Australia fires live: NSW and Victoria bushfires expected to flare amid extreme conditions – latest updates | Australia news

To New South Wales now. The biggest fire threat today is in the southern highlands but there are still active fires and a lot of smoke around the south coast.

Surf Life Saving NSW has released a list of beach closures.

This is the map of forecast fire spread in NSW today.

We reported yesterday that there is a risk, according to Victorian emergency management commissioner Andrew Crisp, that fires burning on either side of the border near Corryong in Victoria and Dunns Road fire in NSW could join. You can see that shown in that fire spread map.

There is also a risk, Crisp said, that the Abbeyard fire could join with the East Gippsland fire, and those fires could also join a merged Corryong-Dunns Road fire.

Authorities in Victoria have issued a third evacuation alert for communities on the edges of the Abbeyard fire, which is threatening the King and Ovens Valleys in northeast Victoria.

Emergency alerts for the western side of the fire — the King Valley, and Carboor and surrounds, remain in place.

The new evacuation alert is for the northern flank of the fire down to Harrietville, in preparation for the forecast south-westerly wind change.

The communities listed in the new alert are: Brookside, Buckland, Buffalo Creek, Buffalo River, Dunphys Hill, Eurobin, Freeburgh, Harrietville, Merriang, Merriang South, Mount Buffalo, Salt Log, Selwyn, Smoko, Wandiligong, Buckland Junction, and Germantown.

It means that everyone within a set distance west or north of the fire has been told to leave.

The warning is current until 3.30pm today. After that point it may be too late to leave, and authorities have warned that if people choose to stay firefighters may not be able to help them.

There are evacuation centres set up in Wangaratta, at the performing arts centre and the showgrounds if you have animals.

Let’s go to Western Australia now where a bushfire at Baldivis on the eastern fringe of Perth is burning at a watch and act level.

The fire has been contained, but authorities warn that “unfavourable wind conditions” may cause it to breach those containment lines. About 180 firefighters are currently on the ground working to strengthen those containment lines.

The fire was reported yesterday and has burned through 1,205ha in less than 24 hours. The cause has been listed as accidental, and reporters on the ground have identified a possible cause: a boat, found abandoned on its trailer on Karnup Road.

This is from ABC24 reporter, James Carmody:

The boat was being towed on the road on a trailer when it appears as if the tyres on the boat had burst, and that trailer was dragged along the road.

We have seen the gouges in that road, that appears to have sparked a grass fire on the edge of Karnup Road. It wasn’t particularly hot yesterday but with the extreme winds coming through, that picked up the fire and saw it race north-east through dozens of private properties, paddocks and bushland here.

Emergency Victoria just issued an updated evacuation warning for communities northwest of the Abbeyard fire.

The communities of Dandongadale, Merriang South, Mount Buffalo, Buffalo River and Nug Nug have been advised to evacuate ahead of fire and ember attacks.

There is also an evacuation warning current for Bennies, Cheshunt South, Markous, Rose River, Top Crossing, Wabonga and Upper Rose River, which are under threat from the same fire.

The Bureau of Meteorology has issued a severe weather warning for damaging winds in Victoria (the northeast, East Gippsland, and south Gippsland coast) and New South Wales (in a broad line from Broken Hill/Tibooburra and down to Albury and the southern highlands, and also the Illawarra coast).

The damaging winds will reach between 65km-90km/h and are timed with that south-westerly change, which means they will impact fire weather and also possibly cause falling trees in areas previously impacted by fire.

Michael Pengilly is the mayor of Kangaroo Island and a former state Liberal member for the seat of Finniss, which is on the mainland around Victor Harbour.

As of yesterday, more than one third of Kangaroo Island had burned and remaining sections were under threat.

This is a map of Kangaroo Island from the SA Country Fire Service website this morning.

The blue section has already burned, the yellow section is under a watch and act alert. People who do not need to be on the island were advised to leave, and some residents have been cut off due to road closures, the ABC has reported.

Anyway. If you want to adopt our politics live blogger Amy Remeikis, please ensure you first believe in the man-made climate emergency.

It’s Calla Wahlquist here, taking over from Helen Davidson.

I want to look to the Abbeyard fire in Northeast Victoria first, which has triggered emergency warning and evacuate now alerts for the King Valley and Carboor on the western front of that fire today.

Water authorities have told residents they will be turning off sprinklers in unattended houses to conserve water for firefighting efforts. That is likely to stress out some residents, who often put the sprinkler on the roof before evacuating.

This is from the Emergency Victoria alert:

People are urged to conserve tap water as much as possible, so that the town’s don’t run out of water before a fire front arrives. North East Water staff and other authorised officers have been directed to enter unattended properties to turn-off garden sprinkler.

A “leave now” warning was issued for most of eastern Victoria late yesterday, advising that everyone east of a line from Bairnsdale to Corryong, and dog-legging west around Mount Buffalo, should leave the area if they do not need to remain.

The Abbeyard fire is now about 80km long, and has been creeping west toward Carboor, just south of Mount Buffalo. It is being pushed west this morning but the biggest danger will come later this evening, when a south-westerly wind change will convert the northern flank into an 80km-wide fire front. Bright is about 20km north of the fire.

Residents in the King Valley, Carboor and surrounds, Edi, Myrrhee, and surrounding localities have been advised to evacuate now, via the Carboor-Everton Road, if they’re at the Carboor side, and via the King Valley-Wangaratta Road, from the King Valley.

Evacuation centres have been set up in Wangaratta, with a information and registration centre at the Myrtleford library.

More from that 2GB interview with Morrison, via AAP:

Scott Morrison says any national inquiry into the bushfires needs to be wide-ranging and examine what impact climate change has had on the crisis.

The prime minister is weighing up calling a royal commission into the disaster, which would also look at hazard reduction burns and national coordination.

“I think Australians, because of the scale of this particular disaster, will be looking for something more holistic,” he told 2GB radio on Friday.

“That’s not the focus right now – today there are severe and extreme fire forecasts in Victoria and NSW – but down the track, that’s what premiers and I am sure will discuss.”

But while the prime minister acknowledges there is an appetite to examine the impacts of climate change on the bushfires, he will not consider a stronger commitment to carbon emission reductions.

The federal government has committed at least $2bn towards the recovery effort.

The latest element of its response package was immediate cash payments of $1m for dozens of councils hardest hit by the fires.

A comprehensive mental health plan is expected to be announced in coming days, along with assistance for bushfire-ravaged small businesses.

From AAP:

The escalating bushfire emergency across Kangaroo Island has cut power to more properties.

SA Power Networks says about 850 are now without electricity following a fire-related outage on the main supply line to the west of the Island overnight on Thursday.

The main supply powerline runs through the firegrounds near Parndana from Kingscote and goes on to supply western parts of the island.

SA Power Networks said its crews were not able to work on Thursday due to fire escalation and would await advice from the Country Fire Service before going onto the fireground on Friday.

“Our focus has been community and crew safety in fast-changing and dangerous bushfire circumstances and today, given the threat to Kingscote, we have moved crews and equipment to Penneshaw to ensure their safety and our ability to mobilise all our resources once the bushfire situation eases,” a spokesman said.

“The additional damage and continuing fire situation will further delay our efforts to restore power to those who can be reconnected.”

Water supplies are also a concern for the island with major damage earlier to a water treatment plant near Penneshaw.

Army personnel and SA Water crews tried to get to the plant on Thursday but were unable to make it.

The army has set up a portable treatment plant but islanders continue to be urged to keep water use to essential needs only.

Luke Henriques-Gomes has checked in with the people in the Victorian town of Mallacoota.

Christy Brya Bryar is now staying at a friend’s place in Mallacoota. She is keen to stress that although there had been some terrifying moments, “it wasn’t all chaos and panic and armageddon”.

“I could tell when something had come out in the media because I would get this flood of messages from people panicked, from Portugal, or Canada, or the UK,” she says.

She is not downplaying the experience of those who were there. Bryar was on the wharf crouching, face down, sheltering from the embers with a friend, Vanessa, as well as Vanessa’s children and dogs, when the fire front hit.

“The kids were so still,” she says. “Whatever we asked them to do, they just did it straight away.

“We were each under a blanket. I had the two dogs under mine as well. We couldn’t hold them so they were just so brave and just calm.

“There were moments where you think, ‘This might be it’. But we had the kids there, and the dogs, and you knew you just have to keep it together.”

Read Luke’s full feature here.

NSW Police have released some details about the helicopter crash yesterday.

The pilot was conducting aerial waterbombing of fires around Bega and Eden when it crashed into a dam in Boydtown. He’d been refilling a water bucket in the Ben Boyd Reservoir about 4.20pm when the helicopter lost power and “came to rest” in the dam.

The 47-year-old pilot was able to free himself from the aircraft and make his way to shore,” police said.

“He was treated by NSW Ambulance paramedics for shoulder, back and ankle injuries, before being taken to South East Regional Hospital in a stable condition.”

The dam is closed as a drinking supply and a recovery operation to retrieve the helicopter will be coordinated. Inquiries are continuing.