Residents tour destroyed homes
AUSTRALIA: Tathra residents have been taken on a grim bus tour of their fire-ravaged New South Wales township, with many getting the first glimpse of the charred remains of their homes.
Yesterday was the first time locals had been allowed to return to the south coast town after it was hit by a ferocious firestorm on Sunday afternoon.
Residents have been notified by Rural Fire Service (RFS) crews if their home is damaged, destroyed or unaffected.
Those who lost property were given priority to board ‘‘site inspection’’ buses taking them into Tathra.
The streets weren’t yet safe enough to allow people to get off the buses, but they were at least able to see what was left of their homes after days of uncertainty.
Nearly 100 properties – houses, caravans and cabins – were incinerated by the blaze, which was fanned by dry winds and high temperatures. Sixty-nine have been destroyed, and 39 suffered significant damage.
Authorities have been checking for asbestos, fallen power lines, unstable structures and other hazards.
Hundreds of anxious Tathra residents packed into the Bega Showgrounds hall yesterday morning to hear the latest RFS update.
‘‘I think my place is safe, but I just need to see it,’’ Alison Westblade said.
‘‘I’m a wreck. I’ll be OK, but the young couple with mortgages and no insurance, well, it’s awful.’’
Air quality inspections have revealed no asbestos in the atmosphere of Tathra, while cool overnight conditions allowed fire crews to backburn and establish containment lines around the 1200-hectare fire.
Some residents were allowed to return yesterday afternoon to certain suburbs after firefighters made headway against the blaze overnight.
‘‘Hopefully by this afternoon we’ll have containment of the fire,’’ RFS Superintendent Mark Russell told the Bega gathering when delivering his update.
Some damaged properties will remain isolated until asbestos tests are conducted. They are expected to be completed in the coming week.
Meanwhile, the RFS has responded to concerns that it declined offers of help from Fire and Rescue NSW. RFS Deputy Commissioner Rob Rogers said the offer of an urban pumper would not have been appropriate because of the terrain.
‘‘The local NSW RFS duty officer who received the offer of assistance, based on the information they had on the location and terrain, identified that the vehicle would not be able to gain access to the area,’’ an RFS spokesman said.
‘‘As an urban structure firefighting vehicle, the pumper is not suitable for firefighting areas off established roads, and does not have the correct safety equipment to be working in a remote bushland area.’’
Many Tathra residents believe emergency services did a good job with water-bombing equipment, and that extra trucks would not have made much difference, as the fire was so fast-moving.
Others are more concerned about restrictions on hazard reduction burns and patchy mobile coverage in the area, which meant many residents did not receive emergency warning texts.
‘‘There should be a lot more [hazard reduction burns] happening, which we’ve been fighting for and we can’t get it because of the new laws – it’s ridiculous,’’ Matt Sherlock said yesterday.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull visited the Bega Valley on Monday, and Opposition leader Bill Shorten surveyed Tathra yesterday.
‘‘It’s a miracle there was no loss of life,’’ Shorten said, adding that now was not the time to engage in a ‘‘blame game’’ regarding mobile phone towers and land clearing.
– AAP