Army Reserves rolled out as Victoria braces for rising fire toll

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Fires turn Mallacoota skies to dark red. CREDIT :JUSTIN MCMANUS

The biggest-ever Australian military deployment for a natural disaster will be rolled out in coming days as fire-ravaged Victoria braces for a rising death toll and further property loss as conditions worsen.

Authorities were warning on Saturday night that some of the roughly 40 fires in the state could burn for another two months, as Defence Force personnel made desperate attempts to rescue hundreds of people trapped in isolated communities in Victoria’s east and north-east.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Saturday authorised the deployment of up to 3000 defence reservists across three states to help with fire preparation and recovery efforts.

On Saturday, Defence helicopters evacuated 50 people from Omeo in Victoria’s high country, where several fires combined to pose a new threat. About 350 people are still stranded in the town of Mallacoota, waiting to be evacuated.

In hot, windy conditions 73 new fires started between Friday night and Saturday night, with about 40 fires still burning across the state late on Saturday. More than 20 of those are in the East Gippsland region.

More than 900,000 hectares have been burnt across the state.

Premier Daniel Andrews said "grave fears" are held for six people who remain missing in Victoria but said it was positive that the figure had been revised down from 21.

"We are by no means out of this," Mr Andrews said.

"Townships will continue to be under threat. Lives can be lost if people don't follow the instructions they're given.

"Properties have been lost. And more, potentially, will be lost overnight."

Two people have been confirmed dead in Victoria, but emergency services warned they still had not been able to get into some devastated areas in remote parts of East Gippsland.

HMAS Choules arrives at Hastings CREDIT: IAN CURRIE

A wind change late on Saturday afternoon fuelled worsening conditions across the Alpine region and the state's north-east, prompting fresh warnings.

The Navy’s largest amphibious ship, HMAS Adelaide, set sail from Sydney on Saturday to join the fleet supporting fire efforts.

The helicopter-equipped ship will join other Navy vessels already assisting in evacuations from fire-ravaged areas, stationed off the coast along the NSW-Victorian border with up to 400 crew including medical staff and loaded with 300 tonnes of medical supplies.

Mr Morrison also announced an additional $20 million to lease four more fire-fighting aircraft, available within the next two weeks, to assist state forces over the long fire season ahead in Victoria.

The government has secured two long-range fixed wing DC-10s with 36,000 litres capacity and two medium-range fixed-wing Large Air Tankers with 11,000 litre capacity.

Mr Morrison said operational costs of water bombing aircraft will be shared with states and territories as they use the aircraft.

An additional three Chinook helicopters will support evacuation and transport tasks out of the East Sale RAAF base, along with a C-17 Globemaster and two C-130J Hercules.

“Today's decision puts more boots on the ground, puts more planes in the sky, puts more ships at sea, and puts more trucks to roll into support affected communities,” Mr Morrison said in Canberra.

He said the federal government's “posture” had shifted from reactive to proactive - moving from responding to assistance requests from states to actively leading elements of bushfire efforts.

“There is still a very long way to go and there are clearly communities that need additional help,” he said.

“The priority of this deployment is to assist in ensuring the safety of life, to support the evacuation of affected people, particularly in isolated communities and to provide assistance to isolated communities and support state-managed evacuation centres.”

Emergency Management Commissioner Andrew Crisp said there have so far been about 110 property losses but warned there are "many, many communities" authorities have not been able to enter.

“The message still is that even though the change has gone through, it is still hot up in the north,” Mr Crisp said.

“We've got so much fire out there at the moment ... but a lot of these fires are now terrain driven.

"They will slowly creep down the hill or down the mountain and they will just pick up a bit of pace and that is how they will slowly move."

Almost 1000 people from Mallacoota arrived at Hastings on HMAS Choules on Saturday evening after a near 20-hour trip along the coast while a a second evacuation by sea of those still in the eastern coastal town will take place on Sunday.

About 350 people in Mallacoota are still waiting to be evacuated. Defence will attempt to get them out of the town on Sunday.

More than 20 fires continued to burn across East Gippsland alone on Saturday evening, threatening remote communities including Anglers Rest, Swift Creek and Omeo after a cool change brought a dangerous wind.

East Gippsland CFA incident controller, Andy Gillham, told reporters in Bairnsdale it was an “extremely difficult day” for communities.

"We don't know what the impacts have been," Mr Gillham said. "We suspect there have been a number of homes lost today."

https://www.theage.com.au/national/...ces-for-rising-fire-toll-20200104-p53ouk.html