ally people would walk out themselves. “It’s probably a good point to remind everybody that goes walking to use the logbooks,” he said.
“It’s times like these they’re invaluable because we can just go there and say who’s out there.”
There are also fears the bushfires will destroy some of Tasmania’s unique and unusual vegetation that attracts thousands of bushwalkers each year.
Firefighters had reported 24 blazes in Tasmania’s remote Southwest National Park. Walking areas of particular concern last night were the Great Pine Tier, Western Arthur range, Promontory Lake, the Mt Anne circuit and the Walls of Jerusalem National Park.
Mr Roberts said some of the South-West areas were “not tolerant to fire” like tra- ditional Australian eucalyptus. Tasmania Fire Service State Fire Controller Bruce Byatt said the firefighting strategies put in place were intended to provide as much protection to those areas as possible.
Avid bushwalker, nature blogger and former Parks and Wildlife Service staffer Peter Grant said apart from being very dangerous for walkers, a large number of recreational areas were under threat from the dry lightning phenomenon.
“I’ve been bushwalking since 1980, it’s really unprecedented what’s happening now,” he said. “Fire could be anywhere.” He said fauna such as the King Billy pine, Pencil Pine and Cushion plant had taken thousands of years to build up and didn’t regenerate after being burnt.
Greens leader Cassy O’Connor said saving the “priceless, globally unique” Tasmanian landscape required every resource to be thrown at it.
“No expense should be spared,” Ms O’Connor said.
“Once a place like Dixons’ Kingdom is lost, it’s lost forever.”
For a full list of track and park closures visit www.parks.tas.gov.au/closures.