Social media claims of an arson epidemic and obstructive environmentalists have infected mainstream reporting of the bushfire crisis
Lies have spread faster than grassfire during Australia’s unprecedented national emergency.
They’ve ranged from the exaggerated to the outrageous.
Continue reading...A magnitude 6.0 earthquake shook Puerto Rico on Saturday, causing further damage on the island’s southern coast, where recent quakes have toppled homes and schools.
The US Geological Survey said the 8.54am quake hit eight miles south of Indios at a shallow depth of six miles.
Continue reading...This liveblog is now closed
We will leave our coverage of the ongoing bushfire crisis here for the night. A mercifully quiet day on firegrounds across the country.
Here is where things stand:
We have a bit more information about the man who was burned while defending his property near Tumbarumba in New South Wales yesterday.
The man was an RFS volunteer, but he was not engaged in RFS work yesterday. Instead, Guardian Australia understands, he was driving a quad bike around his own property defending against spot fires when he received burns to his leg.
Continue reading...This blog is now closed. Our live coverage will continue tomorrow morning
We are wrapping up the live blog now, but we will be back at 7am AEDT for the latest on the fires.
As of 9pm, this is what we know.
There’s now what media (but not RFS) refer to as a megablaze in the Kosciuszko national park with three fires at emergency level in that area of southern NSW, just near the Victorian border.
There’s also concern that a fire at watch-and-act level in Faulconbridge in the Blue Mountains could worsen around midnight once the southerly reaches there. People in the Wentworth Falls and Leura areas are being advised to stay alert.
Alpine areas of Victoria and NSW among those most under threat, while climate protesters take to the streets in major cities
Thousands of climate protesters flooded the streets of Australian state capitals on Friday night as fire authorities warned of another dangerous night ahead in four states.
Firefighters in New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia continued to battle fires, with gusty winds expected to create hazardous firefighting conditions late into the night.
Continue reading...East Gippsland and Victoria’s north-east told to evacuate as NSW braces for heatwave and firefighters battle Kangaroo Island blaze
Residents in large areas of Victoria have again been advised to leave their homes before a day of “extreme” fire conditions throughout south-eastern Australia that could see the merging of at least two major fires.
At least 5% of Victoria has already burned. Authorities sent a text message to East Gippsland and the north-east region on Thursday advising people within the at-risk area, which extends from the New South Wales border to the coast, to evacuate before “heat spike” conditions on Friday.
Continue reading...Homes collapsed, power was knocked out and at least one person died after Tuesday’s 6.4-magnitude quake and powerful aftershocks. The south of the island was worst hit
Continue reading...Fires will cripple consumer confidence and harm industries such as farming and tourism, Moody’s says
The economic damage from the bushfires devastating Australia’s eastern seaboard is likely to exceed the record $4.4bn set by 2009’s Black Saturday blazes, Moody’s Analytics has said.
The Moody’s economist Katrina Ell said the fires would further cripple Australia’s already anaemic consumer confidence, increasing the chances of a rate cut next month, as well as causing damage to the economy through increased air pollution and direct harm to industries such as farming and tourism.
Continue reading...The impact of smoke on New Zealand’s environment, health and tourism raises the legal issue of trans-boundary air pollution
Kiwis have been shocked in recent weeks to discover their pristine glaciers turning pink, with apocalyptic orange skies covering New Zealand’s biggest city, Auckland. So much so that police have been deluged with emergency calls asking what is going on, as the land of the long white cloud is turning pink (kikorangi māwhero).
The catastrophic bushfires in Australia have also affected New Zealand. Because of the impact of trans-boundary air pollution (and its effects on other countries), there are legal implications to be considered.
Continue reading...Island rocked by hundreds of earthquakes in recent weeks, killing at least one person and prompting power and water outages
Puerto Rico’s governor, Wanda Vázquez, declared a state of emergency and activated the national guard on Tuesday after a series of earthquakes including one of magnitude 6.4 that was the most powerful to strike the Caribbean island in 102 years.
The quakes killed at least one person, provoked a protective power outage across the entire island and cut off drinking water to 300,000 customers, Vázquez told a news conference.
Continue reading...Stephanie Kelton says Australia could ‘absolutely’ benefit from a program similar to the Green New Deal
Australia’s unprecedented bushfires are a wake-up call to the world about the importance of tackling climate change, Bernie Sanders’ economic adviser said, and the country should consider implementing a green new deal to transition to a low carbon economy.
Stephanie Kelton said Australia could benefit from an ambitious program of spending, similar to the one proposed by Sanders and others that aims to transform the US economy and help keep global heating below 1.5C.
Continue reading...Rain falls on some NSW, Victorian and South Australian bushfire-affected areas, but worse fire conditions are forecast to return. Follow all today’s latest news and live updates
Andrew Crisp:
Speaking with the incident controller here at Bairnsdale a short time ago, some of our concern is the fires up in the alpine area, around Omeo, and the potential for them to travel south with the northerly and join the fires down in this part of the world.
We saw, only a few days ago, where there were more than 300 people on the oval at Omeo where some helicopters were there to take people out.
The Victorian emergency commissioner, Andrew Crisp, has an update:
There are three communities we haven’t been able to drive in. When I say ‘drive’ even with those other communities it is basically bushtracks and emergency vehicles to get in, it is where there is no real road access.
We’ve been able to get helicopters and sat phones in to make sure people have supplies.
Greatest concerns for endangered Kangaroo Island dunnart and glossy black-cockatoo after third of island burned
Ecologists have grave concerns for the future of unique and endangered wildlife on Kangaroo Island where bushfires have killed thousands of koalas.
Fires on the island, in South Australia, have so far burned through 155,000 hectares – about one third of the island’s entire area – with blazes concentrated in the biodiversity-rich western areas.
Continue reading...In Good Morning Britain appearance Australian Liberal MP accuses other politicians of trying to exploit tragedy
The Conservative Liberal MP Craig Kelly – a renowned critic of climate change action – has sparked a storm of controversy and been lambasted as a “denier” and “disgraceful” after telling UK television that there was no link between climate change and Australia’s bushfire crisis.
In a combative television interview with the conservative British commentator Piers Morgan and the meteorologist Laura Tobin, Kelly defended his view that climate change was not driving the bushfire crisis that has so far claimed 25 lives and almost 2,000 homes.
Continue reading...The summer has seen another cyclone in Fiji and terrible fires in Australia. We don’t need to be scientists to know that something is very wrong here
As the world rang in a new year, for Oceania, the images that marked the beginning of the decade weren’t ones of champagne and fireworks. Instead we were left with photos and headlines that merit not celebration, but mourning.
The skies of Sydney were stained an eerie blood-red by apocalyptic bushfires, as desperate Australians gathered by the ocean, waiting to be rescued by boat – conditions that threaten to worsen still. Glaciers in New Zealand were covered by a brown dusting of ash that had travelled thousands of kilometres across the Pacific. And in Fiji, we were left reeling by rushing floodwaters and howling, gale-force winds.
Continue reading...People in Cobargo, New South Wales, left numb by devastation wrought on their homes by fires
The joey rescued from his mother’s pouch after the bushfires that tore through the village of Cobargo on the south coast of New South Wales last week has no name yet, but Kyle Moser is leaning towards “Ali”. “Like the fighter,” he explained.
In a room at the back of the Cobargo post office, Moser and his partner, David Wilson, are caring for the kangaroo soon to be known as Ali and two wallaby joeys. Next door is the remains of a burnt-out cafe. Across the road are the charred ruins of what used to be a leather shop, a yoga studio and an incense shop.
Continue reading...Jacinda Ardern says country ready to repay Australia for its help through a tough 2019 as Papua New Guinea and Vanuatu offer money and troops
Australia’s neighbouring countries, including New Zealand, Vanuatu and Papua New Guinea, have offered support as the country continues to fight massive bushfires burning in New South Wales and Victoria.
Members of the New Zealand military are en route to Australia to assist with the efforts, adding to the 157 New Zealand firefighters already deployed in Australia, some of whom have been assisting their Australian colleagues since October.
Continue reading...Days of limbo wear down NSW-Victoria communities displaced by blazes ripping through swaths of east coast
Shelley Caban just wants it to be over.
“Sometimes I think, ‘Fuck it, just burn it all, the house and everything,’” she says. “It’s the waiting and the limbo, you just feel like anything has to be better.”
Continue reading...NSW RFS commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons says he was frustrated to learn of ADF deployment from the media. Follow all today’s live news and latest updates
The situation is deteriorating in Eden on the Far South Coast. A bushfire moved quickly up from the NSW-Victorian border last night, as the southerly change moved up the coast and turned fires northward. The fire, dubbed the “border fire”, burnt last night from the Victorian border to Victorian Border to the southern shores of Twofold Bay.
It has already affected the areas of Wonboyn, Kiah, Narrabarba and surrounds. Properties have been damaged in the area and building impact assessment teams will be deployed to assess the destruction.
The border fire is now threatening the town of Eden. An update posted on the Bega Valley Shire Council’s website a short while ago warned Eden residents, including those in Snug Cove Wharf, to leave now and head to Merimbula or Bega. Authorities were still attempting to define the fire line near Eden.
NORTHERN TERRITORY
* No current bushfires
Continue reading...Scott Morrison has called up ADF reservists to help in the bushfire crisis. Two people have died in SA fires on Kangaroo Island, as New South Wales and Victoria face more horrendous conditions. Follow live news and latest updates
• Kangaroo Island fires: two people killed in ‘virtually unstoppable’ bushfire
• How you can donate and help the volunteer firefighters
We mentioned a little earlier *that* party political ad put out by Scott Morrison’s office spruiking their response to the bushfires. The reaction to the video has been, er, less than positive. The Australia Defence Association, a non-partisan defence watchdog and think tank, says the video’s use of military personnel is a clear breach of non-partisanship conventions that restrict the use of the ADF in party political advertisements.
1) Party-political advertising milking ADF support to civil agencies fighting bushfires is a clear breach of the (reciprocal) non-partisanship convention applying to both the ADF & Ministers/MPs. 2) Also cliche-ridden. 3) Its "defence force", not "Defence Force". #auspol #ausdef https://t.co/RlepHHbIx9
Wow. A self-promotional commercial with cheesy elevator music? This is one of the most tone-deaf things I’ve ever seen a country’s leader put out during a crisis. Shameless & shameful. https://t.co/ISgYEtlsb7
We are getting reports that people are being moved from evacuation centres in Eden, on NSW’s far south coast, towards Merimbula. Fires burning just north of the Victorian border, including the Poole Road fire, are spreading quickly and emergency warnings have been issued. The southerly change is generally moving those fires on the NSW-Victorian border to the north.
#firesNSW The message came through on local ABC there are buses evacuating 300 people and people have been told to evacuate to Merimbula from Eden.
Crazy day at Eden severe N westerly hit Eden this afternoon. Left the house as prepared as it could be and went to Eden evac centre. Ash and smoke severe and it was dark by 6pm. Settling in there then at 8 pm they ordered us to Merimbula as precaution.
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