The huge bushfires have destroyed more than 4 million hectares (10 million acres), with new blazes sparked into life almost daily by extremely hot and windy conditions.
By SONALI PAW, SWATI PANDEYA CROWD OF people at the beach yesterday evacuate from the bushfires at Batemans Bay, Australi(photo credit: REUTERS)
MELBOURNE/SYDNEY (Reuters) – Thousands swarmed to beaches on Australia’s east coast on Tuesday to escape fierce wildfires bearing down on several seaside towns, as the government readied naval vessels and military helicopters to aid firefighting and evacuations.Government officials called for Australian military support and assistance from US and Canadian fire crews as authorities confirmed two people had died overnight, taking to 11 the total deaths in wildfires since the beginning of October.The huge bushfires have destroyed more than 4 million hectares (10 million acres), with new blazes sparked into life almost daily by extremely hot and windy conditions in bushland left tinder dry after a three-year drought.Fueled by searing temperatures and high winds, more than 200 fires were burning across the southeastern states of New South Wales and Victoria, threatening several towns and snapping their power, mobile and Internet links.“This is absolutely one of the worst fire seasons we’ve seen,” NSW Rural Fire Service Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons said at a briefing in Sydney. “It’s going to be a very long, difficult dangerous night still ahead. It’s going to be another difficult day again [on Wednesday].”Authorities said the main fire front was moving up the coast and warned those in its path to seek shelter close to the beach.About 4,000 people in the town of Mallacoota in Victoria headed to the waterfront after the main road was cut off. Those who could not make it there scrambled for shelter in a gymnasium and other public buildings, as emergency sirens wailed.Some of those trapped in the town posted images of blood-red, smoke-filled skies on social media. One beachfront photograph showed people lying shoulder-to-shoulder on the sand, some wearing gas masks.It looked “a lot like Armageddon,” said David Jeffrey, the owner of the Wave Oasis guesthouse, adding, “It’s terrifying.”Fisherman Steve Casement said he had lost his house in Mallacoota to the fires.
“We are stuck here now,” he told Reuters by telephone. “Everyone is pretty shocked at the moment; most of my mates are in the same position. Right now, I am on a trailer watching the town burn down, listening to gas bottles explode at some poor bugger’s home and seeing smoke all around me.”By late afternoon, the worst danger had passed, authorities said.Bushfires burned on the outskirts of Sydney, cloaking the harbor city in smoke ahead of a fireworks display planned for New Year’s Eve.Authorities said the fireworks would go ahead, despite some public calls for cancellation in solidarity with fire-hit areas in the state.“Many of us have mixed feelings about this evening, but the important thing we take out of this is that we’re a resilient state,” NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian told reporters.
