Only 1,000 of the 4,000 stranded people left by ship as rescuers braced for a new heat wave. New South Wales declared a state of emergency that would allow officials to forcibly evacuate people.
Batemans Bay fires pictured from sateliteImage: via Reuters
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The Australian navy on Friday began mass evacuations ahead of an extreme heatwave and heightened fire danger on Saturday.
The navy ships HMAS Choules and Sycamore started the evacuations of around 1,000 of the 4,000 people, mostly tourists, stranded on a beach in the town of Mallacoota in Victoria.
Thousands of people were still attempting to flee the bushfires threatening the popular tourist area on Australia's east coast.
The authorities of New South Wales (NSW) ordered all tourists and non-residents to leave the fire zone which includes the resort town of Batemans Bay and stretches 250 kilometers (155 miles) to the border with Australian state of Victoria. NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian had also declared a seven-day state of emergency that would allow the authorities to forcibly remove people from areas threatened by fires.
Berejiklian said the state of emergency would go into effect on Friday ahead of another heat surge expected a day later.
"We don't take these decisions lightly but we also want to make sure we're taking every single precaution to be prepared for what could be a horrible day on Saturday," she told reporters.
NSW Transport Minister Andrew Constance called the mass flight out of the area "the largest evacuation of people out of the region ever." Traffic jams were reported on the main highway out of Batemans Bay, with Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison urging people in need and those stuck in traffic to "be patient ... help will arrive."
Mallacoota fire
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Daniel Andrews, premier of Victoria, declared a "state of disaster" across large areas of the state.
"Under the provisions of the Emergency Management Act, I have declared a state of disaster for six local government areas and our Alpine resorts," Andrews said at a late-night media conference in Melbourne.
Navy ship reaches beach evacuees
Wildfires have been raging across Australia for months, killing at least 18 people. On Thursday, Premier Andrews said there were "significant fears" for another 17 people who remain missing after devastating fires in his state.
More than 4,000 people were stranded when they had to flee to the beach to take refuge from the fires. Tourists and residents alike spent two nights without electricity or telecommunications, until authorities declared some roads safe to use.
However, local officials have said that it could be days or weeks before all of the roads out of Mallacoota were cleared for use so that people can leave.
As the ship only has a capacity of 1,000, immediate evacuation won't be immediately possible for all of the people stranded in the small coastal town. There also remain rural communities that the vessel will not be able to reach.
Bushfires ravage Australia
Australia is grappling with its worst bushfire season to date. The nation has been forced to reckon with a rising death toll, mass evacuations and suffering animal populations.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/S. Davey
Widespread devastation
Massive bushfires have devastated Australia as the blazes continue to rage across the country. Since the start of one of the worst fire seasons on record, more than 2,500 homes have been burned, tens of thousands of people evacuated, and at least 29 killed. Here, a photographer reacts to seeing the burnt-out remains of a relative's home in Quaama, New South Wales.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/S. Davey
Area the size of South Korea razed
As of January 17, fires have burnt roughly 10 million hectares (25 million acres) of land, an area larger than South Korea or Portugal. More than 170 fires continue to burn in Victoria state and New South Wales. There were 82 fires burning across New South Wales, 30 uncontained, and several fires in Victoria, according to fire authorities.
Image: Imago/B. Xuefei
Battling the blazes
Firefighters protect homes around Charmhaven, New South Wales, on December 30. Wildfires burning across four Australian states that day destroyed hundreds of properties and caused multiple fatalities. A volunteer firefighter was killed and three others were injured after strong winds pushed a fire truck over.
Image: picture-allianceAP/Twitter@NSWRFS
Red skies
A person stands in protective gear as nearby bushfires turn the sky red in Mallacoota, Victoria. Thousands of people in the coastal region were told to evacuate over the New Year period, while the Country Fire Authority later issued an ominous warning to residents still in the area that it was "too late to leave." Some 4,000 people spent New Year's Eve on the beach to avoid the flames.
An air tanker drops fire retardant over the Gospers Mountain fire near Colo Heights, northwest of Sydney, Australia on November 15, 2019. The Gospers Mountain fire originated in the Wollemi National Park, and came close to merging with other major fires in the area. Fires have torn apart the Blue Mountains, a popular tourist area, burning more than 500,000 hectares of land.
Image: Reuters/AAP/D. Lewins
Quick escape
A burnt bicycle lies on the ground in front of a house destroyed by bushfires on the outskirts of the town of Bargo, near Sydney, on December 21, 2019. The town was hit with a catastrophic fire danger warning as fires turned several nearby homes to ashes. The New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian declared a state of emergency that same week.
Image: Getty Images/D. Gay
Toddler receives posthumous medal for firefighter father
Firefighters are among the 28 people who have lost their lives in the fires. Some were volunteers. Thirty-two-year-old Geoffrey Keaton, along with a colleague, died when a burnt tree fell in the path of their fire truck. Keaton's nineteen-month-old son Harvey was awarded one of the service's highest honors on behalf of his father on January 2.
Image: Reuters/NSW RURAL FIRE SERVICE
Animals caught in the flames
A kangaroo that survived the bushfire in Wollemi National Park in Sydney grazes for food in November 2019. The fires have not only sparked concern over human well-being, but have also created worries over the survival of endangered and vulnerable animals. The fires have killed more than a billion animals across eastern and southern Australia.
Image: Imago Images/AAP/J. Piper
Economic toll
The Insurance Council of Australia said on January 7 that the bushfires have caused at least US$485 million (€435 million) in damage and that number was likely to rise. Separately, authorities warned of looters in towns where people have evacuated and scammers taking advantage of fundraisers for relief efforts.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/S. Khan
Koala species threatened by fires
The bushfires have devastated Australia's koala population. In New South Wales state alone, officials estimate 30% of koala habitat - eucalpyt woodlands, which they use for both food and shelter - may have been lost. At least 45 koalas were being treated for burns at the Port Macquarie Koala Hospital.
Image: Reuters/AAP Image/D. Mariuz
Australians take to the streets
Thousands of people took to the streets on January 10 in Australia's major cities to rally against Prime Minister Scott Morrison's inaction on climate change and his handling of the ongoing bushfire crises. The nationwide rallies were organized by university students in Sydney, Canberra, Brisbane, Adelaide and Hobart.
Image: picture alliance/ZUMAPRESS
Smoke across oceans
Smoke from Australia drifted across the Pacific and reached South America, the UN World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said on January 7. On January 2, the EU Copernicus program recorded the highest concentrations of atmospheric carbon monoxide in the world over the "clean" South Pacific Ocean stemming from the fires in Australia.
Image: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
