The village of Uarbry in central west New South Wales has been “all but wiped out” by the weekend’s bushfires, according to residents.
A total of 19 homes across the state were also confirmed as destroyed in Warrumbungle, Port Macquarie, Kempsey and Narrabri, with more losses expected.
The ABC reported that Uarbry, a small community north of Mudgee, lost nine of its 12 homes in the blaze.
“My house and all my property’s totally gone,” local farmer Warren Jarvis, who lives in the nearby town of Cassilis, told the ABC. “My three greyhounds, all my chooks, probably my sheep and cattle.”
The Rural Fire Service has sent expert assessment teams as more than 80 bushfires burn across the state on Monday morning. They reported 12 homes and a church had been destroyed by the Sir Ivan fire near Mudgee, with only 20% of the 50,000 hectare fire area assessed.
The fire also claimed the historic Tongy Station, a 4637 hectare mixed-use farm built in 1825. The $20m station had been owned by the family of former Victorian premier Ted Baillieu for nearly 100 years.
Two major blazes, at Dunedoo and Kains Flat, were still rated watch and act, but one at Manildra had been downgraded to alert level on Monday.
Sir Ivan Fire- Residents NW of Warrumbungle Way between Rotherwood Rd & Coolah Creek Rd, if your plan is to leave, leave now towards Coolah.
— NSW RFS (@NSWRFS) February 13, 2017
The Rural Fire Service commissioner, Shane Fitzsimmons, also condemned the alleged actions of three men arrested for deliberately lighting fires on a weekend of record-breaking temperatures.
“Flame heights [at Dunedoo] were invariably taller than most people’s homes. The Dunedoo fire itself created its own thunderstorm,” he told a press conference.
#NSWfires @ABCNews: @NSWRFS to assess property damage with reports of 3 homes destroyed in #Pappinbarra & 1 home destroyed in #Dondingalong
— ABC Emergency (@ABCemergency) February 12, 2017
Communication in affected areas had been difficult, with reports of power lines and phone lines down. The RFS confirmed that Telstra towers in Coolah and Cassilis were down and “there may be little, if any, mobile communications in the area”.
It advised residents close to the Sir Ivan fire near Dunedoo and a fire at Kains Flat near Mudgee to “remain vigilant and prepared to implement their bush fire survival plan”.
A spokesman for the Bureau of Metereology told a press conference that the weekend’s weather conditions broke records across the state.
“We saw records on Saturday set at Dubbo, Bathurst, Scone, Williamtown, Casino, Moree, Inverell and Young,” he said. “We saw catastrophic readings at Scone, Mudgee, Gunnedah, Coonabarabran and Dubbo. [This was] unprecedented in the history of NSW.”
Fitzsimmons said: “More than 1.5m warnings were sent by telephone messaging over the weekend.”
He paid tribute to the efforts of firefighters. “We know there [are] clearly losses. Losses in homes, losses in buildings, losses in livestock and other agricultural assets,” Fitzsimmons told Channel Nine.
“The extraordinary effort of firefighters. What they saved yesterday will far outweigh the losses that we report today. I know that is cold comfort for those who have lost so much, and I don’t mean any disrespect or being insensitive, but we cannot take away from the amount of property, people, livelihoods that have been saved under yesterday’s conditions.”
While conditions were forecast to ease on Monday, the RFS warned there would be a return to dangerous conditions by Friday.
“We will see again severe fire weather conditions occurring in the western parts of the state and very high danger conditions through the central west of the state.”
Fitzsimmons said the RFS was “very mindful” of the Friday forecast. “There will be a concerted effort to consolidate as much as we can before deteriorating weather conditions,” he said.
A 13-year old boy was arrested while allegedly starting a fire in a car repairs yard in Orange, a 32-year old man for allegedly lighting two fires in Nabiac and a 40-year-old male was arrested at Mango Creek. All three were charged and will face court on Monday.
A spokesman for the RFS, Ben Shepherd, confirmed that one firefighter in Mudgee had been injured with a laceration to the hand and that one volunteer member of the public had been transported to hospital with burns.
“Fortunately, we have no reported loss of life,” he said. “Given the day we went through that has to be considered a fantastic outcome.”
Fire danger levels for Monday remain very high for the Greater Hunter region but no part of the state is facing severe, extreme or catastrophic conditions.
.@nswrfs crews tackle a large grass fire burning towards the small township of #Wollar in the greater #Hunter region of #nswfires pic.twitter.com/v6kcNOX19R
— Wolter Peeters (@ShooterWol) February 12, 2017
#ICYMI: #NSWfires: Uarbry all but wiped out as firefighters continue to battle blazes https://t.co/07zlEjYARS pic.twitter.com/4KpU049bDS
— ABC News (@abcnews) February 13, 2017
Livestock being relocated from property in Coolah, Central Western NSW, as smoke from Sir Ivan fire looms #nswfires pic.twitter.com/RToYnkw9EM
— ellinghausen (@ellinghausen) February 12, 2017
