NSW braces for ‘unprecedented’ fire conditions
Residents across large parts of NSW have been told to brace themselves for a potential repeat of ‘‘unprecedented’’ fire conditions today, amid warnings that the bushfires burning across the state serve as a ‘‘sobering reminder’’ of the summer ahead.
Three deaths have already been confirmed in the fires — including 69-year-old Wytaliba resident Vivian Chaplain, and another man identified as George Nole — and there are fears the death toll will rise.
Yesterday, fire assessment teams were tallying property damage from volatile bushfires that ripped through large chunks of NSW over two days.
While weather conditions have eased, 72 bushfires continued to burn across NSW on Sunday morning with 36 still not under control, while a further 11 fires were at watch and act levels.
The NSW Rural Fire Service issued a stark warning yesterday ahead of ‘‘dangerous’’ conditions tomorrow and urged residents to ‘‘get ready now’’ as the fires would not be contained in time.
‘‘These conditions will be as bad, if not worse, than those experienced on Friday as they will be across a much broader area including large population centres like Sydney,’’ the NSW Rural Fire Service said.
‘‘Under these conditions, these fires will spread quickly and will threaten homes and lives.’’
The fire danger ratings of ‘‘severe and extreme’’ are expected to cover a much broader swath of NSW tomorrow, extending from the northern parts of the state, to potentially across the Central West, and the greater Sydney and Illawarra region, to the South Coast.
NSW Rural Fire Service Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons said assessment teams were bracing themselves for ‘‘considerable losses’’.
‘‘There are communities and fire grounds where we are expecting to tally up considerable losses of homes and other properties,’’ Fitzsimmons said on Saturday.
‘‘A number of our own fire stations have been destroyed.’’
At least 150 homes have been destroyed by the fires and a school at Glen Innes was severely damaged, although this number is likely to climb as detailed assessments begin.
Fitzsimmons said other important community assets had also been lost in the fires.
‘‘We’re talking about schools being destroyed, we’re talking about community halls, bridges, power poles,’’ he said.
‘‘All of those sorts of things – they get consumed in the path of a volatile fast-moving fire.’’
Fire assessment teams would comb through devastated areas over the coming days, Fitzsimmons said.
‘‘Clearly, from what we are seeing, and we do not have indicative assessments from all these fire grounds yet, but estimates are at least 150.’’
The rural fire service would also be co-ordinating relief work with the Australian Defence Force.
Relatives paid tribute to Chaplain, who is believed to have died while defending her home at Wytaliba, north-west of Coffs Harbour.
Her daughter-in-law Chrystal Harwood said Chaplain would be ‘‘greatly missed’’ by her two children and six grandchildren as she described her desperate attempts to reach her by phone after the line went dead.
‘‘She was in an absolute panic. She said, ’We’re on fire, there’s fire everywhere, I need the boys here now,’’’ Harwood told Nine. ‘‘And before I got to tell her to just get out, she’d hung up on me and I couldn’t get back through to her. I tried so many times.’’
Chaplain was found unconscious with burns to 40 to 50 per cent of her body at the Kangawalla Fire near Glen Innes in north-eastern NSW. She was taken to hospital where she died.
The body of George Nole was also found at Glen Innes in a burnt-out car on Saturday morning.
Another body was found in a burnt-out building in the township of Johns River, north of Taree, on Saturday afternoon.
Bobin residents Margaret and David Thies were trying to save a neighbour’s home when flames from another direction quickly overcame their property.
With fire already engulfing their shed, the elderly couple only had time to grab their dogs and some cash before fleeing to a safe house with other people who had lost their houses, their grandchild Shani Nixon said.
‘‘They all stayed awake in turns just staying alert for more danger,’’ she said.
‘‘We didn’t hear from them in over 24 hours, it was such a horrible night not knowing and listening to the RFS scanner.’’
Meanwile, bushfires that have destroyed houses, sheds and cars and forced thousands to flee their homes continue to burn in Queensland.
Fifty-five fires were burning in the state yesterday morning, including the huge fire at Cooroibah, north of Noosa, where an emergency zone remains.
One house has been lost at Cooroibah on the Sunshine Coast along with three sheds, cars and wildlife.
Multiple homes were also reportedly lost overnight north of Rockhampton when a fire tore through Cobraball and nearby Bungundarra.
Fire and emergency services can’t confirm that until assessment teams enter the area.
Thousands have people have been evacuated from the paths of the fires burning in Queensland.
Some estimates say up to 9000 were evacuated from suburbs at the northern end of Noosa due to the Cooroibah fire.
Authorities say swathes of bushland parched by drought have increased the risk of fires breaking out.
Almost 100,000 hectares and 19 homes have been destroyed in Queensland since the start of September, with 2000 bushfires burning since then. – Nine/AAP