Three homes destroyed by bushfire as Aussies warned to prepare for 'horror' summer
Three homes have been lost and a person is in hospital following yesterday's bushfire on the NSW South Coast, sparking a warning from Premier Chris Minns to prepare for a horror fire season.
NSW Rural Fire Service Commissioner Rob Rogers confirmed this afternoon that three homes were destroyed by the blaze near Bermagui in the Bega Valley – an area that was devastated by the 2019-20 Black Summer bushfires.
"It could have been so much worse," Rogers said, adding that, for the rest of NSW, "the fire season is absolutely here and we need to take this seriously".
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Three homes were destroyed by last night's bushfire on the NSW South Coast. Nine
For the latest emergency information and warnings related to bushfires, you can visit the NSW RFS website.
Rogers said one person is in hospital after being struck by a falling tree branch. Their injuries are not believed to be life-threatening.
Minns echoed Rogers' warning about this summer's fire season.
"Be prepared for a horror summer," he said.
"We are one week into October and we are experiencing mid-summer conditions. Multiple days above 30 degrees, high winds – bushfires love this environment and it's devastating for regional communities."
The premier said 800 firefighters and other emergency services worked overnight to battle the blaze, which spread 15 kilometres in a matter of hours.
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Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and NSW Premier Chris Minns meet with the RFS commissioner and other officials in Bega following the fire. Alex Ellinghausen/SMH
"There were 800 firefighters and emergency service workers that worked through the night to battle this bushfire to save regional communities on the South Coast," Minns said.
"We owe them a lot. A lot of the firefighters who backed up last night and pulled a 24-hour shift were the same people who had to go through the 2019-2020 bushfires," Minns said.
"It shows their commitment to this community and the state owes them a hell of a lot."
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800 firefighters and other workers were deployed to battle the fire overnight. 9News
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese praised the community for its preparedness for the fire and said the federal government would make available "whatever resources are required" to battle blazes over the summer.
"We had conditions of grass with wind and heat that made this fire move very quickly," he said.
"Some of the areas it moved through were areas that burnt in 2019 and 2020, but what I saw inside was people who are prepared, people who are certainly on top of the tasks that they have, who are determined to make a difference for this local community."
At 5pm today, 59 fires were burning across the state, all of which at advice level but 26 yet to be contained.
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The Bega Valley region was hit particularly hard by the Black Summer bushfires four years ago. Nine
The Bega Valley blaze was burning out of control early in the morning after a southerly change moved through the fireground overnight, but has since been controlled by firefighters.
Footage from Kearsley in the Hunter region showed flames still leaping up in the bush.
A second fire in Cessnock was contained by firefighters overnight, who managed to save a string of homes near the blaze.
Forecasters are expecting hot and dry conditions tomorrow but there won't be a repeat of today's total fire ban, according to the RFS.
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