Pierces Creek blaze moving towards southern suburbs as firefighters 'educate' residents
The 135-hectare blaze is 7 kilometres from the closest suburbs and remains at a "watch and act" alert, with suburban residents told to enact their bushfire plans.
In the afternoon, firefighters started going door to door along the urban fringe from Kambah to Gordon in an "education activity" designed to remind residents what the alert levels meant and what they should be doing to prepare.
The Emergency Services Agency (ESA) targeted 400 to 700 homes that remained on standby, with no official evacuations ordered yet and no threat to property.
Galilee School in Kambah was evacuated earlier, but all other ACT schools were running as normal.
More than 20 ACT fire crews were involved in the fight, along with six water-bombing aircraft.
New South Wales firefighters were also put on standby to help out but were eventually sent home.
Authorities warned the fire was heading in a south-easterly direction in steep terrain, with a forecast thunderstorm expected to whip up powerful, damaging winds in the evening.
Unfortunately, only about 1.4 millimetres of rain fell in the area.
Strong winds knocked over a number of trees across Canberra and also pushed a haze over the city, but the ESA said that was dust from inland New South Wales, rather than smoke.
Rural properties in greatest danger
Emergency Services Agency ACT Commissioner Dominic Lane said despite the fact the suburbs were not under threat yet, rural properties would be at risk if the fire continued to move fast."On days like today where you have very high fire danger conditions, where you get this spotting activity, homes in the bushfire-prone areas of the ACT will come under threat," he said.
"The principal threat at this point in time is to the rural area around Pierces Creek and Tidbinbilla — that's why we have firefighting resources there to protect those homes and the surrounding outbuildings on those farms.
"But in Canberra, because of the nature of our city and the closeness of the bush to many parts of Canberra, homes in the bushfire-prone area will come under threat if the fire gets closer today."The Bureau of Meteorology issued a severe weather warning for the ACT, predicting damaging winds averaging 60 kilometres per hour.
Commissioner Lane said those conditions and the fire's behaviour was concerning, as the strong gusts meant spotting could occur "well ahead" of the main fire.
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Emergency services have started doorknocking Canberra homes to urge them to prepare their bushfire survival plan, as a fast-moving blaze continues to act erratically and head towards homes.
Key points:
- A thunderstorm brought damaging winds, but only 1.4 millimetres of rain reached the fireground
- The fire started from a burnt-out car and spread to a pine forest
- Nearby residents urged to enact bushfire plans and visit the ACT Emergency Service Agency for the latest warnings
The 135-hectare blaze is 7 kilometres from the closest suburbs and remains at a "watch and act" alert, with suburban residents told to enact their bushfire plans.
In the afternoon, firefighters started going door to door along the urban fringe from Kambah to Gordon in an "education activity" designed to remind residents what the alert levels meant and what they should be doing to prepare.
The Emergency Services Agency (ESA) targeted 400 to 700 homes that remained on standby, with no official evacuations ordered yet and no threat to property.
Galilee School in Kambah was evacuated earlier, but all other ACT schools were running as normal.
More than 20 ACT fire crews were involved in the fight, along with six water-bombing aircraft.
New South Wales firefighters were also put on standby to help out but were eventually sent home.
Authorities warned the fire was heading in a south-easterly direction in steep terrain, with a forecast thunderstorm expected to whip up powerful, damaging winds in the evening.
Unfortunately, only about 1.4 millimetres of rain fell in the area.
Strong winds knocked over a number of trees across Canberra and also pushed a haze over the city, but the ESA said that was dust from inland New South Wales, rather than smoke.
Rural properties in greatest danger
Emergency Services Agency ACT Commissioner Dominic Lane said despite the fact the suburbs were not under threat yet, rural properties would be at risk if the fire continued to move fast."On days like today where you have very high fire danger conditions, where you get this spotting activity, homes in the bushfire-prone areas of the ACT will come under threat," he said.
Media player: "Space" to play, "M" to mute, "left" and "right" to seek.
"The principal threat at this point in time is to the rural area around Pierces Creek and Tidbinbilla — that's why we have firefighting resources there to protect those homes and the surrounding outbuildings on those farms.
"But in Canberra, because of the nature of our city and the closeness of the bush to many parts of Canberra, homes in the bushfire-prone area will come under threat if the fire gets closer today."The Bureau of Meteorology issued a severe weather warning for the ACT, predicting damaging winds averaging 60 kilometres per hour.
Commissioner Lane said those conditions and the fire's behaviour was concerning, as the strong gusts meant spotting could occur "well ahead" of the main fire.
"The fire behaviour [overnight] was quite unprecedented," he said.
"The fire is still out of control and whilst firefighters worked very hard overnight in that steep, inaccessible terrain … the size of the fire is growing."
Commissioner Lane said he expected the fire to quickly grow significantly, regardless of firefighting efforts.
"It is expected this fire will grow to several hundred hectares even if we contain it today," he said."That's because we've got to take the fire out to some solid containment lines where firefighters can work safely from. So I anticipate even if we have a good day, this fire will be of several hundred hectares in size by end of the day."
The ESA said there were bulldozers and other heavy machinery on site building containment lines.
He said "the risk is pretty evident" to Tuggeranong residents.
"If you live in the Tuggeranong Valley and look to the north-west you will no doubt see that fire," he said.
"It is heading towards the Tuggeranong Valley based on the weather conditions and, while we don't want people to panic, we do need people to start planning."
Burnt-out car sparked blaze
Firefighters said the fire started from a burnt-out car and took hold in the neighbouring pine forest.
About 150 Year Three and Four students from Miles Franklin Primary School, who had been at the Birrigai Outdoor School at Tidbinbilla, were evacuated safely this morning.
Student Kaleb Swan said the group struggled with smoke as they left the area.
"We had to leave early, miss one activity, so we could get away from the bushfires because the wind was heading towards Birragai, same as the bushfire," he said.
"And we were also choking a bit on the smoke and we wanted to go home."
Canberrans can read the rules and expectations of total fire bans on the Emergency Services Agency ACT website.
courtesy____abc.net.au
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