2 January, 2019
A mass evacuation is underway in Mallacoota where more than 4,000 locals and holidaymakers have been stranded since the devastating bushfires on New Year's Eve.
The Australian Defence Force arrived at the the wharf in Mallacoota at 7.30am on Friday - just 24 hours before catastrophic weather conditions are forecast to whip up more blazes.
Thousands of people have spent four days in limbo after being told it was too dangerous to leave the seaside town following the bushfires in Tuesday, when hundreds were forced to flee to beach, ready to throw themselves in the water to protect themselves from the blazes.
On Thursday night residents scrambled to check the list to see if they would be part of the Navy's first evacuation voyage, carrying 963 passengers to Western Port in southern Victoria.
Weak or vulnerable people will be given first priority, and the Navy vowed to try to keep family units together.
People begin leaving Mallacoota wharf after the devastating bushfires on New Year's Eve. They are part of one of the biggest evacuations Australia has ever seen
Evacuees make their way to one of two military ships which will be taking bushfire victims in the small coastal town of Mallacoota to Western Port in southern Victoria
Evacuees board a small boat off the Mallacoota wharf as they make their way to military ships for the first voyage to Western Port in southern Victoria
A Mother trapped in Mallacoota breaks down in tears as she holds her toddler in her arms as HMAS Choules prepares to get thousands of tourists away from bushfire ravaged coastline
The military vessel initially hoped to remove some of the most vulnerable people - particularly those suffering with asthma - on Thursday
Weak or vulnerable people will be given first priority, and the Navy vowed to try to keep family units together
On Friday morning evacuees sat in a hall in Mallacoota as they waited to board the military vehicles, known as a 'duck' which can be used on land and sea, before being taken aboard Navy ships HMAS Choules and the MV Sycamore.
The journey is expected to take about 20 hours.
There first of the evacuees to board the boats were seen wearing masks and carrying just a few personal items as they were escorted by military personnel to the wharf.
They were given a safety briefing by Army and Navy members at the jetty.
The are two ships which can carry about 800 people at a time. The HMAS Choules may make a second journey if it is needed.
The military vessel initially hoped to remove some of the most vulnerable people - particularly those suffering with asthma - on Thursday.
But thick smoke made the task virtually impossible.
'Excuse the language but conditions are sh**house off the coast of Mallacoota,' Federal Member for Gippsland Darren Chester tweeted.
Alison Cukier and Craig Thorpe, from Montmorency, chose to flee the small town and endure the likely long and uncomfortable journey because of their 10-year-old child.
'When you have kids here you want to get out for health reasons,' they told the Daily Telegraph.
Some have said they would prefer to stay behind and wait for roads to reopen to transport their cars, caravans and boats, but they've been warned it could be weeks before they get the opportunity to leave.
Smoky conditions have stopped the military from flying in and rescuing people.
Authorities are desperate to evacuate as many people as possible from danger areas before horror conditions escalate again on Saturday.
Temperatures are expected to soar past 40C and strong winds are forecast.
'We have a small window of opportunity,' Assistant Emergency Services Commissioner Deb Abbott told reporters on Thursday.
'It's a window of opportunity for those people to leave now and we want them to leave now.
'These fires have already caused significant damage. They have caused significant loss and our community needs to act now.'
However, the roads were also packed with fleeing holidaymakers trying to escape before the 46C weather hits. Thousands spent Thursday night sleeping on the road after Princes Highway, on the NSW south coast, was closed overnight.
Some had camping chairs, while others laid out bedding as they awaited their freedom.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has asked for people to be patient as the evacuation process gets underway.
'I know you can have kids in the car and there is anxiety and there is stress and the traffic is not moving quickly but the best thing to do — the best thing that helps those out there volunteering, out there trying to restore some order to these situations — is for everyone to be patient.'
Doctors have declared the smoke in the area an 'extreme health hazard'. Medical resources have also dwindled since roads were cut, but some supplies were brought in by boat.
The treatment was required primarily for children and the vulnerable who had spent days breathing in potentially toxic smoke and pollution from the approaching blazes.
Federal Member for Gippsland Darren Chester said those people also took priority when planning the initial evacuation mission.
'They will pick up any sick or vulnerable people who need to leave and undertake more re-supply missions as the day continues,' Mr Chester said.
'We will have additional heavy lift helicopters in the region helping out from tomorrow to replenish supplies in isolated areas.
Children under school age will need to be evacuated via air. Only people who are healthy and able-bodied enough to climb up stairs on the ship and withstand 'difficult' conditions will be able to board.
There will be 'a few hundred beds' on board the ship, but people should be prepared to spend much of the 17 hour trip sitting on the outer deck.
There are fears the water has been contaminated and food and fuel supplies have dwindled in the small town. Roads in and out of town are not predicted to open again for weeks.
The HMAS Choules and the MV Sycamore, a defence contracted training vessel, had begun bringing supplies and a rescue plan on Thursday morning.
Troops in helicopters also appeared, bringing with them food, water, fuel and medical supplies for people who are trapped.
Their arrival came as a woman broke down in tears in front of reporters on Thursday when asked to discuss the fires.
The woman welled up while holding her son and trying to protect his face from the smoke on a pier waiting for assistance from the military ships.
She stepped away from cameras before quickly shaking her head no when asked if her own home had been affected.
VICTORIA DECLARES A STATE OF DISASTER FOR FIRE-AFFECTED REGIONS
Premier Daniel Andrews speaks to Jilly Brown, who lost her 120 year old Sarsfeild Home and Accomodation business, at the Bairnsdale relief and co-ordination Centre in Bairnsdale, Victoria
By AUSTRALIAN ASSOCIATED PRESS
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrew on Thursday revealed a second death from bushfires ravaging the state while announcing a state of disaster has been declared for six local government areas and three alpine resorts.
The declaration includes powers introduced in the aftermath of devastating 2009 blazes which have never been used before, including compelling people to evacuate.
Mr Andrews said they will send a powerful message to people in fire areas.
'If you can leave, you must leave. If you don't, we simply cannot guarantee your safety,' he said.
'You may well find yourself isolated and cut off for an extended period of time after fire activity.'
Areas covered by the declaration, which has been made for seven days, are East Gippsland Shire, Mansfield Shire, Wellington Shire, Wangaratta Rural Shire, Towong Shire and Alpine Shire.
Mount Butler, Mount Hotham and the Mount Stirling Alpine Resorts are also covered.
More than 50 fires were raging across the state on Thursday, with the worst burning predominantly in East Gippsland and the alpine region.
Crews monitor fires and begin back burns between the towns of Orbost and Lakes Entrance in east Gippsland on January 2
Residents of those areas have been told they should leave, before strong winds and temperatures above 40C forecast for some areas on Saturday.
'We have a small window of opportunity,' Assistant Emergency Services Commissioner Deb Abbott told reporters on Thursday.
'It's a window of opportunity for those people to leave now and we want them to leave now.'
Though Saturday will bring the most bushfire risk, conditions will deteriorate from Friday, with authorities declared a total fire ban on Friday across East Gippsland and the Wimmera, North East and South West regions.
Temperatures are expected to peak in the high 20s and winds will be light, but that does not rule out more fire danger.
'There can be significant fire activity even when conditions are fairly light in terms of winds,' Bureau of Meteorology senior forecaster Tom Delamotte told AAP.
The military has arrived to provide relief and resources for fire victims across East Gippsland, as well as evacuating people from Mallacoota.
About 24 communities are isolated and reaching them to deliver supplies has been difficult.
Mr Andrews said Victoria will call on the military to provide more assistance such as tenting.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the federal government was offering any assistance requested.
'Our task has been to fully support and provide whatever assistance is necessary through all the various agencies of the Commonwealth,' he told reporters in Sydney.
More than 50 fires were raging across the state on Thursday, with the worst burning predominantly in East Gippsland and the alpine region
'The provision of disaster payments that have now exceeded some more than $21 million in New South Wales alone and we expect more of that to continue in Victoria as the full devastation of the fires there becomes more evident.'
The leader will visit East Gippsland on Friday.
Ahead of midnight on Thursday, warning levels for all Victorian fires were sitting no higher than a 'watch and act' alert.
But smoky conditions have at times stopped flights to rescue people, deliver supplies and rotate firefighters.
Authorities are also concerned a fire at Corryong in Victoria's northeast could merge with another on NSW's southern border.
Corryong residents are being doorknocked and told to leave the region before the weekend.
A series of community meetings were being held on Thursday in Mallacoota, where 3000 to 4000 people remain stranded.
The navy will start evacuating Mallacoota on Friday morning, with about 1000 people to leave.
So far the fires have burnt more than 784,000 hectares in Victoria.
A state of disaster was declared in Victoria on Thursday night, while NSW is in a seven-day state of emergency, and tourists told to leave evacuation areas (marked in red)
Mother reveals her family's desperate tale of survival after taking a snap of her son, 11, steering a boat with their belongings as they fled the bushfires
Allison Marion, her two sons Finn and Caleb and their family dog were among 4,000 stranded in Mallacoota in Victoria's far east as a horrific bushfire closed in on the town on Tuesday.
Fleeing the seaside town in an aluminium power boat in a thick red haze, Ms Marion said she took a jarring photo of 11-year-old Finn steering the boat with a smoke mask to 'record our story for our family'.
Finn, meanwhile, said escaping the burning inferno behind them was 'pretty scary', but was happy his family are now safe.
His picture has also featured on news websites and newspapers around the road, but Finn told 9News his new fame was not a priority to him.
'I'm not really fussed, it's just a photo,' he said. 'We were just worried about getting away from the fire and just being safe.'
The image has since been splashed across the front pages of newspapers both in Australia and internationally as the world watches on at the unprecedented bushfire crisis.
The family's home was spared by the blaze, which mercifully also missed the rest of her street.
HMAS Choules barely visible as CO Scott Houlihan leads a liaison team to meet with community leaders in town. Hoping to get people on board this arvo.'
The government has declared a total fire ban on Friday across East Gippsland and the Wimmera, North East and South West regions.
Temperatures are expected to peak in the high 20s and winds will be light, but that does not rule out more fire danger.
'There can be significant fire activity even when conditions are fairly light in terms of winds,' Bureau of Meteorology senior forecaster Tom Delamotte told AAP.
Mallacoota is just one of about 24 small towns in Victoria which have been isolated due to the unpredictable fires.
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews confirmed on Thursday there are 17 people missing in East Gippsland, none of whom are emergency services personnel.
Family members had already confirmed Buchan man Mick Roberts had died at his home.
'There are at least 17 people that at this stage we cannot account for. Their whereabouts are unknown to us,' Mr Andrews told reporters at Bairnsdale.
'Whilst Victoria Police have not been through the official identification processes, it is clear that the Roberts family have identified Mr Roberts and we send our condolences to their family and the Buchan community to whom he was so well-known and very highly regarded.'
Mr Andrews said some of the missing people might be safe.
'But we hold very significant fears for the welfare of anybody who is missing at this time,' he said.
The death toll for the latest horror fire season totalled at 18 as of Friday morning.
Some tourists in Mallacoota have resorted to hiring private charters in an attempt to have supplies brought to them, while private owners have done their best to help people who are stranded.
Mr Morrison said the federal government was offering any assistance requested.
'Our task has been to fully support and provide whatever assistance is necessary through all the various agencies of the Commonwealth,' he told reporters in Sydney.
MP Darren Chester described conditions as 'sh*thouse' in Mallacoota on Thursday afternoon
'The provision of disaster payments that have now exceeded some more than $21 million in New South Wales alone and we expect more of that to continue in Victoria as the full devastation of the fires there becomes more evident.'
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said it is too early to say what the full financial cost of the fires will be to taxpayers, but stressed that figure is not the government's main focus.
'It's about the human cost of these tragic fires,' he told reporters in Melbourne.
He added the prime minister will visit Victoria in coming days.
On Thursday night, warning levels for all Victorian fires were sitting no higher than a 'watch and act' alert.
Authorities are also concerned a fire at Corryong in Victoria's northeast could merge with another on NSW's southern border.
Corryong residents are being doorknocked and told to leave the region before the weekend.
So far the fires have burnt 784,000 hectares in Victoria and about 3.6million hectares across the nation
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-01-04/nsw-victoria-bushfire-conditions-to-worsen-until-unstoppable/11839672
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-01-04/nsw-victoria-bushfire-conditions-to-worsen-until-unstoppable/11839672
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