Australia Bush Fires: Navy Beach Rescues Are Largest in Peacetime

The rescue of over 4,000 people from the Australian coastal town of Mallacoota, along with other evacuations, is being called by officials the largest peacetime evacuation in the country's history, according to Sky News. The reason for the mass exodus is the 200 plus bushfires along the east coast states of the continent.

In Victoria, Australia’s southernmost state, Premier Daniel Andrews declared a disaster allowing the government to order evacuations. The fires have impacted an area with about 140,000 permanent residents plus vacationers estimated to be in the tens of thousands.

The death toll so far is at least 19, with 28 missing. 1,400 homes in the three states of Victoria, New South Wales (NSW) and Queensland have been destroyed along with over 12 million scorched acres of land. The effect on wildlife has been devastating.

In Mallacoota, located near the Victoria-NSW border, the more than 4,000 locals and visitors fled to the beaches where hundreds were transferred by a landing craft to an offshore vessel, the HMAS Choules. The Commander of the Choules, Scott Houlihan, said 963 people had signed up for evacuation by sea and more had been airlifted to safety.

NSW is taking the brunt of the conflagration where nearly 10 million acres of land have burned and flames reaching a height of over 200 feet have been reported.

Rob Rogers, who is the NSW State Rural Fire Service Deputy commissioner, said, "We know people have got a little bit of fire fatigue. They've been dealing with this now for months. But we need people to stay focused. Tomorrow is not the day to drop your guard. Take it seriously. If you're in those areas where we put those maps out, do not be there.”

Rogers also used the deaths of four people who died in their vehicles in a delayed attempt to flee as motivation for people to evacuate as soon as possible.

The combination of record high temperatures, dry weather conditions and strong winds have created the perfect conditions for the bushfires that have been burning since November of last year.

The other ingredients for large bushfires are the parched plants and trees that are very flammable and an ignition source such as a wayward spark or a lightning strike. Firefighters can make attempts to contain the fires by creating containment lines to starve the fire, but it usually takes a heavy rainfall from Mother Nature to extinguish them.

Smoke from the wildfires has created problems for the coastal cities in the path of the smoke and has almost completely blocked the sun in the hardest-hit areas. People caught up in the bushfires will want to add one more item to their “to do” list and that is to pray for rain, lots of it.