Sydney refuses to scrap New Year fireworks
Councillors reject demand for New Year’s Eve display to be called off and funds given to firefighting
The Sydney New Year fireworks display will go ahead despite the bushfires ravaging New South Wales, the city council has insisted. A petition had called on the council to cancel and use the money for fighting the fires. Scott Morrison, the Australian prime minister, backed the decision to proceed as showing the country was “optimistic and positive”. Bushfires are now even menacing the normally cooler island state of Tasmania as temperatures soar.
SYDNEY’S New Year’s Eve fireworks are to go ahead, politicians insisted yesterday, despite a petition for the display to be cancelled and the funds diverted to fighting fires.
New South Wales has been hit hard by bushfires, with several people dead and hundreds of homes and vast tracts of land destroyed by the flames. Despite
protests, the City of Sydney Council has insisted the display will go ahead, although fire authorities warned that the fireworks could be cancelled if catastrophic conditions are declared.
Scott Morrison, Australia’s prime minister, supported the council decision. “In the midst of the challenges we face, subject to safety considerations, I can think of no better time to express to the world just how optimistic and positive we are as a country,” he said.
The announcement came as the Australian government offered volunteer firefighters financial compensation for earnings lost during the crisis.
Rural Fire Service volunteers who have spent at least 10 days fighting fires in New South Wales are immediately eligible for the scheme, which offers up to AU$300 (£160) per day to a maximum of AU$6,000. It will also be extended to South Australian firefighters.
Only volunteer firefighters who are self-employed or work for small- to medium-sized businesses are eligible.
Residents and visitors in an area in Victoria around half the size of Belgium were urged to evacuate yesterday. About 30,000 people were holidaying there when the warning was issued.
In Western Australia, a fire in Stirling Range National Park has jumped containment lines and is threatening lives and homes. A bushfire emergency warning was issued for the people in the immediate east, west and north of the park. Residents were urged to leave “if the way is clear” as 200 firefighters fought the blaze with aerial support.
In South Australia, extreme temperatures up to the mid-40s, strong winds and severe thunderstorms are predicted, prompting a “severe to extreme” fire rating for most of the state.
The conditions prompted the Country Fire Service (CFS) to warn those in areas prone to fires to make decisions early about leaving their property or staying and preparing to defend it.
The CFS continues to battle fires in the Adelaide Hills and on Kangaroo Island, which have been raging for days and have destroyed almost 100 homes.
Firefighters are also bracing for bushfire conditions to worsen during the week in New South Wales.
The NSW Rural Fire Service announced a total fire ban will be in place in 10 regions of the state tomorrow as hot, dry and windy conditions loom.
The heatwave has also spread to usually temperate Tasmania, and the island state is preparing for a day of extreme fire danger today.
Some areas are expected to reach more than 40C with high winds, and the Tasmanian Fire Service (TFS) is warning that any fires that start could travel very quickly.
More than 9,000 people at the Lorne Falls Festival in Victoria had to evacuate yesterday over concerns about smoke hazards and fire conditions, but Tasmania’s Falls festival is going ahead.
The TFS said it was prepared if any fires broke out near the festival grounds. The festival area is surrounded by trees and vegetation, and 30 buses will be on standby to evacuate people if a fire does threaten the area.