NSW fires: prime minister warns of challenging summer as homes destroyed on NSW south coast
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has warned Australia is in for a challenging summer ahead of a visit to the New South Wales south coast, where homes were lost during a large blaze overnight.
The NSW Rural Fire Service confirmed reports properties had been lost but were not able to say the exact number or location as field assessment teams were yet to arrive to undertake a review. There were no reports of people missing.
The premier, Chris Minns, will join Albanese visiting the impacted areas near Bermagui – some of the same areas hit during the Black Summer blazes.
“You’re talking about the same crews, the same firefighters working through the night to keep communities, to keep properties safe,” he said. “They’ve had a hellish 24 hours.”
The premier thanked emergency services who worked through the night across the state and said they were trying to confirm how many houses had been lost.
“This is a community that’s been hit hard a couple of years ago and seems to be back in the ring for another 12 rounds,” Minns said.
On Wednesday morning there were more than 70 fires burning in NSW, with 16 yet to be contained.
Crews were provided some relief when a cool southerly change moved across the fireground in the early hours of Wednesday morning.
The fire near the popular holiday town of Bermagui and the neighbouring Cuttagee and Barragga Bay was still burning but the threat warning was downgraded to an advice level in the early afternoon.
Bega Valley’s mayor, Russell Fitzpatrick, said the community was supporting each other but there was a high level of anxiety.
“We’ve been through it before. Here we go again,” he told the Guardian from Bega.
“There’s a lot of anxiety and a lot of fear.”
He said people were “vigilant and wary”, having expected a bad season following months of dry weather and hot temperatures.
Commissioner Rob Rogers urged residents not to be complacent as the fire danger remained and to stay informed about the RFS alerts.
“We know properties were lost, we just don’t know how many, and that work will obviously go on this morning,” he told Nine’s Today Show on Wednesday.
“The good news is there are no reports at the moment of anyone missing, which is good to hear, but we’ve got to confirm that everybody is OK in those areas because there’s a lot of scattered properties firefighters were struggling to get in to.”
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The south coast fire was still more than 5,000ha in size and continued to burn near homes in the Cuttagee, Barragga Bay, Murrah, Bunga and Goalen Head areas.
“Firefighters are working in the area to slow the spread of the fire,” the RFS said.
Residents have been advised of an increased risk of falling trees and pockets of active fire due to conditions and forecast on Wednesday.
They are being advised to stay put and that it was not yet safe to return.
The southerly change that moved through the fireground overnight brought cooler temperatures, increased humidity and some rain, easing conditions.
Evacuation centres in Bega and Narooma remained in place.
Speaking in Sydney on Wednesday morning, the prime minister said he was eager to check on south coast residents.
“These are communities that have done it really tough” Albanese said.
“We know that the summer that we’re anticipating – and indeed it would appear we’re in right now even though it’s only October – is going to present some real challenges,” he added.
The Bureau of Meteorology predicted “warm to hot and dry [conditions] with fresh and gusty northerly winds” on Wednesday.
On Tuesday, temperatures reached 37.2C at Sydney airport with the city centre, Penrith, Gosford and Nowra all cracking 35C.
Wednesday was unlikely to measure those highs, with temperatures forecast in the high 20s for greater Sydney.
This bushfire season is expected to be the worst in NSW since 2019-20.