Canberra fires: capital of Australia faces out-of-control bushfire – as it happened

Let’s do a quick recap of what we know.

• Despite weather in the mid 30s, benign wind conditions on Wednesday mean the ACT Emergency Services Agency has been able to downgrade the Orroral Valley fire from watch and act to an advice level bushfire warning.
• The blaze began on Monday when a defence helicopter landed in the Namadgi national park, south of Canberra, and accidentally sparked what authorities have called the city’s “most serious” bushfire threat since the city’s devastating 2003 fires.
• Tuesday saw dramatic images of the fire approaching Canberra’s southern suburbs, but conditions eased throughout the evening and the fire was downgraded from emergency level to watch and act just before midnight.
• The fire has now burned through 10,492ha, and earlier the ESA’s incident controller, Matthew Shonk, warned conditions are expected to deteriorate in coming days.
  
• Friday and Saturday are expected to be especially challenging, with temperatures due to reach 42C and westerly and north-westerly winds increasing.
• Dangerous weather conditions will hit much of the east and south-east of Australia. In the coming days temperatures are expected to exceed 40C in Adelaide, Canberra and Melbourne, while some places – such as Cummins in South Australia, Echuca in northern Victoria, and Griffith in inland NSW – are expected to reach 45C.
• ACT emergency service personnel, police and defence force members are door-knocking residents in the southern Canberra suburbs of Banks, Gordon and Conder to remind them about the importance of having a bushfire survival plan.

Good news. The ACT Emergency Services Agency has downgraded the Orroral Valley fire from watch and act to an advice level.

It says there is now limited activity on the eastern edge of the fire, although there is an increase in fire activity on the western side of the fire.

Active fire remains on the northern side of the fireground. The fire remains out of control.

“Firefighters are on scene patrolling, preparing for property protection and strengthening containment lines,” the ESA says.

“The ACT’s specialist intelligence gathering helicopter is conducting aerial surveillance. People in the area may be affected by smoke, which could reduce visibility and air quality.”

I’ll leave Morrison there because he moves on to emissions reductions and then, of course, questions about the controversial sports grants program overseen by Bridget McKenzie.

Morrison:

As the years pass, though, we note that the bush grows back and fuel loads increase and people move in in still larger numbers to live in fire-prone areas and dangerous fires occur again in a cycle which we must break.

We must continue to [learn] from this fire season so we are better prepared for the next one because, of course, there’ll be one.

Whether that be the deployment of the defence forces, local hazard reduction, access to resources such as aerial firefighting equipment, consistency of disaster recovery arrangements or resilience in the face of a changing climate. And we must learn, as I discussed only last week, from the Indigenous Australians and their ancient practices and how to improve our resilience to these threats.

Morrison points to the use of Australian defence force reservists as evidence the government has responded to the crisis, but says before the next bushfire season he will look at legislative changes including giving the commonwealth the power to declare a national state of emergency.

He also flags changes to the “legal interface” between the commonwealth and states and territories on responsibilities when it comes to preparing for and responding to natural disasters and emergencies on a national scale.

Morrison also flags “an enhancement of a national accountability framework for natural disaster risk management, resilience and preparedness”.

“This should include the setting of targeting and transparent reporting on key actions with enhanced national standards where necessary,” he says.

“We’ve got to be comparing apples with apples.”

He says that before the events of this summer the role of the commonwealth in responding to natural disasters “has been limited to responding to requests for assistance for state governments”.

“The scale of the bushfires this season, not least their simultaneous reach across many borders, has demonstrated to me the limits of these arrangements,” he says.

Morrison says the events of this summer have “reminded us that our national security is also about our preparedness, responsiveness and resilience to the natural disasters and the environment we will live in – today, over the next decade, and well beyond”.

Morrison says that “amidst this devastation” it has been “humbling to see Australia as its best”.

In recounting the stories of their selflessness as I did on Australia Day, my message was very simple: this is the greatness of Australia. This is the strength of Australia. This is why, as a people, we always overcome and prevail. Australia is strong, but we must become even stronger.

The prime minister, Scott Morrison, begins his National Press Club address by acknowledging the families who have lost loved ones throughout the bushfire season.

Your sorrow hangs heavy on our nation’s heart and that heart is extended also to all of those who now face the daunting task of rebuilding homes, livelihoods, businesses, and local communities.

“We’ll be with you for the long haul. Many Australians, as well as our loyal friends from overseas who are standing here with us, remain on those frontlines today at some 75 or so fires burning around the country.

“Our brave firefighters, our emergency service workers, our volunteers, our soldiers, our reservists ... our mental health specialists, local community leaders, public servants as well as the networks of civil society are engaged in all manner of very practical, helpful, loving tasks from delivering food to rescuing and supporting recovering wildlife.”

It’s not just the ACT that will see dangerous fire conditions increase as we get closer to the weekend. In the coming days temperatures are expected to exceed 40C in Adelaide, Canberra and Melbourne, while some places, such as Cummins in South Australia, Echuca in northern Victoria and Griffith in inland NSW, are expected to reach 45C.

BOM meteorologist Diana Eadie told AAP on Wednesday that a hot air mass causing scorching temperatures across large parts of Western Australia will move across the country along with an increase in humidity.

“As a result we’re expecting severe to extreme heatwave conditions to develop across much of the south-east of Australia,” she said.

Eadie said many areas would experience uncomfortable overnight temperatures, including Adelaide where it would not drop below 28C on Friday.

“That’s why we’re seeing those severe to extreme heatwave conditions because when you don’t get those temperatures dropping off overnight, it doesn’t allow the body to recover.”

Eadie said the heatwave would bring elevated fire dangers, peaking on Thursday in South Australia, Friday in Victoria and Tasmania, and Saturday in fire-affected areas including the ACT and southern parts of NSW.

“Whilst we’ll see those warm temperatures and strengthening winds, it’s not as dry as what we’ve seen with previous events, which is why at this stage we’re only forecasting severe fire dangers,” she said.

“It’s not quite as dangerous as previous situations ... because we do have that moisture over fire-affected areas.”

Some Australians are ignoring potentially life saving emergency alerts during disasters because they fear they are being scammed, says Queensland University of Technology associate professor Amisha Mehta.

Mehta has told AAP that emergency alerts with a link to a website are often mistaken as a scam or computer virus by younger and older people.

It is the latest challenge facing emergency authorities during times of natural disasters, Mehta says.

Remember when the ACT was hit by a vicious hailstorm... last week.