Seven people unaccounted for, as fuller picture emerges of the devastation

This article is more than 10 months old

This article is more than 10 months old

At least 100 homes have been destroyed in the New South Wales bushfires, with two people dead and seven unaccounted for.

More than 35 people were injured, including 16 firefighters, and 81 fires were still burning throughout the state as of Saturday afternoon.

The New South Wales premier, Gladys Berejiklian, warned the death toll could rise.

“I’m sorry to say that number could increase during the day,” she said.

The first person’s body found was in a burnt-out car in the Kangawalla fire, near Glen Innes. The second death was of a woman found at the same fire last night, unconscious and with burns to 40%-50% of her body. Despite CPR from fire and ambulance crews and treatment in hospital, she died on Saturday morning.

The seven people missing are also from the same Glen Innes fire.

On Saturday afternoon, NSW Rural Fire Service spokesman Greg Allan said there were 81 bush and grass fires across the state. Queensland Fire and Emergency Services was also warning residents of the Sunshine Coast that a “large fast-moving” bushfire that may threaten lives is approaching homes in Cooroibah and Ringtail Creek.

The Australian prime minister, Scott Morrison, said defence personnel were ready to help firefighters battle the bushfires.

Conditions had eased somewhat overnight across NSW, with the number of fires at emergency warning level down from 17 to nine, but a fuller picture of the devastation had yet to emerge.

The RFS said the threat had not passed and a forecast wind change would bring with it strong winds.

“We are still seeing erratic and dangerous fire behaviour across the remainder of fire grounds, which continues to pose a threat to homes,” the RFS said.

In Queensland, evacuation notices were issued overnight for Lower Beechmont in the Gold Coast hinterland, Noosa North and Thornton, west of Brisbane.

NSW acting police commissioner Dean Smith confirmed there were people unaccounted for at Rappville, near Casino in northern NSW, but said the widespread nature of the fire and difficulty of access on rural roads had made it hard for authorities to confidently account for everyone.

The Rural Fire Service said in a tweet late on Friday that many people had called for help, but the size and speed of the fires meant they could not get to everyone.

NSW RFS (@NSWRFS) Today has been a difficult and dangerous day. Unfortunately, many people have called for help but due to the size and speed of the fires we couldn't get to everyone, even by road or helicopter. If you've been affected or know someone who has, use https://t.co/RRGUiVbZwR #nswrfs

Aerial footage showed “widespread” property damage and destruction as more than 80 fires burned at midnight on Friday night.

Emergency warnings have been issued from the Blue Mountains to the Queensland border.

Mid-coast mayor David West, who lives in Brimbin, said that he had never seen anything like the fire in his area.

“I’m looking at a sky that’s screaming danger, that’s saying ‘get out of my way, I’m going to kill you’,” he said on Friday night. “I know that sounds melodramatic but it’s not. This is a fire that’s devouring everything in its path.”

NSW RFS (@NSWRFS) This shows the dangerous conditions that have confronted firefighters and residents today. This is the crew from Warringah HQ at the Hillville fire near Taree. #nswrfs #nswfires pic.twitter.com/lIhnF8P1Qf

It is believed two homes were damaged or destroyed in the fire burning at Stockyard Flat near Walcha.

On Friday, more than 100 blazes burned across coastal New South Wales and Queensland.

Communities on NSW’s mid-north coast and the far north coast faced the worst of the conditions, which were described by authorities as “uncharted territory” and which led to a dramatic, orange-red glow descending on the fire-threatened city of Port Macquarie.

Play Video 1:03 More than 100 bushfires rage across Australia's east coast - video

“We have never seen this many fires concurrently at emergency warning level,” the NSW Rural Fire Service (NSW RFS) commissioner, Shane Fitzsimmons, told the ABC. “We are in uncharted territory.”

On Friday afternoon the RFS said some of the fires were so intense they were creating their own weather conditions.

By Friday evening, authorities confirmed the destruction of at least two homes on NSW’s far north coast region but that number was expected to rise significantly as residents returned to inspect their properties. Minor injuries were reported to fire fighters and residents, Fitzsimmons said.

The ABC reported that fire crews were responding to calls from residents trapped in their homes. A spokesman told the Guardian it was too late for residents to leave in some locations, and that authorities could no longer guarantee crews could reach all homes.

Fitzsimmons said aerial footage showed “widespread property damage and destruction, right across multiple fire grounds”.

Play Video 0:42 Orange glow engulfs Port Macquarie – video

In Port Macquarie, a city of 45,000 people on the NSW mid north coast, a red haze that engulfed the area was described as “apocalyptic”. As fire fighters battled hot and windy conditions, locals in some pockets of the town were evacuated, while sections of the Pacific Highway and some schools were closed.

Residents in Tenterfield, Armidale, Clarence Valley, Port Macquarie, Nambucca, Kempsey and other mid-coast areas were warned that their lives were at risk and urged to take action to protect themselves.

In Queensland, two emergency warnings were declared and fires threatened small communities in Scenic Rim, about 80km west of Brisbane, and at Tewantin and Cooroibah on the Sunshine Coast.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Fires rage around Port Macquarie on Friday. Photograph: Twitter@SteveMolk

Authorities said they would evacuate hundreds of residents in parts of Tewantin, a suburb of the popular holiday spot Noosa, and said they would look to clear the entire town if the threat escalated.

Earlier on Friday, Fitzsimmons said bush and grass fires were burning through about 370,000 hectares of land in New South Wales. That was more than the entire land area burned last year.

The fire danger should lessen over the weekend, although threat levels were forecast to rise again on Tuesday or Wednesday next week, Fitzsimmons said.

Western Australians were also warned that significant bushfires were likely at the weekend as forecasters predicted the mercury would hit 40C on Saturday.

On Friday, WA’s Department of Fire and Emergency Services downgraded a bushfire that ravaged through 400 hectares of land north of Perth that morning.

But they warned the out-of-control fire still posed a possible threat to lives and homes.