Australia fires: ‘Worst yet to come’ as thousands flee coastal areas and state of emergency declared

Conditions on Australia’s eastern coast are going to get worse than they were on New Year’s Eve, warned officials as military personnel began evacuating people trapped on the south coast.

Thousands of tourists have fled the fire-stricken eastern coast and the New South Wales Rural Fire Service (NSW RFS) have announced several “leave zones” for residents and tourists.

Since Tuesday, cooler weather has given firefighters and other affected people some respite, allowing supplies to be replenished.

But fire conditions are expected to deteriorate on Saturday as temperatures above 40C and strong winds return.

NSW RFS Deputy Commissioner Rob Rogers said: “There is every potential that the conditions on Saturday will be as bad or worse than we saw (on Tuesday).

On New Year’s Eve, thousands of people left their homes in the coastal town of Mallacoota as more than 200 wildfires tore through the state of Victoria and camped out on the beach.

Food, water, fuel and medical expertise were being delivered and about 500 people were going to be evacuated from the town by a naval ship.

Victoria Premier Daniel Andrews told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation: “We think around 3,000 tourists and 1,000 locals are there. Not all of those will want to leave, not all can get on the vessel at one time.”

According to The Age, the naval vessel HMAS Choules has a 1,000-person capacity and is due to depart Mallacoota on Friday afternoon.

Commander Scott Houlihan said the only way to leave the area was by boat, as closed highways and smoke conditions make road and air travel extremely limited.

“We are conscious of the health impacts of remaining in a high-smoke environment for extended periods of time, especially for vulnerable persons.

“This is why we’ve already commenced relocation of vulnerable persons out of Mallacoota. In addition to Mallacoota, we have a number of communities isolated across East Gippsland which we will need to also assist over the coming days.”

At least eight people have died and 381 homes were destroyed in New South Wales and Victoria this week. Seventeen people are missing in the district of East Gippsland in Victoria, where authorities have advised people to leave and stay out of before the weekend.

New South Wales authorities ordered tourists on Thursday morning to leave a 250-kilometre zone along the south coast, with State Transport Minister Andrew Constance calling it the “largest mass relocation of people out of the region that we’ve ever seen”.

A total fire ban has been put in place for the entire state of New South Wales for Friday and Saturday, and state authorities declared a state of emergency to brace for a dangerous weekend ahead.

State Premier Gladys Berejiklian said the state of emergency will begin at 08:00 on Friday morning. She said: "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."

The raging bushfires have created a plume of smoke wider than Europe and 14 times the size of Japan, which has started drifting over the Pacific Ocean towards New Zealand.

The early start to Australia’s summer wildfires, with three months of summer left to go, has devastated large swathes of the country and led authorities to rate this season as the worst on record.

About 5 million hectares (12.35 million acres) of land have burned.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison told reporters on Thursday: “The fires] will continue to go on until we can get some decent rain that can deal with some of the fires that have been burning for many, many months.”

Additional reporting by agencies