Some residents say text alerts never arrived as firefighters describe ‘erratic, difficult’ blaze that destroyed 70 houses

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

The New South Wales government has defended warnings to the residents of Tathra before the devastating fire that tore through the far south coast, displacing hundreds of residents and destroying about 100 buildings.

Firefighters saved about 398 homes from the fast-moving, erratic fire that hit the small seaside village and the Bega valley on Sunday afternoon.

The fire destroyed about 69 houses, 30 caravans or cabins, and damaged 39 houses. It was the product of a “perfect storm”, according to the Rural Fire Service, fuelled by hot conditions, strong winds, low humidity and extremely dry bush.

Tathra residents reel as bushfire engulfs homes: ‘I grabbed the dog, some photos, and we got out’ Read more

Hundreds of residents had evacuated to the nearby Bega showgrounds, and had still not been let back into Tathra on Monday night. That left many, like Sharon Stevens, fearing for their homes or businesses.

“It is a very disorientating, surreal day,” Stevens told Guardian Australia. “To realise your small, cohesive community was not impenetrable by fire, even though surrounded by bush, is a shock.”



The prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, activated the national disaster emergency relief scheme on Monday after visiting the devastating scene.

“That means that there will be support available, immediate support for those suffering from personal hardship,” he said. “There will also be ongoing support for those who have lost their home and content and support for any public infrastructure that has been damaged.”



Facebook Twitter Pinterest Gladys Berejiklian at Tathra on Monday. Photograph: Carly Earl/The Guardian

Some locals, however, were left unaware of the danger after failing to receive text messages through the automated phone alert system used by NSW emergency services.

Tathra’s phone reception is notoriously bad, even on normal days. Some residents reported only being warned by a knock on the door from firefighters or police.

Turnbull said the government would “look into” any problems with the system.

The director general of Emergency Management Australia, Mark Crosweller, said he would work closely with the NSW Rural Fire Service to ensure “protocols, processes were in place, technology was up and running”.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Tathra on Monday, as mop-up operations continued. Photograph: Carly Earl/The Guardian

“This was an incredibly fast-moving fire – erratic, difficult wind conditions, difficult conditions on the fire ground,” Crosweller said. “My sense is the warnings came out in a timely way, but it’s a very, very confused operational environment.”

Gladys Berejiklian, the NSW premier, said she was confident the systems had worked as they should. She also visited the fire ground on Monday afternoon.

“I’m confident that every effort was made to tell people at the right time,” she said.

The RFS commissioner, Shane Fitzsimmons, said the fire was complicated not only by the fast-moving fire front, but also a storm of embers. Fitzsimmons, speaking to Guardian Australia while touring the scene, said Tathra had been “raining embers” on Sunday afternoon. He said it was a wonder that no one was seriously injured or killed.

“A lot of these coastal villages and towns, a lot of them are one road in, one or two roads in or out. Once the fire is impacting you’ve got to be really careful if you can even get out of towns like this,” he said. “It ran so quickly it went seven or eight kilometres just in a couple of hours, it really went very fast.”

“Not only did you have the main fire front, but you had these ember storms. The village of Tathra was raining embers.”

The damaging bushfire, coming in early autumn, has been linked with the worsening affects of climate change.

David Bowman, a professor of environmental change biology, said analysis of recent events showed fire seasons were longer, globally.



“Joining the dots, this is consistent with climate change,” he said on Monday. “This is the new normal now – we need to get our heads around this.

“This has some really significant implications for people living in flammable environments because it means you can’t put your guard down.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Some of the more than 70 houses and businesses destroyed by fire. Photograph: Carly Earl/The Guardian

Earlier on Monday, the Australian Greens leader, Richard Di Natale, said the federal government had been slowing the transition to renewable energy “and Australians are bearing the brunt of their failure”.

“We are seeing climate change in our everyday lives have an impact on the risk of bushfires to our communities,” Di Natale told parliament.

That provoked an angry response from Turnbull, who said he was “disappointed that the Greens would try to politicise an event like this”.

“I mean this has been shocking destruction of property, as we’ve just said,” Turnbull said. “Thank heaven there have been no lives lost, but that’s a great tribute to the community, to the firefighters, to all of that preparation and resilience.”



“But this is not the time to politicise a disaster like this.”