Australia fires: thousands take refuge on beaches as deadly blazes rip through towns
- A volunteer firefighter died in New South Wales when a ‘fire tornado’ picked up an eight-tonne truck ‘and flipped it over’
- Four thousand people were trapped in the town of Mallacoota, where towering columns of smoke turned day to night
In seaside communities along a 200-kilometre strip of coast, terrified crowds – wrapped in blankets and wearing makeshift face masks – sought refuge from the inferno near the water.
Some with boats earlier took to the sea in near-darkness, hoping to find safety, as one of the worst days yet in Australia’s months-long bush fire crisis prompted a military deployment to help relief efforts.
Three people have died, five more are unaccounted for, and scores of properties were feared destroyed after a brutal 24 hours in which flames reached well-populated towns like Batemans Bay, normally bursting with visitors during Australia’s summer holidays.
“We’ve got literally hundreds, thousands of people up and down the coast, taking refuge on the beaches” and in surf clubs, said Shane Fitzsimmons, commissioner of the New South Wales Rural Fire Service.
“The roads are closed going west. The roads are closed going south. The roads are closed going north,” he said, but added that a cool front had swept across the coast, “considerably” moderating many fires.