"If you are vacationing on the south coast, you have to leave the area before Saturday. If you want to visit the south coast this weekend: you are not safe. Do not stay in the area on Saturday."
Fire department of the Australian state of New South Wales
The south east coast of Australia boasts the whitest beaches in the world. The area is one of the most popular travel destinations for Australians and tourists from other countries during the Christmas holidays, tens of thousands of people then come to the small coastal towns. Blue sky, bright sunshine, turquoise water, lush green scrubland. That's how it usually looks there. But this summer is not normal.
The beach is littered with black ashes and dead birds, the sky is smoke-covered and gray, the sun appears as a red fireball. The water is full of ash particles, the scrubland is either dry brown or charred black.
This summer is the hottest and driest that Australia has experienced since the start of weather recording. This - in connection with strong winds - has led to a devastating fire season: This time it started unusually early and reached a provisional low on New Year's Eve.
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Currarong Beach in late December: ashes on the beach, ashes in the sea
I have been living and working in Australia for several years, am married to an Australian. For 36 years, my parents-in-law in Sydney have been packing their caravans after Christmas and driving about 200 kilometers south to Jervis Bay. This year they had to break with this tradition for the second time: The Greenpatch campsite is located in a national park and it was closed due to the risk of fire. Without further ado, they booked a holiday home for themselves, their three sons and their wives in the nearby coastal town of Currarong, outside the immediate danger zone. The house was only vacant because the original guests canceled their booking at short notice out of concern for the fire. We wanted to spend seven relaxing days there. But this plan also failed.
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The Australian brush fire season started in October 2019, and Sydney has also been covered in thick smoke over the past few months, and people have long since grown used to the sight of passers-by wearing breathing masks. But the intensity increased again on the south-east coast: on December 31, at 3 p.m., it got so dark that the street lights started automatically. With the little rain, some leaf-sized flakes of ash fell from the sky. Within minutes, houses, cars, and sidewalks were covered with a black layer.
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We spent the evening in the house, the fireworks in the area, unlike those in Sydney, were canceled. At midnight, friends sent the first "Happy New Year" SMS, always with the addition: "I hope you are safe."
The next few days hardly got any better. On trips outside, my mother-in-law handed us breathing masks. We woke up at night because the window was open and the room was so smoky that it was difficult to breathe. The number one topic at the dinner table was how the fires and the winds develop. In addition, there were warning SMS messages from the fire brigade to the people in the region: "Seek protection from the approaching fire."
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The sky over Currarong around 3pm on December 31st
We were still the lucky ones. Currarong was not immediately threatened by flames. Around 400 kilometers south in Mallacoota, thousands of residents and tourists had to take refuge on the beach, where they could see the fires. The Navy brought the first people to safety on Friday.
A friend called us worried because she hadn't been able to reach her sister for two days: she was stuck in Manyana, the streets were closed, the telephone lines had broken down, and the power had gone out. Another friend reported in tears about the house that her mother had built in Rosedale in the 1960s and which was now in ruins.
According to the fire department, 449 houses have been destroyed in New South Wales (NSW) alone last Monday. At least ten people died there and in the neighboring state of Victoria in the same period, dozens are still missing. And the authorities warn that things could get worse on Saturday. "There will be dangerous conditions. As bad or worse than on New Year's Eve," said the fire department in NSW.
Leave Zone - Shoalhaven
Widespread extreme Fire Danger forecast for Shoalhaven Sat 4 Jan 2020. If you're holidaying in areas identified on the map, you need to leave before Saturday. Residents should be aware & prepare. For road closure info @LiveTrafficNSW #nswrfs #nswfires pic.twitter.com/rmDW7tZlnp
There are currently 127 fires raging in the state. His people are unable to extinguish the fires or even bring them under control, NSW's Vice Fire Chief Rob Rodgers told ABC: "We have so many fires in this region that we don't have the capacity have to contain them. "
On Thursday, authorities in New South Wales announced a seven-day state of emergency to help workers, such as evacuations and road closures. In Victoria, the prime minister declared a state of emergency for some areas for the first time in the history of the state. Disaster Minister Lisa Neville appealed to the people there: "You should go to save your life. If you don't, we'll send the police over to understand this message."
Australian Prime Minister is insulted: "Never come back!"
REUTERS
The authorities have given people in the coastal area 48 hours to leave the area. The residents and tourists are said to have left the regions most at risk by Saturday: it is one of the largest evacuation operations in the history of Australia.
Tens of thousands of people have been fleeing since Thursday, they are leaving the south-east coast to the north or west, including us. We canceled the holiday when it was clear that Currarong also belongs to the evacuation area. Now we are back in Sydney and are anxiously waiting for Saturday. NSW Transport Minister Andrew Constance warned in the "Sydney Morning Herald" that it would be like a "blast furnace".
Video: "We had no petrol, no electricity, no telephone reception"
REUTERS
The good news is: According to the experts, the fire risk should subside afterwards. The bad news: Summer in Australia is far from over.