Extract from The Guardian
Residents in the Shady Hills estate near Bullsbrook urged to evacuate, with afternoon wind gusts expected
First published on Wed 3 Feb 2021 10.32 AEDT
More homes were under threat from an out-of-control bushfire that had already destroyed 71 houses in the Perth hills, with a wind change on Wednesday expected to worsen conditions.
On Wednesday afternoon authorities issued an emergency warning saying it was too late for residents near Gidgegannup, east of Walyunga national park, on Avon Ridge and in the Joshua Mews area to evacuate and they should shelter in place or defend against the fire if possible.
Residents in the Shady Hills estate near Bullsbrook were told to enact their bushfire plans and, if they had not prepared, to leave immediately. The Department of Fire and Emergency Services commissioner, Darren Klemm, said increasing winds were expected to push the fire front towards the homes.
“We’re only going to see the wind strengthen over the course of the day, which will make that fire in difficult, steep terrain, incredibly difficult to stop running up the hill towards Shady Hills estate,” he said.
High humidity levels overnight offered fire crews a chance to make some headway in controlling portions of the fire.
“We’re asking all community members to enact their bushfire plan, hopefully they’ve already done that, any other community members in warning areas, you need to put your plan into action right now,” he said.
Waters said the damage assessment had not yet been completed and he warned that the number of properties lost could rise. One of the challenges was the hilly terrain which, in addition to the wind change, meant the fires could continue for some time.
“Our firefighters are working extremely hard to strengthen the containment lines we’ve already established. But there is still a significant amount of this fire which hasn’t been tracked or doesn’t have fire breaks around it. It’s still a work in progress at this point.”
The New South Wales Rural Fire Service said it had deployed a second large air tanker, Bomber 137, to help with the firefighting efforts north-east of Perth.
Earlier on Wednesday Klemm confirmed that as crews assessed fire-affected areas, the official toll of homes destroyed climbed overnight from 59 to 71. The fire on Wednesday morning sat just west of the large towns of Ellenbrook and Aveley, where development in recent years has increased the number of homes to tens of thousands.
“We’re into day three of this fire
today and it’s going to continue to be a challenging fire for us for at
least the next three or four or five days,” the commissioner said.
There have been reports of looting from homes in Aveley and Red Hill. Klemm confirmed that a small number of items had been stolen from homes people had evacuated.
The Western Australian Department of Justice said the Wooroloo bushfire was “not currently posing a direct threat” to Bandyup women’s prison or Acacia prison, which are both nearby.
The WA premier, Mark McGowan, said on Wednesday that additional support had been provided by the federal government.
“We have secured additional support from the commonwealth, and the additional large aerial tanker is now operational in WA and I’d like to thank everyone, including the prime minister, for their assistance,” he said.
“We offer our thoughts and our support. And stand ready to help in any way that we can. We’ve all seen the vision on the news. Homes and memories going up in flames. It’s terribly sad.”
The massive evacuation effort created some unusual situations, as Jacqui Kidman learned when her niece dropped off a horse to stay in her suburban backyard.
The Ellenbrook resident was outside of the evacuation zone and had been helping relatives forced to flee, including sheltering Jasper the horse.
Kidman said she had been flooded with offers to help house the horse, with neighbours providing endless carrots and apples to feed Jasper. Even her rental agent had been extremely understanding.
“I am so proud to be part of this community and today just proved why.”
Evacuation centres had been flooded with residents and local Sikh temples were filled with families evacuating.
“Yesterday morning we got the message that we had to leave … we knocked on the neighbour’s doors and told them to go to the temple,” said Jarnail Singh Bhaur, the secretary of the Sikh Gurdwara in Bennett Springs.
“I called up the priest of the Gurdwara and said, ‘Open the doors, the people are coming.’”
Soon there were more than 100 people from all different nationalities sheltering in the temple. The area was still in hard Covid-19 lockdown, and Singh Bharu said when the temple workers couldn’t find enough face masks to supply evacuees, some of the women began to sew fabric masks at the temple to hand out.
These evacuated families had now gone to work, cooking free hot meals for those in the nearby evacuation centres.
“In our religion every day we pray twice a day sarbat da bhala – that means ‘everyone prospers’. This is our moral duty. If we have the ability to help someone we have to.”
The City of Swan mayor, Kevin Bailey, said thick smoke had complicated efforts to control the blaze overnight, despite more favourable conditions.
“Flying has been difficult because of the very thick smoke that’s sitting at low level … this has been a fire in very tricky terrain,” he said. “Flying conditions have been very difficult but, look, the crews, both air and ground, have done an absolutely amazing job.
“This is probably the first real fire of this magnitude that the city has had in its entire history … we always felt that it was imminent one day, and we’ve been very fortunate and we haven’t had a loss of life anywhere.”
Six firefighters had so far suffered minor injuries.
The WA police commissioner, Chris Dawson, on Wednesday warned residents of Perth and other areas under lockdown to “do whatever you need to do to protect your life and those of your immediate family”.
“Let me be clear,” Dawson said. “I urge people to stay informed and prepare themselves. If you are under threat, leave your property and go to suitable premises. Do not stay in the property if you think you have to obey the Covid-19 rules.”
WA recorded its third day of no new cases of Covid-19 on Wednesday. McGowan said if that trend continued, lockdown restrictions would be eased as planned on Friday evening.
People in Perth’s city centre and coastal suburbs have reported ash landing at their homes up to 35km from the blaze.
– additional reporting by Australian Associated Press
No comments:
Post a Comment