Australia fires: 23 firefighters injured in South Australia as second person confirmed dead – live | Australia news

Another dispatch from Royce Kurmelovs in Adelaide:

Denis Noble, 76, spent yesterday fighting bushfires near his home in Charleston in the Adelaide Hills. Denis and his wife had only moved into the property a week ago when they watched the blaze come over the hill in the morning and slowly engulf the paddock across the road from his house.

Their neighbours, who are in their 30’s and 40’s, helped fight the blaze.

“It came slowly, inexorably towards us,” Denis said. “We’re oldies. They’re full of energy and tearing around with buckets. Everybody pitched in to stop the fire, and it stopped at the roadway. It was a good way to get to know the new neighbours.”

Denis’ son, Andrew who also works as a paramedic, has been fighting the Cudlee Creek fires with the CFS as part of the Basket Range CFS brigade, which are currently deployed around Birdwood.

This morning Denis and his wife drove into Stirling as the power to their property had been cut and there was no mobile service. On the way they drove past two properties that had been destroyed.

“It was devastating to see,” Denis said. “We saw at least two houses that were just a pile of wreckage. It breaks your heart to see that, because you know it’s been someone’s residence for quite some time and you don’t like to think of what they lost.”

An emergency warning has been issued for the fire at Tianjara, south-west of Nowra.

The NSW RFS says: “The fire is burning towards Wandandian and Jerrawangala. It is too late to leave – seek shelter. Sussex Inlet Road is now closed. It is too dangerous to leave.”

Residents in Sussex Inlet are being urged to remain there. “There is no immediate threat to Sussex Inlet,” the RFS says.

Hi all, it’s Luke Henriques-Gomes here. I’ll be taking over from Naaman while he has a well-earned break.

If you want to bring something to my attention, please send me an email at luke.henriques-gomes@theguardian.com or get in touch on Twitter (@lukehgomes).

A frank exchange of views here on Sunrise about Scott Morrison’s holiday to Hawaii.

“He decides to apologise yesterday. I didn’t think he had any reason to apologise to anyone,” says 2GB’s Chris Smith.

“Hawaii, that strip in Honolulu is so small, if you want to see someone who is in Hawaii, you just go to that strip and see them. It’s a very small place.”

Smith declares it “the biggest beat-up I have seen in 40 years”.

Gretel Killeen says she is “gobsmacked” at both Smith and host Bazil Zempilas’s opinion.

“I am confounded at what your understanding of leadership is?” she asks.

“Chris, yelling at me will not convince me. The majority of the country agrees … the surveys show that.”

A day of catastrophic conditions, high-40s temperatures and mass road closures has so far panned out as authorities feared.

• Emergency-level fires are blazing across three states: NSW, South Australia and Victoria.
• In SA, a second person was confirmed killed, and one seriously injured, in the Adelaide Hills. A man also died in a car crash yesterday at Lameroo. SA premier Steve Marshal confirmed the man was a 24-year old from Queensland, and the crash itself started a fire that injured a resident.
• 23 firefighters were also injured, one seriously.
• SA firefighters still have up to 100 properties or calls to follow up on to see if others are affected.
• A fire on Kangaroo Island remains at emergency, while the Cudlee Creek fire was downgraded to watch and act.
• Five homes, 28 buildings and 16 vehicles have been destroyed.

• In Victoria, the Marthavale fire in East Gippsland quadrupled in size overnight, growing so large it created its own weather. It is still at emergency level.
• There are two emergency warnings in place: for Ensay, Reedy Flat, Stirling and Holstons; and Tambo Crossing, Wattle Circle and Stirling.

• In NSW, the huge Gospers Mountain blaze and the Green Wattle Creek fire both returned to emergency after easing overnight.
• The NSW premier and police have told residents to please delay travel: “Today is not the day to start your holiday.”

• Prime minister Scott Morrison is scheduled to return to Australia by tonight, but was spotted at 7am AEDT still in Hawaii.
• Opposition leader Anthony Albanese said there had been no transparency around the trip, and “media enquiries were met with misinformation, at best” after the PM’s office initially told reporters he was not in Hawaii.

• The NSW RFS has set up a dedicated donations fund for the families of two firefighters who died on Thursday after their truck overturned near the Green Wattle Creek fireground.

Also in Lexton, this dispatch from the local camel sanctuary.

The Lithgow area of the Gospers Mountain fire is now also at emergency.

Fire activity is increasing in Bell, Clarence and Dargan. A few minutes ago, an emergency alert was issued for between Bilpin and Kurrajong Heights.

The Gospers Mountain fire is a very large fire with many fronts, and conditions vary in different areas.

The Green Wattle Creek fire – one of the fiercest fires this week – is back at emergency.

There are now two fires at emergency in NSW.

Two firefighters died on Thursday when their truck overturned on the way to the Green Wattle Creek fire, and two were seriously injured in a separate incident the same day when flames jumped into tree tops and overwhelmed their crew.

The Marthavale fire in Victoria, which quadrupled in size overnight, became so big it began “generating its own weather”, the State Control Centre’s Luke Heagerty told the ABC.

“This fire was large enough to be generating some of its own weather … and was driving itself along purely with the energy created by the fire,” he said.

And elsewhere, in Lexton in the state’s west, residents have shared stories of the evacuation.

Julie Garden, the owner of the Stag Hotel, told the ABC: “It was a bit scary but we were OK. There were a lot of cars going to the football club and everyone was up and about hanging around for a while to see what was going to happen. We could just see a lot of smoke.”

Avoca Milk Bar owner Karan Verma said: “We closed around 8.30pm and at 10pm a woman called up crying.”

The Gospers Mountain fire covers a very large area, and emergency warnings and conditions will vary in different parts of the area.

The most dangerous area now is from Bilpin to Kurrajong Heights.

Fire activity is increasing here, on the southern side of Bells Line of Road, the RFS says. The path is clear to Richmond, and a safer location is the Richmond Club on East Market Street.

The threat has eased at Lithgow, Hermitage Flat, McKellars Park and Cobar Park.

But people in all areas should be aware that embers can start spot fires ahead of the main fire front, and conditions can change.

The predicted fire spread map is here. Many roads remain closed.

Gospers Mountain has flared back to emergency level.

It was burning at emergency level earlier this morning, before being downgraded to wach and act. The huge fire, burning over 459,848 hectares, is now back to emergency.

Firefighters across NSW are working today despite the grief of losing two of their colleagues and friends on Thursday.

Flags were flown at half-mast on Friday after the two young fathers, Geoffrey Keaton, 32, and Andrew O’Dwyer, 36, were killed when their truck turned over near the Green Wattle Creek fire.

Their brigade, the Horsley Park Rural Fire Brigade, is already back on firegounds.

“In true Horsley Park spirit, our crew are heading out today as part of a Cumberland Zone Strike Team in memory of Geoff and Andrew,” the Horsley Park RFS posted on Facebook.