Summary
Just before I sign off for the day I’ll lay down what we have learnt today as the fires continue to burn in the Adelaide Hills. The fires are under control for the moment with the Country Fire Service’s downgraded “watch and act” advice remaining throughout the day.
- The South Australian premier, Jay Weatherill, has confirmed 12 houses were destroyed in the fires and there are concerns for 20 more.
- Twenty-two people, mostly firefighters, have been injured in the fires but there have been no human fatalities.
- Many animals have died though with the Tea Tree Gully boarding kennel and cattery and Humbug Scrub animal rescue shelter both burning.
- In Victoria, people evacuated from their Mornington Peninsula homes were allowed to start returning this morning.
- The federal government has signalled a shift in the focus of its disaster funding from recovery to mitigation.
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The federal government has signalled it wants to shift its disaster funding focus from recovery to mitigation, Daniel Hurst reports here.
Only 3% of federal government disaster funding goes towards mitigation and justice minister, Michael Keenan, has indicated the government wants to change that.
I actually think we do need to look at how we are going to make sure we are spending the money we do spend on disasters in Australia in the most effective way.
The premier, Jay Weatherill, has addressed media after touring the bushfire-affected areas of the Adelaide Hills by air.
I have seen fire licking at the edges of a number of houses that are being stoutly defended.
Weatherill praised the efforts of firefighters and said it was miraculous how many houses had been saved. He said the fire was a long way from over and smoke was making it difficult for the fire bombers to get into the area.
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Here are some more images of the aftermath of the bushfires in the Adelaide Hills.
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My colleague Daniel Hurst has filed a story on bushfire funding which I will link to when it goes live. In the meantime he has dug up some very interesting statistics and facts around government funding of disaster relief:
- In April 2014 the government commissioned a review into the funding system, including Natural Disaster Relief and Recovery Arrangements (NDRRA), under which the commonwealth reimburses up to 75% of the state and territory recovery bill.
- The Productivity Commission’s final report is expected to be released early this year, but the draft version said federal government spending on mitigation was only 3% of what it spent after disasters in recent years.
- The Productivity Commission’s draft report said natural disasters since 2009 had claimed more than 200 lives, destroyed 2,670 houses and damaged another 7,680.
- The report said increased costs of natural disasters had “mainly been driven by population growth, increased settlement in areas that are exposed to disaster risks and increased asset values” but also warned that “projections suggest that climate change could increase the frequency and intensity of some extreme weather events and potentially natural disasters”.
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Over the past decade the federal government had spent about $8bn on post-disaster relief and recovery, the report said, with another $5.7bn earmarked over the four-year budget cycle. State and territory governments had spent $5.6bn on relief and recovery over the past decade.
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Between 2009-10 and 2012-13, the federal government spent just $115m on mitigation work through the National Partnership Agreement on National Disaster Resilience.
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We have launched a gallery of the trail of ash and ruin the bushfires are leaving which you can view by clicking here.
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The Greens leader, Christine Milne, has used the bushfires to call for action on climate change, my colleague Daniel Hurst reports:
Milne said the government “really must put their climate denial behind them” because such an approach was “costing the country dearly”.
Every year, we are going to face these extreme weather events which are going to cost lives and infrastructure. Enough is enough. The Abbott government has to stop climate denial and help to get the country prepared to adapt to the more extreme conditions.
The climate change council put out this report in 2012, specifically on South Australia. It was based on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report and on CSIRO reports saying we are going to face more high fire danger days, more extreme hot days, heatwaves, fire danger days and we have to get ready for it.
Getting ready for it means looking at the adequacy of our emergency services, increasing the number of firefighters, improving our health response, our emergency response. We have to do these things. But if you refuse to acknowledge you have got a problem, you don’t prepare for it and then the situation is worse.”
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The fire in Sampson Flat which started the bushfire in the Adelaide Hills began at the back of a property and the tenant has rejected suggestions an incinerator was the cause, AAP reports.
The man says he is devastated that people have lost their homes but says the fire broke out at the rear of a shed and got out of control because of poor vegetation management on the property before he took up residence.
“We have been here four months and we have never even used the incinerator since we have been here,” the man told the Sunday Mail on the condition of anonymity.
But police say the cause of the blaze is still being investigated and the incinerator remains part of inquiries by detectives.
“We’re looking at the incinerator; how it ignited in the incinerator is another aspect that we’re looking at,” the police commissioner, Gary Burns, said on Sunday.
“Detectives are talking with the homeowners and obviously there will be forensic evidence that they will be looking at.”
Burns said there was a range of charges that were possible in relation to fires that were lit where bans were in force.
“Lighting fires on banned days is an offence in itself,” he said.
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The fires have moved quickly, according to police, and people are being evacuated from One Tree Hill and Humbug Scrub road in the Adelaide Hills.
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Some images from ABC journalists who are on the ground in South Australia covering the bushfires
Fire front gaining pace towards homes at Humbug Scrub in #AdelaideHills @abcnews pic.twitter.com/J7SanEGeJF
— Nicola Gage (@Nicola_Gage) January 4, 2015
Where it all began. Blackened hills at Sampson Flat. @abcnewsAdelaide pic.twitter.com/olC4yEgIVP
— Tom Fedorowytsch (@tomfed) January 4, 2015
Interstate teams help with fire front at Humbug Scrub in #AdelaideHills #bushfire @abcnews pic.twitter.com/U3HD47fLPY
— Nicola Gage (@Nicola_Gage) January 4, 2015
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More than 1,000 properties in the Adelaide Hills remain without power because of the impact of the major blaze still burning out of control, AAP reports.
SA Power Networks says 859 properties at Cudlee Creek, Houghton, Lower Hermitage, Paracombe and Upper Hermitage have no electricity.
Another 171 properties in the Gould Creek, Humbug Scrub and Sampson Flat areas are also without service.
SA Power Networks says its crews are working on safe access to the fire grounds and detailed inspections of power assets will be required before repairs can be conducted and power restored.
No estimate of the time when services will be restored has been provided.
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The South Australian premier, Jay Weatherill, has been photographed returning from surveying the bushfires by air. An ABC reporter, Matthew Doran, says Weatherill saw houses still under direct threat from the fires.
Premier Jay Weatherill has just surveyed the area by air - says many houses still under direct threat @abcnews pic.twitter.com/JHafvTQJEM
— Matthew Doran (@MattDoran91) January 4, 2015
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We are starting to receive more photos from this morning in South Australia as the bushfire damage is surveyed and the fires keep raging.
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The federal justice minister, Michael Keenan, is now addressing media in Perth.
He says the commonwealth has made RAAF base Edinburgh in Adelaide available to allow large water tankers to replenish and refuel while fighting the fires.
He also says the government is looking at spending money on mitigating such disasters as the bushfires.
We have asked the Productivity Commission to look at the way we respond and that’s one of the recommendations. We have a small amount of money being spent on mitigating the threat of a disaster and the vast majority of the money spent on dealing with the after-effects. Clearly we need to have a conversation with the states whether we can spend that money more effectively to mitigate the effects of a disaster before they occur.
Asked whether the government has a moral duty to future generations to address climate change, Keenan uses it to kick Labor and the Greens over the budget.
I think the question of the budget is a vitally important one. The idea we would be spending today and leaving debt for future generations I think is immoral. The idea it’s up to future generations to fund our spending now is deeply unfair to them.
He says the federal government will work with the states to set up compensation schemes for victims of the bushfires and firefighters.
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People who were evacuated from their homes in Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula yesterday have begun returning to survey the damage.
No homes were damaged in the fire, which started behind a factory in the Hastings area.
Tiarne Dooley was evacuated and told the ABC she thought she had lost her home:
It was terrifying. The not knowing what was happening; do you still have a house to go back to? Are you going to be allowed to go back to your house? We watched on from my mum’s place around the corner with this massive amount of smoke. It looked like our house was gone for sure, and when we came back it wasn’t.
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Here is a map of where the fires are in South Australia, where they started and their status. It’s created by Google and can be viewed here.
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As media are being allowed into bushfire affected areas we have more images coming through of the damage.
Aftermath of the #SAFires near Humbug Scrub & #SampsonsFlat @abcnews pic.twitter.com/Q0bIsc1xni
— Melissa Clarke (@Clarke_Melissa) January 3, 2015
The communities in Adelaide still at risk of the bushfires are Sampson Flat, One Tree Hill, Humbug Scrub, Millbrook Reservoir, Kersbrook, Gumeracha, Birdwood, Mount Crawford and Kenton Valley.
A top of 31C is expected today in the fire zone and winds are forecast to reach 40km/h.
There are 400 firefighters working to contain the fire, 80 fire trucks and 14 aircraft.
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This is an amazing live heatmap which shows the temperatures around the world in real time. You can click here to view it and see it moving but it has also been screenshot on Twitter. Look how hot South Australia and Victoria are.
It's really quite warm in South Australia right now http://t.co/71s8ZRKFiQ pic.twitter.com/EiAZT5w9Bj
— Ketan Joshi (@KetanJ0) January 3, 2015
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The South Australian premier, Jay Weatherill, has arrived at the One Tree Hill incident control centre to get a briefing from the Country Fire Service and police on the bushfires, according to the ABC.
This means media should receive another update in the next few hours.
SA premier @JayWeatherill has just arrived at One Tree Hill incident ctrl centre to get a briefing on latest from #SampsonFlat @ABCNews24
— James Bennett (@James_L_Bennett) January 4, 2015
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In the midst of the devastation being wrought by the bushfires it seems there is at least one person trying to make a quick buck.
Police are investigating reports someone was door-knocking in Adelaide’s northern suburbs on Saturday asking for donations on behalf of the Country Fire Service (CFS), the South Australian police commissioner, Gary Burns, has confirmed.
He said police checked with CFS and they had no such activity under way (presumably because they’re busy fighting bushfires).
So it’s just one activity of one person at this stage and obviously is quite deplorable.
People who have lost homes or who want to make donations can contact the South Australian bushfire recovery hotline on 1800 302 787.
Burns also said he hoped to have residents returning to their homes today but asked for people to be patient.
The aim for us is to return people to the area as quickly as possible, provided we’ve got clearance from the CFS in terms of reducing risk to those residents. So when people turn up to our control points we’d ask them to have a little bit of patience. The police on those control points will be very empathetic and sympathetic to their situation but also are very conscious of the issues surrounding their own safety.
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Photographers in South Australia have captured some confronting images over the past few days of the fires that have burnt in the Adelaide Hills.
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There is no human toll from the bushfires in South Australia and Victoria, thankfully, but there have been a high number of animal deaths.
More than 40 dogs and cats perished when fire tore through the Tea Tree Gully boarding kennel and cattery in the Adelaide Hills on Saturday morning, the Adelaide Advertiser reported.
Firefighters managed to save about 45 animals from the building.
Ingrid Justice was forced to flee her home and the Humbug Scrub animal rescue shelter she runs on Saturday.
She took with her the animals she could, but left behind were 600 kangaroos, emus and birds with their fate not yet known.
We have lots of fires but never like this, we’ve never had to evacuate before. Apparently it’s like a war zone up there, the CFS tells us,” she told the Adelaide Advertiser.
In Victoria a dog and cat boarding business near Inglewood burnt to the ground with firefighters confirming pets inside were casualties. It is not yet known how many animals were inside.
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A photographer for the Adelaide Advertiser, Dylan Coker, captured this image yesterday when fires in the Sampson Flat were burning out of control.
There is no denying the amazing work our @CFSAlerts volunteers do...powerful photo by @theTiser Dylan Coker #SAFires pic.twitter.com/ngk9RB1qxZ
— Bianca De Marchi (@bianca_demarchi) January 3, 2015
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The Sampson Flat fire in the Adelaide Hills has been downgraded from the highest emergency level to a watch-and-act message but the blaze is still burning on several fronts.
The South Australian police commissioner, Gary Burns, said about an hour ago that police were aiming to return some residents this morning.
But he said police would not be rushed and safety would be the priority.
“The aim for us is to return people as quickly as possible,” he said. “When people turn up to our control points, we’d ask them to have a little bit of patience.”
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The South Australian premier, Jay Weatherill, has given a press conference in Adelaide.
My colleague Daniel Hurst reports:
Twelve homes have been destroyed by fire in South Australia and there are fears the figure could grow.
But Weatherill said there were no reports of missing people or serious injuries.
Providing an update alongside emergency services on Sunday morning, he said:
I can confirm that 12 homes have been destroyed and it’s feared that a further 20 homes have also been lost.
Weatherill said the danger was not over and people needed to remain vigilant.
He said there were “massive risks” from falling trees and active power lines.
Weatherill said the weather had cooled but the conditions were expected to worsen on Wednesday.
The Country Fire Service said it would focus on Sunday on containing the spread of the fire, and checking major roadways to ensure they were safe for people to use to return to their properties.
Police said they were hoping to allow people back into affected areas on Sunday morning, but this would depend on safety assessments.
People who have lost homes or who want to make donations can contact the South Australian bushfire recovery hotline on 1800 302 787.
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We open the live blog as South Australia faces the third day of its worst bushfires in 30 years. Twenty-two people have been injured and at least 12 homes lost in the Sampson Flat fire in the Mount Lofty Ranges.
Conditions have eased slightly with lower temperatures forecast for Sunday although strong winds continue to blow.
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