Residents in the path of a monster fire burning in state forest north of Toowoomba in Queensland have been urged to flee as the blaze closes in on the town of Crows Nest.
The massive fire in the Pechey state forest has tripled in size forcing schools and businesses to close as firefighters struggle to contain the blaze.
Toowoomba Region Mayor Paul Antonio said the fire threat was at emergency level. A “leave immediately” has been issued as the fire approaches the southeastern side of Crows Nest.
Residents in the vicinity of Tin Mine Road, Three Mile Road (between Tin Mine Road and Dingo Road), Orchard Road, Pinnell Road, Grapetree Road and Perseverance Dam Road have been warned to evacuate.
“Conditions are now very dangerous and firefighters may soon be unable to prevent the fire advancing,” authorities warn.
The state’s bushfire crisis is now in its second week, with 80 fires burning across the state.
Wild storms and strong winds created challenging conditions for crews on Sunday but there was no loss of property overnight.
Parts of South Australia are also bracing for a day of potentially catastrophic fire conditions later this week, with the temperature in Adelaide expected to reach 42C on Wednesday, prompting total fire bans.
Water supplies restricted
The damage bill from Queensland’s bushfire crisis continues to mount, with water supply restricted to a major inland city after a blaze damaged the water supply network.
The fire in the Pechey state forest has damaged water supply to the city and a dozen surrounding smaller communities.
The damage to the water network meant residents were restricted to domestic water use only as the council worked to repair the network damage.
Fires burnt the powerlines connected to the city’s water network, including the Cressbrook Dam pump station, stopping water pumping from the region’s largest source of water. The network supplies water to surrounding towns.
Antonio said the council had asked residents to limit water consumption.
“This means no outdoor water use in the garden or washing cars or outdoor surfaces. It will be necessary to limit water consumption for indoor human use and water for pets,” Antonio said.
“Water supply will be maintained wherever possible to help with firefighting work.”
Meanwhile, insurers have declared a catastrophe after storms brought hail that pummelled southeast Queensland on Sunday, causing about $40m in damage.
Residents were mopping up on Monday after the widespread storms felled trees and large hailstones smashed car windscreens. They were also filing insurance claims, with more than 5,000 received by 3pm on Monday, the Insurance Council of Australia said.
The loss tally of $40 million is expected to rise in coming days as more claims are received. ICA head of risk and operations Karl Sullivan says about 3,000 of the claims are for vehicles.
Last week, the insurance council also declared a catastrophe for bushfires that have damaged or destroyed hundreds of properties in the mid-north coast of NSW, as well as around Yeppoon and the Sunshine Coast.
The ICA has opened a hotline for people to call and set up a task force to work with emergency services and government.
More than 158,000 hectares of land has been burnt and 16 homes have been lost.
On Moreton Island campers, including some schoolies, left isolated northern campgrounds after lightning started a fire on Saturday. The blaze was burning towards the township of Bulwer, with a leave now warning in place there as crews worked to steer the fire around the community.
Authorities were also watching a cluster of difficult blazes in the Border Ranges region, from Cunninghams Gap and Spicers Gap south to Mount Barney and Mount Lindsay. The other major fires at Cobraball, west of Yeppoon, and at Woodgate, south of Bundaberg, were mostly contained after a weekend of hard work by fire crews.
Waltisbuhl said firefighters were exhausted and the national battle for personnel was now being keenly felt.
“Across Australia, it’s getting really tough to move firefighters around because all the states are now in their fire seasons,” he said. “We’re really at a bit of a pinch point at the moment.”
He said about 120 interstate firefighters were still helping on fire grounds in Queensland.
‘Bad fire days’ ahead in NSW
This NSW bushfire season has already burnt through more land than any other in the past 25 years, the state’s Rural Fire Service said, as residents were warned to heed a “wake-up call” for difficult months ahead.
Six lives and 530 homes have been lost since the season hit some weeks ago and the state faces at least two “tough days” this week, with temperatures likely to rise into the 40s and little to no rainfall.
Some 1.6 million hectares of land have been lost – more land loss than the entire 1993-1994 season, the RFS deputy commissioner, Rob Rogers, said.
Firefighters were battling a fire front of some 6,000km, the equivalent distance of a return Sydney-Perth trip, Rogers said on Monday.
He said firefighters were “singularly focused” on preventing further loss of life and property, and warned people to stay alert.
“Even though it’s not a catastrophic danger [this week] it’s still going to be bad fire days,” Rogers told reporters in Sydney.
“Tuesday and Thursday are going to be tough days.”
The NSW premier, Gladys Berejiklian, said the past week was a reminder “the summer isn’t going to be pleasant in terms of the bushfire risk”.
The emergency services minister, David Elliott, said the biggest risk in the coming days would be firefighters becoming fatigued.
The minister revealed a DC10 air tanker had been drafted in from North America and would help drop up to 38,000 litres of water and retardant on blazes.
It brought the number of air tankers operating this season to five, up from three.
He also said efforts would be bolstered by help from New Zealand firefighters.
Three teenage boys have been arrested after a grassfire was allegedly lit in a south-west Sydney suburb over the weekend.
The trio, two aged 15 and one aged 16, were detained on Sunday evening in the Harrington Park area. Authorities had been alerted to a fire in the bush off the Northern Road at Harrington Park about 5.30pm by a passing motorist.
The fire was extinguished about 45 minutes later and the teenagers were taken to Narellan police station for questioning. All three are eligible to be dealt with under the Young Offender’s Act, police said.
As of Sunday night there were 54 fires across the state, 23 of which were uncontained, and some rainfall helped reduce fire activity, the RFS said.
A persistent 122,000-hectare fire at Gospers Mountain in the Hawkesbury region remained at “watch and act” level.
Extreme heat and wind coming to SA
Parts of South Australia are bracing for potentially catastrophic fire conditions, with several November temperature records this week under threat.
Strong and gusty winds combined with very dry and hot weather will result in dangerous conditions on Wednesday, the Bureau of Meteorology says.
“Wednesday’s forecast for Adelaide at this stage is 42C, just shy of West Terrace’s hottest November day in 1962 on November 30 of 42.7C,” acting supervising meteorologist Paul Lainio said on Monday.
“Across South Australia, temperatures on Wednesday will peak 8C-18C above average ahead of a cold front that’s accompanied with strong winds.
“Those towns that may break temperature records are in the south and west of the state and include Victor Harbor, Nuriootpa, Keith, Naracoorte, Murray Bridge and Robe and Lameroo.”
The conditions have prompted the Country Fire Service to declare total fire bans across the state on Tuesday.
CFS chief officer Mark Jones said the bans had been issued because firefighters would not be able to control a bushfire on Wednesday.
“Therefore we are putting restrictions on activities on Tuesday to minimise the risk of fires starting tomorrow which may not be fully extinguished by Wednesday,” he said.
“A rekindled burn off on Wednesday would create dangerous conditions for our firefighter so we are not prepared to put them or the community at unnecessary risk.”
A strong cold front is expected to move in from the west of the state on Thursday afternoon and evening before heading over the central and southern regions overnight.