Fear for seven missing in fires
SEVEN people were missing yesterday as catastrophic bushfires raged across the country, a day after a third volunteer firefighter died when his truck flipped amid a “fire tornado”.
Three civilians were missing, feared dead, in the NSW townships of Cobargo and Belowra, on the south coast, with another four people missing in Victoria.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison paid tribute to the latest volunteer firefighter to die – Samuel McPaul, 28, who was killed when his truck flipped amid a “fire tornado” at Jingellic, about 110km east of Albury in NSW, on Monday night.
“It is an unimaginable loss and one felt by the entire country,” he said.
Two other NSW volunteers were killed on December 19 when a tree hit their tanker southwest of Sydney, bringing the total number of lives lost this bushfire season across the country to 11.
There were 15 fire emergencies in place in NSW and Victoria yesterday, with fires burning from Western Australia to the east coast.
The unrelenting fire season has destroyed almost 1000 homes and blackened more than 4 million hectares of land.
Authorities confirmed significant property and stock losses across Victoria, with the worst yet to come as “dynamic and dangerous” fires sweep through communities.
Up to 4000 people fled their homes and sought refuge on the beach in the Victorian coastal community of Mallacoota, hit by fire from about 8.30am yesterday. Images on social media show terrifying conditions with pitch-black skies as the town came under ember attack.
“What we saw across the state was more than 200 new fires yesterday, a further 60 new fires that started from midnight last night,” said Andrew Crisp, emergency management commissioner.
Properties were lost throughout East Gippsland but it was too early to confirm how many, he said.
Emergency warnings, the highest alert level, remained in place across East Gippsland and there was another in place for a fire straddling the northeast Victoria-NSW border at Walwa/Corryong.
Extreme fire conditions were also expected in NSW, for the Southern Ranges, Illawarra and ACT, yesterday.
Warning levels for a string of bushfires burning on the South Australian mainland had all been reduced but concerns remain for two blazes on Kangaroo Island.
In southern Western Australia, a large bushfire continued to rage in the Stirling Range National Park, with more than 40 fires across the state