The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has warned of a “difficult” summer bushfire season ahead, as a natural disaster was declared in parts of New South Wales and crews battling more than 70 fires gained the upper hand on Sunday.
The most destructive blaze – an out-of-control bushfire at Koolewong, not far from built-up areas of the Central Coast – destroyed 16 homes on Saturday. The threat had eased by midday on Sunday as strong winds gave way to a cool change.
Another four homes were lost at Bulahdelah on the NSW mid-north coast. In Tasmania, 19 homes were destroyed in Dolphin Sands.
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The natural disaster declaration activates support measures for residents, businesses, primary producers and councils. People whose homes have been damaged may be eligible for immediate financial help as well as clean-up, rebuilding and recovery assistance.
The NSW government’s natural disaster declaration applies to the local government areas of:
Central Coast
Mid coast
Upper Hunter
Muswellbrook
Warrumbungle
Dubbo
Support has been made available under the joint commonwealth-state Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements (DRFA).
The NSW premier, Chris Minns, travelled to bushfire-hit parts of the Central Coast on Sunday, speaking to families who had lost their homes in the lead-up to Christmas.
“They were able to get as much as they possibly could in the car and evacuate in a short space of time,” he told reporters at Gosford RSL club’s makeshift emergency evacuation centre.
The RSL has been “inundated” with phone calls from locals wanting to donate food, toiletries, nappies and, in some cases, their homes as crisis accommodation, Minns said.
On Sunday morning, authorities issued an emergency warning due to an uncontained bushfire at Redhead, south of Newcastle. Residents were told it was too late to leave and were urged to seek shelter. The warning was later downgraded.
Albanese, speaking on the ABC Insiders program on Sunday morning soon after visiting the Emergency Management Australia headquarters, said it had been fortunate there was no loss of life, which is “always the priority”.
“So this summer of course, like all summers that would appear in recent times, is going to be a difficult one,” he said.
“But New South Wales in particular has a range of preconditions if you like for being quite a difficult one.”
Minns said the Koolewong fire on the Central Coast would have damaged more homes but for the work of firefighters.
“Just to put it in perspective, the fire embers jumped a stretch of water over a kilometre long,” the premier told ABC TV.
Damage assessment teams were on the ground on Sunday, along with investigators from NSW police and the RFS, to determine the cause of the blaze.
Federal and state disaster assistance funding has been activated for Central Coast, mid coast, Upper Hunter, Muswellbrook, Warrumbungle and Dubbo.
“While we continue to contain the fires that have impacted communities across NSW, our priority is also to support those people whose homes and livelihoods have been impacted,” the NSW recovery minister, Janelle Saffin, said.
Temperatures were expected to ease from Sunday for most of NSW and southern Australia, although the heat would build across northern Australia and Western Australia. Hot conditions would return to much of the country early in the week.
Elsewhere, several bushfires were burning in Tasmania.
The Tasmania Fire and Emergency Services commissioner, Jeremy Smith, said on Sunday that about 30 firefighters remained on the contained Dolphin Sands fire ground, extinguishing hotspots.
“At this stage, we can confirm that a total of 33 houses sustained damaged – sadly 19 of those homes have been destroyed,” Smith said in a statement.
“To date, 122 assets sustained damage – this includes sheds, caravans, water tanks, carports, garages, electricity transmissions. Some addresses have damage to multiple structures/assets on the property.”
Australia’s national annual average temperature is about 1.5C higher than in 1910, according to the Bureau of Meteorology, and the climate crisis has increased the frequency and severity of extreme weather events.
