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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
National
Helen Davidson (now), Amy Remeikis and Luke Henriques-Gomes (earlier)

Three more deaths confirmed in Australian blazes and hundreds of homes destroyed – as it happened

Summary

We are ending this blog for today.

While fires continued to burn today they were not as catastrophic as Tuesday. Instead, we learned a lot about the absolute devastation wrought along the NSW south coast and Victoria’s East Gippsland region.

  • Nine people have died since Monday, and five are missing.
  • Across NSW, Victoria, and South Australia, 17 people have been confirmed dead in bushfires since October.
  • NSW RFS commissioner, Shane FitzSimmons, warned the NSW death toll would rise, as further cases were confirmed.
  • Fitzsimmons said the lack of communication is making it difficult for authorities to determine who is still missing.
  • At least 200 homes were destroyed on the South Coast yesterday, and at least 60 in East Gippsland.
  • “If we had 10,000 firefighters we wouldn’t be able to put these fires out,” said deputy RFS commissioner Rob Rogers.
  • Authorities said the majority of the south coast fires were the result of ‘natural’ activity – like lightning.
  • Saturday is forecast to be worse than yesterday in NSW, across a broader geographic area, with extreme conditions dominating the regions where there are already some of the most damaging and destructive fires burning.
  • Two bushfires have merged on South Australia’s Kangaroo Island and are expected to burn for weeks.
  • HMAS Choules is expected to arrive at Mallacoota tomorrow morning, for humanitarian assistance and disaster relief capability. It’s among a large deployment of ADF assets to assist in evacuations of the thousands of people still stranded, and to replace exhausted fire crews.
  • Power is slowly being restored to small parts of the NSW south coast, but is likely to be out for weeks in many places.
  • Some roads are beginning to reopen to very restricted traffic this afternoon, as authorities work to have currently stranded people – especially tourists – leave the area before conditions worsen again this weekend.
  • Scott Morrison hosted Australian and New Zealand cricketers at Kirribilli House.

Updated

There is an active emergency level fire in Western Australia. The warning was issued for parts of Orelia in the city of Kwinana. Homes on Colchester Avenue were under threat from a fire in Sandringham Park which started near the intersection of Colchester Avenue and Dunrobin Avenue and was moving north east.

Updated

FitzSimmons says the Dunn Road fire is going be upgraded again to an emergency fire as the fire behaviour was increasing and spreading.

These fires are in some of NSW’s “most beautiful yet most rugged and difficult-to-access terrain.”

“We’ve seen the enormity of damage and destruction which unfolded yesterday and unfortunately Saturday is likely to be worse.”

From the premier, Gladys Berejiklian:

“Just because you can’t see flames doesn’t mean the road is safe to use. Having seen the number of trees burnt out, having seen the bring alongside these roads, I completely understand why the emergency authorities need to make sure they are safe before people can use them.

“Having said that, we are grateful for milder weather conditions over the next few days and where roads can be accessed, we will be encouraging tourists especially to move out of those areas while it’s safe to do so, because we are concerned what the weather might bring us on Saturday, given what has been forecast and given what we’ve experienced over the last few days.”

Updated

There is an evening update with the NSW premier and senior fire and police chiefs at the NSW RFS headquarters.

“We are getting indications with the forecast for Saturday that it is going to present a broader geographic area worse than what we saw yesterday when it comes to fire danger, with a fairly widespread area of extreme conditions which will dominate the south eastern corner of the state, through the southern slopes, southern ranges, parts of the high country and through to places like the Illawarra and Shoalhaven,” Shane FitzSimmons says.

“Unfortunately that also correlates with where we’ve got some of the worst and most damaging and destructive of fires burning in New South Wales at the moment.”

Firefighters are keeping a close eye on the Green wattle Creek fire where it has flared up in the north-east corner. Firefighters are addressing it ahead of the worsening conditions later this week.

Access from Batemans Bay north will be open to some very restricted access from this afternoon, says NSW police deputy commissioner Worboys.

“Towards south of Batemans Bay, we will also work with some local roads down the coast that will bring people down in through Bega, and across Brown Mountain, into Coomera, Canberra, and they can make their way up towards Goulburn, up the Hume towards Sydney and out further west.”

He says there’s “a long way to go” but they are working to restore power, with some back on in places like Ulladulla and near Batemans Bay. He says everyone has been very patient and he’s grateful.

“In our evacuation centres that are full, it is trying times, and people have heeded the warnings, they’ve cooperated well, and we just ask them again to continue in that spirit through tonight, into tomorrow, and we look forward to some further power restoration, some more road openings, and of course increased communications up and down the south coast.”

Updated

Two bushfires have merged on South Australia’s Kangaroo Island and are expected to burn for weeks, as firefighters prepare for a dangerous wind change, AAP reports.

The fires started about five kilometres apart in the inaccessible Ravine Des Casoars Wilderness Protection Area and have burnt through more than 7500 hectares of native vegetation, timber plantations and private property.

On Wednesday afternoon the combined fire was uncontrolled and burning in a northerly direction towards Snug Cove.

Firefighters and water-bombing aircraft are focused on protecting assets, but the Country Fire Service said efforts might be hampered by changing weather conditions and poor visibility.

If the blaze remains uncontained, northerly winds forecast for Friday could push it towards the Flinders Chase National Park.

For the safety of tourists and the community, the CFS and SA National Parks and Wildlife Service have closed the park from midnight Wednesday until further notice. Extensive road closures are also in place on the western end of the island.

The CFS has confirmed the Cudlee Creek fire, which broke out on December 20 and destroyed at least 70 homes, has been contained.

The Dunns Road fire has been downgraded to a watch and act, which means there are currently no emergency level fires or warnings in NSW or Victoria. Having said that, the ABC has just reported the Currowan fire has jumped the Shoalhaven river in spots, which is not great news for people around Wingello, Penrose and Bundanoon.

The RFS last provided an update on that fire a few hours ago, so I’ll bring more info when we have it.

Updated

Shane Kelly has sent in these photos, taken somewhere east of Canberra.

I work for an airline and have been flying in and around this smoke for a while now, it’s absolutely devastating to have this overview of these fires. You feel helpless. The enormity of the fires really impresses on you when you can see the extent of the fires from the air flying up and down the east coast of Australia.

An aerial view of the Australian bushfires, 31 December 2019.
An aerial view of the Australian bushfires from a plane. Photograph: Shane Kelly
An aerial view of the Australian bushfires, 31 December 2019.
‘It’s absolutely devastating to have this overview of these fires. You feel helpless.’ Photograph: Shane Kelly

Guardian Australia would like to hear from you about your encounter with the fires in this summer’s unprecedented fire season. If you would like to get in contact with us, details are here.

Updated

Further details from NSW police about the seven confirmed deaths in the southern NSW fires.

Since Monday, emergency services have responded to the following fatal incidents:

  • A 28-year-old RFS volunteer firefighter, Sam McPaul, died at a property on River Road, Jingellic, just before 6pm on Monday.
  • A father and son, Robert and Patrick Salway – aged 63 and 29 – died at a property at Wandella, about 10km north-west of Cobargo, on Monday.
  • A 70-year-old man was found dead outside a home at Yatte Yattah, about 6km west of Lake Conjola, on Tuesday.
  • The body of a man was found in a burned-out car on a road off the Princes Highway at Yatte Yattah about 7.30am today.
  • The body of a man was found in a vehicle on Wandra Road, Sussex Inlet about 11.30am today. He is yet to be formally identified.
  • A body has been found outside a home at Coolagolite, about 10km east of Cobargo, today. ( I believe this is the person found by ambulance officers. We did not have a location earlier.)

A 72-year-old man at Belowra and a 70-year-old woman at Conjola Park are still both unaccounted for.

Updated

This particularly grim video shows the level of destruction to a line of shops in Mogo, on the NSW south coast.

Good afternoon. This is Helen Davidson here to take you through the rest of the day’s live coverage of the continuing Australian bushfire crisis.

In NSW there is one emergency-level fire in the Snowy Valleys. The Dunns Road fire has burned more than 100,000 hectares. Conditions are easing but it is burning south of the Snowy Mountains Highway in the Ellerslie Range, and the south-westerly change is pushing the fire towards the areas of Kunama, Wondalga and surrounds. People there are urged to leave now towards Tumut if they aren’t prepared.

There are six watch and act fires in the state, all in the south.

In Tasmania there is one emergency warning for a fire in the north-east at Fingal through to Mathinna. The alert was issued about two hours ago and warned of high risk to the area, with the fire difficult to control. People north of Moonameeta were urged to evacuate to Mathinna. There are six other watch and act alerts, mainly in the north-east but also one north-west of Hobart.

In Victoria there are currently no emergency warnings, as the Sunbury fire has been downgraded. There are 11 watch and act warnings issued.

There is one watch and act fire in South Australia, on Kangaroo Island.

Updated

And there are months to go.

Today we had both NSW and Victoria’s emergency chiefs tell us they could not get around these fires. That 10,000 firefighters on the ground would not be enough to stop the blazes.

All that is going to help is a change in conditions, but instead we are facing Saturday being worse than what we saw on Tuesday.

And there are months to go in this season. MONTHS.

On that dour note, I am going to hand you over to Helen Davidson for the evening coverage.

Stay safe and pay attention to the warnings in your area. And please – take care of you.

Updated

QUEENSLAND

* 7 bushfires burning

* 250,000 hectares burned

* 45 homes confirmed destroyed

WESTERN AUSTRALIA

* More than 40 bushfires burning, two of significance

* 1.2 million hectares burned

* One home confirmed destroyed

TASMANIA

* More than 30 bushfires burning, seven of significance

* 8,000 hectares burned

* One home confirmed destroyed

Updated

AAP has put together a wrap of the bushfire season so far.

Australia’s catastrophic 2019 bushfire season at a glance:

NSW

* 15 lives lost, four in the past 24 hours

* Two people remain missing

* More than 100 bushfires burning

* 3.6 million hectares burned, greater than the size of Belgium

* 1,087 homes confirmed destroyed

VICTORIA

* One person dead, four more missing

* More than 40 bushfires of significance burning

* More than 500,000 hectares burned

* 68 structures confirmed destroyed but this number is expected to rise significantly

SOUTH AUSTRALIA

* Two lives lost

* About 20 bushfires burning, seven of significance

* More than 60,000 hectares burned

* More than 90 homes confirmed destroyed

Updated

Tex Perkins has been in the news today for his dedication to the prime minister during last night’s New Year’s Eve celebrations.

He’s also putting on this:

Updated

Emergency warning for Sunbury

That emergency warning for Sunbury comes after a bushfire on Canterbury Avenue began burning out of control.

Authorities are urging residents on Settlers Way and Enterprize Drive to leave now, with the fire expected to hit within the next 20 minutes.

An emergency warning has been issued for Sunbury in Victoria – leave now if you can.

Updated

The Australian Defence Force helicopters sent from Townsville to help with the Victorian fires should arrive this afternoon.

Updated

This smoke pollution is showing no sign of moving on today:

Updated

And here is the Choules leaving Sydney Harbour:

A 176-metre-long Navy ship HMAS Choules has left Sydney
The navy ship HMAS Choules has left Sydney bound for bushfire-hit Victoria. Photograph: Supplied

Updated

Victorian police have also sent vessels to Mallacoota:

Updated

Meanwhile, fires are merging in South Australia.

From AAP:

Two bushfires have merged on South Australia’s Kangaroo Island and are expected to burn for weeks, as firefighters prepare for a dangerous wind change.

The fires started about 5km apart in the inaccessible Ravine Des Casoars Wilderness Protection Area and have burnt through more than 7,500 hectares of native vegetation, timber plantations and private property.

On Wednesday afternoon the combined fire was uncontrolled and burning in a northerly direction towards Snug Cove.

Firefighters and water-bombing aircraft are focused on protecting assets, but the Country Fire Service said efforts might be hampered by changing weather conditions and poor visibility.

If the blaze remains uncontained, northerly winds forecast for Friday could push it towards the Flinders Chase National Park.

For the safety of tourists and the community, the CFS and SA National Parks and Wildlife Service have closed the park from midnight Wednesday until further notice. Extensive road closures are also in place on the western end of the island.

A watch-and-act alert remains active and local residents are being urged to leave the area if not confident of defending property.

Updated

The defence department has just provided an update through the ABC on when the humanitarian ship, HMAS Choules, will arrive in Mallacoota.

It’s making better than faster time and should be there tomorrow morning.

It sailed this morning, or shortly before lunch. She’s embarked an amount of what I’d call humanitarian assistance and disaster relief capability and she should be off the Mallacoota Beach some time very early tomorrow morning.

She has capability that includes a helicopter that’s embarked and a range of disaster relief stores and equipment and personnel that can support and respond to other coastal areas where there might be isolated communities and render support and assistance to them.

We would do so at the behest of the Victorian emergency management authorities.

Updated

People are still coming to terms with the devastation they are returning to:

Updated

There is a bit of confusion around the number of dead and missing.

Since Christmas, nine people have died in bushfires across NSW and Victoria, and at least four people are missing.

The firefighter Sam McPaul, 28, died when his fire truck was overturned by extreme winds east of Albury on Monday.

The father and son Robert and Patrick Salway were found dead inside their house in Cobargo on Tuesday.

A man is unaccounted for and presumed dead in Belowra. The NSW police deputy commissioner, Gary Worboys, said authorities had been unable to access the location west of Narooma to confirm a report.

A man has died in his home on Myrtle Gully Road, west of Lake Conjola, police also confirmed. The man’s body showed no signs of trauma or burns and police don’t believe it is suspicious.

In Buchan, Victoria, 67-year-old Mick Roberts died in the East Gippsland fires.

On Wednesday Worboys confirmed three further deaths in the south coast fires.

The police have confirmed at Yatte Yattah, a body found in a vehicle there, which is near Lake Conjola. One at Sussex Inlet and a body in a vehicle. And ambulance officers have told us about a body that they have located as well deceased.

There remains concern over another person, also in Lake Conjola, where a house has been destroyed by fire and the occupant reported missing.

“We’re sifting through that now with RFS, forensics and fire and rescue New South Wales to work out what’s occurred there,” Worboys said.

Three people are still believed to be missing in fire areas in Victoria.

The NSW RFS commissioner, Shane FitzSimmons, warned the NSW death toll would rise, as further cases were confirmed.

Updated

It is not the first time Scott Morrison has brought the bushfires and the cricket together – you may remember this tweet from November:

Updated

Scott Morrison finished with this:

But the fires do rage on. It is a time of great challenge for Australia.

Whether they’re started by lightning storms or whatever the cause may be, our firefighters and all of those who have come behind them to support them, whether they’re volunteering in the front line or behind the scenes in a great volunteer effort, it is something that will happen against the back drop of this Test match.

But at the same time, Australians will be gathering, whether it’s at the SCG or around television sets all around the country, and they’ll be inspired by the great feats of our cricketers from both sides of the Tasman and I think they’ll be encouraged by the spirit shown by Australians and the way that people have gone about remembering the terrible things that other Australians are dealing with at the moment.

Updated

The prime minister continued:

We’ve been so well supported by those from so many other nations during these terrible fires and none more so than our Kiwi cousins. And as you go out there on Friday, I know you will be going out there, and particularly the Australian team, thinking of the terrible fires that are under way at the moment and I want to thank you, Tim [Paine] and the team and both captains, for the commemoration that you’ll make in wearing the black armbands for those who we’ve lost over the course of these fires.

In particular, having lost Sam McPaul just the other day in just a dreadful, terrible incident just outside of Albury, but also Geoff Keaton and Andrew O’Dwyer who we lost earlier in the fire season.

And your recognition of them during the course of this Test match I think will mean a lot to their families and a lot to their mates who served alongside them in these terrible fires.

Updated

Scott Morrison has made a speech about the fires to cricketers who are at Kirribilli House for a function:

Here in Australia, and also in New Zealand, with the White Island tragedy, and those terrible events to this very day, and they’ll be ongoing during the course of this Test match.

And in all of these terrible events, be it the fires or the White Island tragedy, as in so many times before, Australia and New Zealand have always stood together. And that has been very true on this occasion as well.

I today want to particularly recognise the contribution of New Zealand’s firefighters and what they have done to support their Australian mates here at this testing time. Since November, more than a hundred firefighters and incident manager team, aviation specialists have supported our teams battling the blazes in New South Wales.

Updated

The Bega MP and NSW transport minister, Andrew Constance, who was briefly unaccounted for yesterday after defending his home from fires, has urged people to not return to their homes until it is judged safe.

One thing, you’ve just got to take your hats off to the RFS and the volunteers and the staff incident team.

I mean, they had to deal with hell yesterday. Our police, everyone, we just need everyone to keep listening to each other and the message that needs to go out is – and I experienced this yesterday, the trees are coming down like there’s no tomorrow and I’ve got a photo of someone who drove under a tree and they’re lucky to be alive because it’s come down on their boot.

So people just need to listen.

The roads are closed for a reason, they’re so trees don’t come down and kill someone.

You know, I don’t want that. People have to wait an extra day or two so we can save lives – then just do it.

Updated

The NSW RFS commissioner, Shane Fitzsimmons, says the lack of communication is making it difficult for authorities to determine who is still missing.

He says people need to brace themselves for more confirmed deaths.

Updated

This conversation will not, and can’t be, stopped:

Power in some of those NSW south coast areas is likely to remain out for some time to come.

From AAP:

Fire-ravaged communities along a 180km stretch of NSW’s south coast are likely to be without power and some telecommunications for an “extended period” after at least 40 power poles were destroyed.

NSW police said power had been lost from South Nowra to Moruya and “potentially beyond” on Tuesday, affecting at least 46,000 people.

The outage also affected communication lines, including landlines and internet.

Endeavour Energy on Wednesday said more than 18,000 of its customers remained powerless and were likely to remain so for some time.

At least 40 power poles have been destroyed, as have conductors. The RFS must grant workers permission to access the scorched areas.

“Where it is safe and feasible to do so, we recommend residents find alternative accommodation until power supply can be safely restored to their homes,” the energy company said in a statement.

Endeavour said it had restored power to Ulladulla customers.

Updated

The NSW police deputy commissioner, Gary Worboys, on the deaths:

Today we have the three deaths. The police have confirmed at Yatte Yattah, a body found in a vehicle there, which is near Lake Conjola.

One at Sussex Inlet, a body in a vehicle. And ambulance officers have told us about a body that they have located as well deceased.

In terms of the situation down on the south coast, we have three emergency operation centres operating locally up and down the coast that are dealing with any amount of local issues and doing their best to solve those problems for people down there.

There is no magic wand to wave across this and fix it in a short amount of time.

Updated

AAP has this update on Tasmania:

An emergency alert has been issued for a suspicious bushfire in Tasmania.

The alert was issued on Wednesday afternoon for Mathinna Road because of the threatening Mingana fire.

“Burning embers, falling on Mathinna Road, Fingal through to Mathinna will threaten your home before the main fire,” the alert reads.

The fire has been burning since Monday and police believe it was arson.

“Police have reason to believe the main fire, as well as other fires in the area, have been deliberately lit,” Northern District Commander Brett Smith said.

“Bushfires are devastating, destructive, and in this case has displaced people from their homes. Someone must know something about who is responsible for this fire.”

Watch and act alerts are also still in place for the fire at Pelham, north of Hobart, where a home was destroyed and other property damaged on Tuesday.

Updated

A look at what happened in Victoria yesterday:

Updated

Rob Rogers on whether or not there is enough resources:

Well, I guess, you can always use more but at the end of the day the amount of fire trucks that we throw at these fires from all the agencies, fire rescue, they threw everything they had, RFS did, National Parks were doing that, so were State Forests.

There were thousands and thousands of firefighters at these fires.

You can’t say you’ll always have enough for every scenario. It’s an impossible situation.

If we had 10,000 firefighters we wouldn’t be able to put these fires out.

Where we’re at at the moment, the support we’ve had from both interstate and overseas has helped enormously.

We’ve got a huge amount of aircraft.

We’ve never had five large air tankers in this state before.

So we’re well resourced but that doesn’t mean that we’re going to be able to do everything and protect everyone.

I think we’ve been upfront as these situations unfolded.

Unfortunately, like we’ve seen down the south coast, we were starting to lose property at 3.30 in the morning.

We were getting calls for people that were stuck in their homes and that’s the sort of scenario that unfortunately we’re faced with.

People that are being woken to fire threatening their homes.

That’s why we keep saying to people, don’t wait for a message.

Don’t wait for the fire to be there – if it’s going to be a bad day, just be away from that area.

That’s the safest thing we can do to try and prevent more loss of life.

Unfortunately I hate the number of homes we’ve lost but at the end of the day this is about people’s lives.

That’s the most important thing right now.

Updated

And on the question of whether there is much more to burn, the RFS deputy commissioner, Rob Rogers, says:

Most of the area that’s been impacted certainly in the south has been on the ranges and fires that have then impacted in the coastal area.

There’s a lot of area around the Snowy Mountains, Kosciuszko area, a lot of area south and west of Canberra that hasn’t burned.

There’s lightning that’s started and that’s a concern. There’s still significant amounts of bushland that can still burn.

We’re very concerned about the threat that poses on Saturday given the amount of fire we have in the landscape now and our inability to be able to get containment on those fires.

We would not be able to get around these fires. Just because where they’re burning is in such an area that’s not easy to get to.

There’s no easy containment lines. We would have to get earth moving equipment in to try and create containment lines. It isn’t just as simple to try and get around these fires. That’s why we’re being upfront – we can’t get around them.

Saturday is not looking like it’s going to be a good day at all. A tough day.

Updated

Deputy NSW RFS commissioner Rob Rogers:

All these fires, these sort of fires, the only way we stop them is by back burning. That’s the only way to actually do it.

These fires are burning in the middle of nowhere. Our choices are to backburn or sit there and wait for them to hit us.

We to try and do something. It doesn’t always work. At the end of the day that’s the only thing we can try and do to contain these fires.

We like to have a few days before bad weather hits these fires. But at the moment we’re in less than ideal circumstances.

So we have to try our best and do whatever strategies we think are the best things to try and protect the most people.

Authorities said the majority of the south coast fires were the result of ‘natural’ activity – like lightning. They have not heard of any deliberately lit fires in that area. All the main ones have been started by lightning.

Updated

I think that brings the total number of deaths, since the season began, to 15.

Two bodies have been found by police in two separate vehicles, while a third person has been found in a house.

The occupant of another home destroyed by fire has been reported as missing – police and firefighters are now going through what is left of the home.

Updated

Just a reminder that a Public Information and Inquiry Centre has been opened in regards to the south coast fires.

The telephone number to call is 1800 227 228.

Authorities confirm three deaths, 176 homes lost in south coast fires

A further three people have been confirmed as dead in yesterday’s fires, the RFS says.

That comes on top of the four deaths which have been reported previously.

Fires at Werri Berri in the Bega Valley and about 20km east of Cooma are still burning. There is a lot of lightning in the Cooma area, which has fire authorities concerned. There are still fires in the Albury and Jingellic area.

Three people just west of Moruya were airlifted for medical treatment. Another two were taken by ambulance, with an RFS escort.

The RFS has also confirmed 176 homes have been lost.

Lake Conjola Park: 89 homes.

Malula Bay: 40 homes.

Rosedale: 15.

Updated

The NSW RFS is giving an update on today’s fires:

Updated

For a recap of the day’s events, you can head here:

Updated

And neither will images like this:

Burned homes in Gannet Place, Batemans Bay this morning
Burned homes in Gannet Place, Batemans Bay this morning. Photograph: Mike Bowers/The Guardian
Burned-out truck on the Princes Highway south of Nowra this morning
Burned-out truck on the Princes Highway south of Nowra this morning. Photograph: Mike Bowers/The Guardian
The traffic was heavy on the Batemans Bay Bridge this morning
The traffic was heavy on the Batemans Bay Bridge this morning. Photograph: Mike Bowers/The Guardian

Updated

I don’t think these images are going to leave anyone’s minds anytime soon:

Updated

Firefighters are taking advantage of the slightly cooler conditions to try and get ahead of what is coming on Saturday - these are some of the backburning operations underway at the moment.

There are a lot of people desperately trying to get information – or let loved ones know they are OK. By the by – Telstra’s contract to run Australia’s payphone network, ends this year.

Updated

The report of Mick Roberts’ death brings the fire death toll, since Monday, to four.

Twelve people have lost their lives this season, including three RFS volunteers.

Almost 1,000 homes have been lost since July, when the fires began.

Updated

From Townsville to Victoria:

Family reports fire death

More tragic news – from AAP:

A man has been found dead in his home in bushfires in Victoria’s East Gippsland.

Mick Roberts had not made contact with family on Tuesday and on Wednesday and his niece Leah Parson said he had been found dead.

“He’s not missing anymore ... sorry but his body has been found in his house ... very sad day for us to [start] the year but we’re a bloody tight family and we will never forget our mate and my beautiful Uncle Mick,” Ms Parsons wrote on the East Gippsland fire season 2019-2020 Facebook page.

Victoria police said they are en route to the area and are aware of the situation.

Updated

'We are leading by example' on emissions reduction – David Littleproud

Speaking of Australia and climate change, David Littleproud doubled down on that on ABC AM radio this morning.

Kim Landers: After all of this, we’ve seen incident controller, after incident controller, and plenty of experts say that they have seen nothing like this before. Do you acknowledge that the federal government now has to do more about climate change?

David Littleproud: Well, we are and continue to, we’ve made our commitments, internationally and we intend to [keep them].

Landers: You’ve made those commitments internationally, I know the government says it will live up to those commitments, but there are a lot of people saying more needs to be done, something more than just meeting those commitments.

Littleproud: That’s what we will have to do to meet those commitments and we continue to make those endeavours and that is what we continue to look to, to actually supplement renewable energies, we have given subsidies to those to get them up to a point, to get them competitive from a market prospective, so the reality is the government continues to work through it.

All industries, even in agriculture, which equates to 17% of reductions of emissions are looking to get to carbon neutrality by 2030 themselves, so industry and government are working together to ensure we do our bit.

Landers: Do you think the public is going to think that is enough though?

Littleproud: It’s not just ... it is also important, it would be unrealistic to think Australia can do it by ourselves.

We are leading by example and we expect the rest of the world to come with us, because we are 1.3% of emissions and we expect the rest of the world to do their bit as well, because if we all work globally together – and we are working globally in these fires, we have US firefighters, Canadian, New Zealanders.

If we work together, collaboratively as a world community, then we will be able to meet our emissions reduction targets as a globe, not just Australia.

Updated

AAP has an update on what is happening in Western Australia at the moment:

More than 220 firefighters and 100 support personnel are battling a large bushfire in Western Australia’s south, with a watch and act warning in place for residents and tourists.

The blaze at Stirling Range national park, in the state’s Great Southern region, has blackened more than 33,000 hectares since being sparked by lightning on Boxing Day.

Firefighter numbers have been bolstered from the 175 who were working to build and strengthen containment lines on Tuesday.

A watch and act message remains in place for people in the park as well as parts of the Shire of Gnowangerup, City of Albany, Shire of Plantagenet and Shire of Cranbrook.

“There is a possible threat to lives and homes as the fire is still uncontrolled,” the Department of Fire and Emergency Services warned on Wednesday.

Updated

He finishes that answer with this:

That action by Australia alone will not change everything but if everyone has that attitude, if every nation state says it is not me, I won’t make a difference, it is a bit like any form of pollution – if everyone just think they can throw the rubbish out the car and it does not make a difference, the rubbish around our cities and regions and towns, then where will we end up?

We will end up with a hell of a mess!

What we’re seeing here is that ... there is a need for Australia to take domestic action and at the moment they do not have an energy policy, they do not have a climate change plan and what we also need them to do then is to take that, that will come from a national program, and take that into international forums and argue for stronger international action.

Because we know that the predictions are also that the nature of the Australian continent, with the impact we are seeing as a result of the drought, the dryness, will mean that we will be particularly impacted by climate change.

This is why we need global action. At the moment we do not have domestic action that is appropriate and we have Australia playing a negative role in the international forums.

Updated

Anthony Albanese on coal:

Climate change is affected by fossil fuel burning. We know that anthropogenic climate change is caused by human intervention, the industrial revolution and in human times, we know that this has impacted, just the way we knew that CFCs were having an impact on the ozone layer, and the world came together, the world came together to find solutions.

I am confident we can find solutions, but we need to avoid dangerous climate change. What we’re seeing at the moment is dangerous. We are seeing that the predictions of the scientists, unfortunately, played out.

The scientists told us that the fire seasons will be longer and more intense, that there would be more intense cyclones, more intense extreme weather events.

Tragically, we are seeing that occur and that is why it needs a response that does not play games with accountancy fiddlers in conferences, that lowers emissions and that is relative to global emissions, of course, it is accurate.

Updated

Anthony Albanese on whether or not he believes Scott Morrison is taking the situation seriously enough:

Obviously he is treating it seriously, all Australians are treating it seriously. But what we are not getting is the sort of coordination that we need and I think that the prime minister has continued over a range of issues, is one of his go-to media talking points, to speak about ‘we don’t want to panic, we do not want to have any alarm, young people should not be scared by climate change.’

I tell you what, young people watching the footage on the news at the moment would be pretty scared, it is scary, it is scary for everyone.

That means that we need a considered response but I think that the prime minister, in terms of some of his tone, could accurately reflect the views I am getting back from the community, where ever I go.

Updated

Addressing the Greens’ calls for a royal commission into the bushfires, which Luke posted about a little earlier today, Anthony Albanese says Labor is open to it, but wants something which will result in action ‘now’:

Well, I think it’s immediate action that is required, not something that will report in six months, which is the minimum time for a royal commission normally. They take years rather than months, and what we need right now is for Coag to be convened.

I wrote to the prime minister in November calling for that. I called for that and it has not happened.

We have seen that there has been, therefore, a lack of coordination, a lack of a national approach, for example, to the compensation for volunteer firefighters.

A call for, that was one of the elements I said should be discussed there. We should discuss the resourcing and we have seen changes in terms of the amount of defence assets which have been applied here.

It is appropriate that we actually convene all the levels of government for what is a national crisis, we see that these bushfires do not respect state boundaries and nor should we when it comes to the response to this issue.

Updated

Anthony Albanese:

They want leadership on the economy, they want leadership on bushfires, and they want an end to complacency.

This is not business as usual, this fire season.

Climate change is certainly having an impact as well, and they expect more than newspaper articles, whether it be from Scott Morrison today, or the quite remarkably misleading piece by Angus Taylor, that Australia is somehow pulling our weight.

They expect actually a bit of fair dinkum truth about what is going on because they can see it. They can smell it. And we are seeing the impact of complacency.

Australia cannot do it all on our own. That is absolutely right. But the truth is Angus Taylor went to the Madrid conference and argued along with a few other countries for less action, not more.

Argued for an accounting trick rather than reducing emissions.

Updated

Anthony Albanese:

I want to express my condolences to the family and friends and community who lost Robert and Patrick Salway at Cobargo yesterday.

Today there is news of another fatality, a man found in a burnt-out car near Lake Conjola.

But it’s been four deaths in recent days, but 14 over this horrendous bushfire season. It is time for the prime minister to convene Coag.

I wrote to him in November and we saw with the issue of him coming to an arrangement with Gladys Berejiklian, the New South Wales premier, and then belatedly contacting the other states that what we actually need is national leadership and a national approach.

Of course, the prime minister had said that it was a distraction, the issue of volunteer firefighters being given economic compensation.

He then said it was a state issue. And then he said, most remarkably, they want to be there. They do not want to be there.

No one wants these horrendous scenes that have been played out that look like something that is quite unbelievable.

The prime minister also says, in a piece today, in the tabloid newspapers, he speaks about not panicking. He speaks about the quiet Australians.

Well, the Australians I have met here in Queensland and, indeed, throughout the country are not that quiet at the moment.

They actually want leadership.

Updated

Mike Bowers is in Batemans Bay.

He says it has taken an hour and a half to navigate traffic heading north on the Princes Highway and there are almost no petrol stations open and those that are only accept cash.

“But the ATMs are down, so you can’t get cash,” Bowers says.

Updated

Anthony Albanese and Jim Chalmers are in Brisbane, as part of Labor’s Queensland ‘reset’ and holding a press conference.

Let’s see if now is the time for Albanese to talk about coal, because yesterday, apparently, was not.

The Lake Tyers Aboriginal community has begun to run out of water this morning.

The Aboriginal-owned Gunai/Kurnai community, which is only 11km east of Lakes Entrance as the crow flies but about 25 minutes by road, has been cut off since Monday.

About 45 people chose to remain in the community as the fire threatened and retreated to the health centre. Their only protection is the fire chief, Charmaine Sellings; her two volunteers, and one ute with a slip-on tank. They will have to fill the ute out of the water from her daughter’s pool, Sellings says, unless the power and water is switched back on. Their second fire truck was comandeered by the local CFA, of which Sellings is a volunteer, to fight fires north of Lakes Entrance.

“There’s a lot of fuel, it’s really dry, most of the dams are dry, and our water has gone on the blink again,” Sellings says.

The community is cut off from the Princes Highway by a broad stretch of forest, which turns into farmland about 2km from the settlement. The community began as a church mission in 1863 and Lake Tyers residents were granted the freehold in 1971, under the Aboriginal Lands Act. Many residents were born on the mission, and it’s a “haven” for many other Koori, Suzie Squires, the CEO of the local housing corporation, says.

Their last visit from emergency services was on Sunday, Sellings says. They have received no further information other than what was listed on the VicEmergency app, and watched the flames at Nowa Nowa on Monday night knowing they were only 8km away and not knowing whether they would get close. Sellings’ biggest concern is the health of elderly residents, many of whom have respiratory problems.

If the fire is blown towards them and reaches the community centre, Kerry Tregonning says, they plan to take to the water.

“We have got the boats out the back we can use to accomodate about 20 people, we have 20 life jackets for everyone to evacuate if we have to go to the water,” Tregonning says. “We are trying to source more life jackets now.”

If fire does reach the forest surrounding the community, evacuation by water will be the only option.

Updated

The Australian bushfire crisis continues to lead international news coverage:

Friends in the UK, where Australia has just launched a multimillion-dollar tourism campaign, said it led last night’s news bulletins, ahead of New Year’s Eve coverage.

Updated

Meanwhile, in the New England north-west, residents in the small town of Manilla are coming together as a blockade to stop water being taken from their town to ‘fill up Tamworth swimming pools’.

A deadly bushfire went through nearby Glen Innes in November.

Updated

'You won't put these fires out'

The Victorian emergency commissioner, Andrew Crisp, was just asked about resources for firefighters:

I think what was demonstrated when these fires came through and when the change happened overnight on Monday, you will not stop these fires.

What we talk about, when you start to get ratings into the extreme area, fires are fast moving, uncontrollable, unpredictable.

You won’t put them out. That’s a fact.

That is why in the lead-up to Monday, that’s why we were putting out that messaging.

We drew a line on a map.

We said that people were in danger and we wanted people to be out of that particular area.

So you are not going to put those fires out, not going to put the fires out now. It was nature which started the fires and it will be nature that stops these fires.

Updated

And in Moruya:

Updated

Power has been out at Ulladulla on the NSW south coast.

Residents are being urged not to ‘panic buy’ and just get what they need, with authorities reassuring people they will not run out of food.

Updated

Scott Morrison is at Kirribilli.

He is hosting the New Year’s Day Cricket Australia-The McGrath Foundation reception a little later today.

Updated

The Sky News reporter Trudy McIntosh is on the ground in Cobargo:

Updated

The NSW education minister has confirmed Cobargo and Quaama public schools have been destroyed by the south coast fires.

That follows the loss of the Clifton Creek primary school in the East Gippsland fires yesterday.

Updated

And for an idea of some of that – here is a satellite representation of what happened in eastern Victoria over the last few days:

Updated

So there you have it – a unique and complex set of circumstances in Victoria – people isolated in the middle of fire grounds, people displaced by the fire and unable to return to their communities, and existing fires joining up to create bigger fires. Firefighters being brought in by air.

Five Australian states have been impacted by this fire season. It’s not like the previous fire seasons that have scarred the landscape and the nation’s consciousness – fast-moving fires that devastated one particular area – this is hitting everything at once.

Updated

The emergency commissioner finishes with this:

We’ve got a huge team doing absolutely everything to keep everyone safe, from our firefighters and emergency services on the ground.

You heard mention of the Red Cross, the Victorian Council of Churches, the government departments, the wonderful people working in the regional, state control centres – we’re focused on keeping communities safe from existing and potential fires we might see, but also to support our communities that are now heavily impacted.

Updated

And on the additional Australian Defence Force support, Andrew Crisp says:

When we forecast what could have happened on Monday and Tuesday, we did some thinking and planning in relation if we had isolated communities.

One of the requests we put to Emergency Management Australia and the ADF was about, if we had isolated communities on the coast, how will we get them out, if we don’t have road access?

One way would be by air, but as we know, smoke can be an issue and the other way would be by sea.

As a result of that there’s been a commitment from the Australian Defence Force to move naval assets towards Mallacoota.

Similarly they’re moving in some larger helicopters – two Black Hawks will arrive in East Sale this afternoon and a larger Taipan later today.

Those two Black Hawks will be able to fly later today until 8.30 and then they rest. They give us additional capability.

They’re able to fly at night.

Although not dropping water on fires at night, that will give us a great intelligence capability overnight.

Along with that, there will be two of the large Chinooks, so the heavy-lift helicopters coming from Townsville, and they will be here on Friday.

So a significant ADF contingent based in East Sale, supporting the efforts in this part of the state.

We know we’ve got a long way to go with this.

Updated

On supplies and resources, Andrew Crisp says:

So what we’re doing in terms of assets, we’ve moved some of our bigger helicopters and as you heard from the premier, we will use some of those helicopters for a shift change of firefighters in and out of Mallacoota today.

We will also be using the helicopters to get into communities, so we can listen to what they need.

We know, for example, with Mallacoota, we know they have a significant amount of water, but we know we need to get supplies to them.

There was a police boat that came down from New South Wales yesterday. It brought in a small amount of water, but it was a nice touch to show we’re all in this together.

The Victoria police water police, a boat should have gone in taking 1.6 tonnes of water. Again, at about this time, we’re loading up a large barge in Melbourne.

It will have food and water and 30,000 litres of fuel. It will be making its way to Mallacoota. It will have supplies for about two weeks.

Updated

Andrew Crisp:

At this stage it looks like we have a fire danger rating of very high across the whole state. We might have some of the weather districts up to severe.

Saturday is a significant day for us. It’s about what we do to enable us to be in the best position we can to Saturday.

If we get a run of new fires, we will find that they will be travelling down and they will join up with the East Gippsland fires.

What we saw with the Mallacoota fire also, it took a run last night and there’s a finger of that fire that’s pushed over the border along the highway into New South Wales.

So it is dynamic, there’s a lot going on. We’re focused on the fire. Our primary responsibility is to protect communities and to save lives.

At the same time, seeing as we had such significant fires, equally important for us is the support we provide community. What we do in terms of supporting those isolated communities.

So we’re very, very focused on that.

Updated

Andrew Crisp:

Along with those structural losses up in that particular fire, we’ve been made aware there’s potentially significant stock losses and fencing and pasture and everything that goes with that.

It’s not just about houses, it’s also about those parts of local business, of the agricultural sector, that are so important.

That’s their pasture. We’ve got those fires up in the north-east.

We’ve got the going fires down here, in East Gippsland. What we’ve seen over the last 24 hours is a significant number of lightning strikes up in the alpine regions, so Mount Hotham, Mount Bulla, into Jamieson.

Across the state, the last time I looked, we had more than 45 fires going – a lot of the new fires in that part of the state.

We are doing absolutely what we can to round as many up as quickly as we can. We’re warming up into Friday and then what we term as spike days – Saturday is looking like a high-risk day for us again.

Updated

The emergency commissioner, Andrew Crisp, is now giving the nuts and bolts update of the fire situation on the ground:

We have three months of hot weather to come. We do have a dynamic and a dangerous fire situation across the state.

What we’ve seen up to this point of time is more than 500,000 hectares burned in Victoria predominantly in the East Gippsland area.

With the East Gippsland fires, we know that basically what we used to talk about as three fires have become one.

You add that Mallacoota fire into the mix, and there’s a significant amount of fire activity across all of East Gippsland.

What we have up in the north-east of the state, what we’re referring to as the Corryong fire’s a fire that started on the other side of the border and then on that hot northerly, travelled down and impacted on an area where we believe we lost 10-15 structures and moved into Corryong and past there.

Some great work to basically save the town of Corryong, and some additionally great work to open up that road quickly, that enabled a convoy of 68 vehicles to get people out of Corryong.

Our concern’s in the Corryong area, another fire started in NSW, further east. It’s been travelling in a southerly direction.

The Corryong fire is over 100,000 hectares, the other fire is about 98,000 hectares.

There’s the potential for them to come together today.

Updated

Daniel Andrews says he wants to assure everyone he is in constant contact with Scott Morrison and the state and commonwealth are working well together. He said all levels of government have come together:

I’ve been in contact with mayors in the three local government areas affected by the fires, offering to them any and all support they need.

This now and in the weeks and months ahead. This is still very dangerous, it is changing ever, it is complex.

I know everyone wants it to be simple.

We do, too. It is not.

This is a complex set of fires and the coming days and week will also be very challenging.

Updated

Mallacoota firefighters to be choppered in and out

Daniel Andrews gives some examples of how firefighters are having to work differently, because of the complex set of circumstances:

This will be an active fire and a very challenging and complex environment for weeks and therefore we have to do things differently.

For instance, today, I don’t know that we’ve ever done this before, using Victorian assets, we’ve got choppers taking 90 firefighters out of the Mallacoota area, they can’t be removed any other way – we’re essentially doing a shift change by the air.

We’ve never done that before, getting firefighters that are essentially isolated in that Mallacoota community out and fresh teams going in.

That’s not something we’ve done before, it’s one example of how complex and how challenging these East Gippsland fires are now and will be for a considerable period of time.

Updated

Daniel Andrews:

The first point I want to make is that this is a particularly unique set of circumstances. We’ve got people that are isolated in the middle of the fire, we’ve got people who have left and can’t get back in.

We’ve got fires that are not out.

We have got some very significant weather coming our way on Friday and Saturday.

That makes this a long and dangerous and complex fight, a long and dangerous process to support everyone who’s been impacted by it.

I want to thank the community and thank everybody who’s been touched by these fires for the patience they’ve shown, for the way they look out for, for the fact they understand this is not like other bushfires where we had fires move through a devastated community, the fire is out and then you begin the next process of recovery and rebuilding.

This is very different to that.

Updated

The Victorian premier, Daniel Andrews, is holding his press conference.

I’ll bring you most of what he has to say.

Updated

Canberra’s air quality remains hazardous.

For those needing updates, you can follow the rating here.

Updated

AAP has written up the latest Victorian fire advice:

Five emergency alerts have been downgraded in Victoria’s fire-ravaged East Gippsland, but a significant risk remains with forecast worsening conditions.

The warning for Buchan, Bruthen, Ensay, Cann Valley and Mallacoota moved to a watch-and-act alert on Wednesday morning, while the fire in the Upper Snowy area was recategorised to an advice alert.

“The cooler weather has slowed the movement of fire however the fire is still active (with) a risk of spot fires and embers,” the alert for Buchan, Gelantipy, Suggan Buggan, Timbarra, W Tree, Wulgulmerang reads.

“The weather predicted for Saturday could result in significant fire movement.”

In what is becoming an all too frequent announcement, bushfire assistance has now been extended to the local government areas of East Gippsland and Towong.

From David Littleproud’s office:

Households in the local government areas of East Gippsland and Towong can now access the following emergency payments to relieve personal hardship:

  • Emergency Relief Assistance Payments, which provide payments of up to $560 per adult and $280 per child (up to a maximum of $1,960 per eligible household) are available to help meet immediate needs, including emergency food, shelter, clothing and personal items.
  • Emergency Re-establishment Payments provide up to $42,250 per eligible household experiencing financial hardship, who have been affected by fire at their primary place of residence. The grants will be available for clean-up, emergency accommodation, repairs, rebuilding (a principal place of residence), and replacing some damaged contents.The funding arrangements will allow for state government agencies and the East Gippsland and Towong councils to apply for funding to help cover the restoration of essential public assets such as roads and public hospitals.

Households should contact their local council, or visit a relief centre, to discuss assistance options.

Updated

The Gilmore MP Fiona Phillips just had a chat to the ABC about what has happened in her part of the south coast of NSW:

Yeah, look, absolutely devastating destruction on properties there.

We know that there is literally hundreds of properties that have been impacted. We know around Batemans Bay, significant damage at the back of the Batemans Bay industrial area, and obviously Mogo, as people have said to me, is almost unrecognisable.

We know that the fire has impacted right along the coast. We’ve got so many beautiful coastal villages.

We don’t know the full extent of the property damage.

We know that there are building impact assessment teams out there now, both in that area and in the Shoalhaven.

This fire is so big now that it’s broken up into two different emergency centres. It is massive. There has been devastating impact for people.

But I just want to say that our community has been fantastic in supporting our volunteer firefighters and all our emergency services workers and volunteers.

Updated

A very big thank you to Luke for all his work this morning.

You’ve got Amy Remeikis covering the blog now.

We are standing by waiting for the Victorian premier, Daniel Andrews, to update us.

Updated

This is a heartbreaking interview with a man who has lost almost everything at Mallacoota.

Police confirm man's body found near Conjola

Here is a statement from NSW police confirming the tragic news that a body has been found at Yatte Yattah, west of Lake Conjola. It takes the death toll this week to four following the deaths of two men at Cobargo and a volunteer firefighter near Albury.

Police have confirmed a third man has died in bushfires impacting the state’s south coast.

About 7.30am today (Wednesday 1 January 2020), officers from South Coast Police District were informed the body of a man had been located in a burnt-out car on a road off the Princes Highway at Yatte Yattah, about 6km west of Lake Conjola.

The man has not been formally identified.

A report will be prepared for the information of the coroner.

Meanwhile, a 72-year-old man remains unaccounted for at Belowra, about 50km north west of Cobargo.

As the bushfire emergency continues, people are urged to obey direction of emergency services and to monitor the Rural Fire Service NSW website www.rfs.gov.au and www.livetraffic.com for road closures.

Emergency services are also reminding the community not to contact Triple Zero (000) unless there is an emergency.

If you are concerned about a loved one in a bushfire impacted area, visit https://register.redcross.org.au.

Anyone with information about this incident is urged to contact Crime Stoppers: 1800 333 000 or https://nsw.crimestoppers.com.au. Information is treated in strict confidence. The public is reminded not to report crime via NSW police social media pages.

Updated

What we know so far

  • At least three people have died in NSW, while another person remains unaccounted for in that state.
  • In addition, Nine News reported in the past 10 minutes that a body had been found west of Conjola.
  • Authorities in Victoria hold grave fears for four people after fires tore through large swathes of East Gippsland yesterday.
  • The two men killed in fires at Cobargo yesterday have been named as Patrick Salway and his father, Robert Salway.
  • It’s expected hundreds of homes have been destroyed on the NSW south coast, though the RFS says it is still conducting assessments. The ABC reported 50 properties lost in the town of Conjola Park.
  • Victorian authorities say about 50 properties have been lost across Buchan, Sarsfield and Mallacoota, but that figure is expected to rise.
  • More than 100 fires are burning in NSW, but conditions have eased and all fires have been downgraded to watch and act level.
  • Three fires are burning at emergency level in Victoria as dozens burn across the east and north-east.
  • Firefighters in NSW are using the improved conditions to contain existing fires and prepare for Saturday, which is tipped to rival yesterday’s fire danger levels.

Updated

Towns across the NSW south coast are still without power.

Updated

We’re waiting for further confirmation on this.

At least 200 homes destroyed on south coast, Labor MP Mike Kelly says

The ABC has spoken to the Labor MP Mike Kelly, who says he’s been briefed by the RFS and has been told at least 200 homes have been destroyed on the NSW south coast.

Fiona Phillips, a local Liberal MP, says hundreds of buildings across Batemans Bay and Mogo are also gone.

The ABC quizzed a local RFS official about these figures about 15 minutes ago, but he said authorities were still conducting assessments.

Updated

Great work from this firefighter.

Greens call for royal commission into bushfire crisis

The Greens leader, Richard Di Natale, has issued a statement describing the bushfire crisis as a “moment of truth” for Scott Morrison.

I’m going to reproduce parts of it below for you, but the key point is that the Greens want a royal commission into the bushfire crisis.

Di Natale said: “Our hearts go out to those who have lost their lives and property in this latest tragedy and for the huge ecological damage and loss of native and domestic animals.”

He said Scott Morrison should “immediately convene an emergency summit, as proposed by former fire chief Mullins, to ensure that everything is being done to address the immediate crisis”.

But he also said: “We must also accept that Australia’s climate has changed and we need to make sure that our land management, disaster response and climate policies are relevant to the new reality we face.”

That is why the Greens are calling on the prime minister to immediately declare a royal commission into the bushfire crisis. If he refuses to do so, we will be moving for a parliamentary commission of inquiry with royal commission-like powers as soon as parliament returns.

While we need a national response to the bushfire crisis, any process that does not have at its heart a commitment to phase out fossil fuels like coal and rapidly transition to a renewable energy economy is doomed to fail from the start.

Updated

A new figure for you: the fires in East Gippsland have burned through 500,000ha.

The Victorian emergency management commissioner, Andrew Crisp, told ABC News earlier today:

The fire threat in our state has increased overnight. There were some more thunderstorms come through with dry lightning and we have a number of new fires in Mount Hotham, King Valley and we have 45 going fires in the east of the state.

There was some debate about the fireworks being in Sydney last night. I wonder if there might be some controversy about this, too.

In New Zealand, meanwhile, people have been sharing photos showing how the smoke and haze from the Australian fires has reached Aotearoa.

However, the town of Mallacoota will remain cut off. You’ll remember about 4,000 people were taking shelter on the beach yesterday as fires tore through the area.

Police say they will be taking a boat with four paramedics and water into the town. Later, there will be a larger barge that will bring food, fuel and other supplies to the residents who remain hunkered down there.

The Australian Defence Force will also arrive later with Black Hawk helicopters to drop off supplies.

Updated

Some good news from Victoria. The Princes Highway is going to be reopened for a few hours (10am-12pm) between Orbost and Bairnsdale.

Updated

On the ABC, Victorian man Myles Nicholls is speaking from the ruins of his house at Sarsfield, which was razed in the East Gippsland fires.

“The house doesn’t come above my ankles,” he says. “It is totally destroyed.”

Nicholls runs a short-stay accommodation business and native flower farm from his 55-acre (22-hectare) property.

“But everything is gone. It’s literally just gone. It will take us some time to re-establish it.”

He says it will take three to five years to re-establish the native flowers.

Updated

Guardian Australia photographer Mike Bowers has been on the road as the fires have ravaged New South Wales. Last night he snapped this beautiful shot south of Nowra as the Currowan fire approached.

That fire, which is 229,000ha, is currently at a watch and act.

Peter Nicol, centre, and his son and neighbour watch the approaching fire from the front of his property along the Sussex Inlet Road, south of Nowra
Peter Nicol, centre, and his son and neighbour watch the approaching fire from the front of his property along the Sussex Inlet Road, south of Nowra. Photograph: Mike Bowers/The Guardian

Updated

Air quality in Canberra is reportedly now the worst in the world.

And there is some more dramatic footage here.

Two killed at Cobargo named as Patrick and Robert Salway

The two men killed in fires at Cobargo yesterday have been named as Patrick Salway and his dad, Robert Salway.

“We are broken,” Renee Salway told friends via Facebook on Tuesday night after her husband’s death was confirmed.

“I will see you again Patrick, my best friend.”

Police have also also been unable to reach the property of a 72-year-old man who is missing 50km north of Cobargo.

If you’re affected by the bushfires, we’d like to hear from you. You can share your stories, pictures and videos directly with our journalists via our form here. Your responses will only be seen by the Guardian.

Though we’d like to hear from you, your security is most important. We recognise it may not always be safe or appropriate to record or share your experiences – so please think about this when deciding whether to record and again when deciding whether to send your content to the Guardian.

Shane Fitzsimmons confirms that Conjola Park has been “heavily impacted” by the fires. The ABC reported that about 50 properties have been destroyed. Fitzsimmons does not put a figure on it, but says “initial reports are that it’s had heavy impact and there are significant damage and destruction to property”.

Updated

The deputy police commissioner, Gary Worboys, provides some important information for people in fire-affected areas.

The Public Information and Inquiry Line in NSW is 1800-227-228. It’s for people looking for about where they should go or what they should do. “We would ask people to use it only when they need to.”

He also points people to the Register. Find. Reunite website. It is a Red Cross initiative that allows people to put details in there of themselves and those people they have concerns about.

Updated

Fitzsimmons says efforts are focused on shoring up as “much protection and as much consolidation as we can ahead of deteriorating weather conditions expected on Saturday”.

The worst of the conditions will be concentrated along the ranges and the south-east corner of NSW.

The NSW rural fire service commissioner, Shane Fitzsimmons, says more than 3,000 people were deployed to the fires yesterday.

We are aware of heavy tolls in terms of damage and destruction, particularly up in the South Nowra area, and places to the east of the fire burning in South Nowra, but also the very significant activity on the bottom end of the Currowan fire, the Clyde Mountain fire, that burned down into Batemans Bay. A heavy toll has been occasioned as a result of that very fast moving fire front.

The Badja fire has inflicted heavy damage throughout towns including Cobargo, Fitzsimmons says.

Not only are we seeing outbuildings and homes but we’re seeing considerable community infrastructure. We’re looking at businesses, halls, there’s reports of a number of schools, two or three schools that have been heavily impacted as a result of these fires.

Updated

Berejiklian warns that the community should brace for worsening conditions on the weekend: “Weather conditions on Saturday will be as bad as they were yesterday.”

The NSW premier, Gladys Berejiklian, is speaking at a press conference right now.

She describes yesterday as a “horrible day”. Crews are working on containing the existing fires as they make the most of improved conditions, she says.

Authorities are also working on restoring power to communities on the south coast and clearing roads.

Updated

Crisp also provided some information on homes lost in East Gippsland. That included: 24 structures in Buchan, 19 in Sarsfield and more than 10 in Mallacoota.

Updated

The Victorian emergency management commissioner, Andrew Crisp, spoke on the ABC earlier this morning.

He confirmed that four people remain unaccounted for in Victoria. Those appears to be the same people that the premier, Daniel Andrews, said authorities held grave fears for yesterday. Crisp said he was still unable to provide more details.

In some good news, Crisp said there were no reported lives lost in Mallacoota, where thousands were forced to take shelter on the beach yesterday.

The ABC is reporting that 50 properties and structures have been destroyed in Conjola Park on the NSW south coast.

The properties were lost when the Currowan fire tore through the town, which is south of Nowra.

The town is among those that remains without power this morning.

Updated

More than 100 fires were still burning across NSW at midnight, while in Victoria there were dozens of blazes alight in the East Gippsland region.

In Victoria, there are seven fires still burning at emergency level, but all fires in NSW have been downgraded to watch and act.

Updated

Good morning. I’m Luke Henriques-Gomes.

Thanks for joining us and happy new year to you. Yesterday was a day of destruction as fires throughout Victoria and New South Wales claimed two lives and razed homes in East Gippsland and the southern coast. Four people remain unaccounted for in Victoria.

More residents will be returning to their communities today while the defence force will also be involved in the expanding recovery effort.

We’ll be with you throughout the day.

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