Residents rage at Prime Minister as military start fire evacuations
● Thousands flee in Australia before fire conditions get worse at weekend
Prime Minister Scott Morrison was confronted by angry residents who cursed and insulted him as he visited a wildfire-ravaged corner of the country.
Locals in Cobargo, in New South Wales, yesterday yelled at him, made obscene gestures and called him an “idiot” and worse, criticising him for the lack of equipment to deal with the fires in town.
One woman asked: “How come we only had four trucks to defend our town? Because our town doesn’t have a lot of money but we have hearts of gold, prime minister.”
In one instance, Mr Morrison forced a woman to shake his hand while he visited the town. The residents jeered as his motorcade drove off.
In the New South Wales town of Quaama, a firefighter refused to shake hands with him.
Mr Morrison later said he was “not surprised people are feeling very raw”.
Thousands of tourists had fled Australia’s wildfire-ravaged eastern coast ahead of worsening conditions as the military started to evacuate people trapped on the shore further south.
Cooler weather since Tuesday has aided firefighting and allowed people to replenish supplies. Vehicles formed long lines at gas stations and supermarkets.
Traffic was gridlocked as highways reopened, but fire conditions are expected to deteriorate tomorrow as high temperatures and strong winds are forecast to return.
New South Wales Rural Fire Service Deputy Commissioner Rob Rogers said “there is every potential that the conditions on Saturday will be as badorworsethanwesaw”on Tuesday.
Authorities said 381 homes had been destroyed on the New South Wales southern coast this week.
At least eight people have died this week in New South Wales and neighbouring Victoria, Australia’s two mostpopulous states, where more than 200 fires are burning.
Fires have also been burning in Western Australia, South Australia and Tasmania.
The early and devastating start to Australia’s summer wildfires has led authorities to rate this season the worst on record.
About 5 million hectares of land have burned, at least 17 people have been killed and more than 1,400 homes have been destroyed. New South Wales authorities yesterday morning ordered tourists to leave a 155-mile zone along the picturesque south coast.
State transport minister Andrew Constance said it was the “largest mass relocation of people out of the region that we’ve ever seen”. New South Wales premier Gladys Berejiklian declared a seven-day state of emergency starting today. The declaration grants the New South Wales Rural Fire Service commissioner more control and power.
It is the third state of emergency for New South Wales in the past two months, after previously not being implemented since 2013.
“We don’t take these decisions lightly, but we also want to make sure we’re taking every single precaution to be prepared for what could be a horrible day on Saturday,” said Ms Berejiklian.
A statewide total fire ban will be in place until tomorrow.
In Victoria, where 83 homes have burned this week, the military was helping thousands of people who fled to the shore as a wildfire threatened their homes on Tuesday in the coastal town of Mallacoota. Food, water, fuel and medical expertise were being delivered.
A contingent of 39 firefighters from the United States and Canada landed in Melbourne yesterday to help with the catastrophe. Smoke from the wildfires made the air quality in the national capital Canberra the world’s worst in a ranking index and was blowing into New Zealand.
Nick Kyrgios led the way as tennis pledged financial support to help victims of the Australian bushfires.
The ongoing disaster has seen lives and homes lost and vast areas of land ravaged by fire, with no end yet in sight.
The new tennis season begins in Australia today as the inaugural ATP Cup gets under way in Sydney, Perth and Brisbane, with the Australian Open starting on 20 January.
Kyrgios tweeted on Wednesday: “C’mon @Tennis Australia surely we can do a pre @Australianopen exho (exhibition) to raise funds for those affected by the fires?” And he pledged to donate 200 Australian dollars (about £106) for every ace he serves over the next month. Fellow Australian players Alex De Minaur, John Millman, John Peers and Sam Stosur quickly followed suit with similar promises.
A subsequent announcement came from the ATP Cup that 100 dollars (about £53) for every ace served in the competition will be donated to the Australian Red Cross bushfire relief efforts, with the total expected to exceed 150,000 dollars (£79,000).
In a message on Twitter yesterday, Australian Open tournament director and Tennis Australia chief executive Craig Tiley revealed that plans were afoot. He wrote: “For weeks we’ve been watching the devastation caused by bushfires across Australia and the people affected are constantly in our thoughts.
“We want to help these communities in a meaningful way and will announce a number of fundraising and support initiatives that will be rolled out across the ATP Cup, Australian Open and our other events over the coming weeks.”
Cricket Australia has also announced plans to auction off players’ shirts from the Boxing Day Test win against New Zealand, with funds going to the Australian Red Cross.
Sydney, where Great Britain
play their opening match against Bulgaria today, is the closest ATP Cup venue to the fires. There have been concerns over air quality, but GB captain Tim Henman said his team will not be complaining.
He told reporters in Sydney: “In the context of what this country is going through with the bushfires and for us having to deal with perhaps slightly poor air quality, I think right there is the perspective. I don’t envisage it being a problem at all.
“Our thoughts and hearts go out to the people that have been so badly affected because it’s horrific. When you see the impact that the fires are having on communities, on lives, it’s tragic. I’m sure I speak on behalf of all the guys when I say that we will be available to do what we can.”
Meanwhile, players due to compete in the Challenger event in Canberra, where air quality is currently very poor, were waiting to hear whether the tournament would go ahead.
In the absence of Andy Murray, who has pulled out of the ATP Cup and the Australian Open because of a lingering pelvic injury, Britain will be led by world number 42 Dan Evans in Sydney.
Evans will take on Bulgarian number one Grigor Dimitrov, while Cameron Norrie should get Britain off to a winning 2 Speaking in Brisbane yesterday, Nick Kyrgios pledged to donate 200 Australian dollars for every ace he serves over the next month and urged the tennis authorities to take action. start against 423rd-ranked Dimitar Kuzmanov.
The tie will be concluded with a doubles match between the scratch pairing of Jamie Murray and Joe Salisbury and Alexandar Lazarov and Adrian Andreev.
The ATP has thrown a lot of money at this new flagship event, which comes only six weeks after the first edition of the new-look Davis Cup was played using a very similar format.
Most of the biggest names in the sport have turned out, including Kyrgios, who will play in Australia’s opening clash against Germany.
WORLDNEWS,PAGE19 3