Small Rural Community in Aust All But Wiped Out
The small rural community of Uarbry in the NSW Central West has been all but wiped out after a massive out-of-control bushfire that tore through it on Sunday. “Uarbry is gone. Completely burned to the ground from reports. Losses of homes, pets and all,” Madeline Best said. Former resident, Masha Crilly, now living in the UK, was relieved to hear her parents had escaped before it was destroyed.
“It’s awful. Loads of people have lost everything,” she said. Fire expert teams headed to the region yesterday to assess the sheer scale of loss from the weekend’s blazes, as more than 80 bushfires continue to burn across the state. An emergency evacuation warning was activated yesterday for villages in the path of the Sir Ivan fire which breached containment lines at Leadville near Dunedoo.
For residents of Uarbry, Turill and Cassilis it was too late to leave, with the RFS advising them to seek shelter. Peter Gilmour returned to his half acre block at 9.30pm on Sunday night to assess the damage. He said there were only three of 12 houses left in the town, as fires continued to burn around the small village. He said he was lucky some of his property had appeared to survive but he was waiting to see how it had survived the night.
HOW THE BUSHFIRES UNFOLDED
The town hall and the church was completely obliterated by the fire. He had taken shelter in the nearby town of Dunedoo, and was waiting for the road to reopen. “Most neighbours have lost everything,” he said.
The fire is currently burning to the east of Dunedoo and moving north towards Black Stump Way, Leadville and Coolah. Although conditions are easing, people in the areas of Leadville, Turill, Cassilis and Coolah are being urged to remain vigilant. Rural Fire Service Commissioner, Shane Fitzsimmons said 25 fires were still uncontained yesterdaymorning, after blazes burnt across “a very large area” consuming everything in their path.
Cooler temperatures yesterday, after Sunday’s catastrophic conditions, would help crews gain an upper hand.
“We know there is clearly losses. Losses in homes, losses in buildings,
losses in livestock and other agricultural assets,” he told the Nine Network.
“The extraordinary effort of firefighters. What they saved yesterday will far outweigh the losses that we report today. “I know that is cold comfort for those who have lost so much and I don’t mean any disrespect or being insensitive, but we cannot take away from the amount of property, people, livelihoods that have been saved under Sunday’s conditions.” Two fires remained at watch-andact levels near the towns of Dunedoo and near Mudgee with RFS crews focusing on these areas yesterday. The Sir Ivan fire, near Dunedoo, has burned through almost 50,000 hectares with an active fire edge of about 200km, Mr Fitzsimmons said.
The Kains Flat fire northeast of Mudgee has burnt through 5000 hectares. Mr Fitzsimmons said critical backburning and patrol work will be undertaken in the coming days.
“Clearly, the weather is going to be of some benefit but there is a lot of very dirty, difficult and dangerous work ahead for firefighters before we can come close to getting these fires under control.” The fire danger will remain very high on Monday in the Greater Hunter and surrounding fire areas, Bureau of Meteorology senior forecaster Neil Fraser told AAP. But no part of the state would face severe, extreme or catastrophic conditions.