- Title: Residents prepare for worsening fire conditions in Australia
- Date: 3rd January 2020
- Summary: BATEMANS BAY, AUSTRALIA (JANUARY 3, 2020) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF LOCAL RESIDENT ANGELO BORDIN RAKING LEAVES BORDIN BLOWING LEAVES OFF HIS ROOF VARIOUS OF BORDIN HOSING HIS NEIGHBOURS YARD (SOUNDBITE) (English) LOCAL RESIDENT ANGELO BORDIN SAYING: "Look, it does help. Especially if we are going to have an ember attack. That's what we're worried about, fires starting around the house. So, we are going to stay and defend and put those put best we can. If it gets too much, well, the car's packed ready to go. LOCAL RESIDENT, JOSEPH HARPER WALKING PAST HIS CAR AT EVACUATION CAMP SITE COOPER, THAT CATTLE DOG IN BACK OF HARPER'S CAR HARPER PATTING COOPER HARPER'S DAUGHTER TAKING HER WATER BOTTLE (SOUNDBITE (English) LOCAL RESIDENT, JOSEPH HARPER SAYING: "We are sort of in the middle of a rugby field at the moment and the beach is just behind us. So, hopefully there's enough cleared space. Worst comes to worst, we've got the water there to retreat to." HARPER TAKING BAG OFF TABLE (SOUNDBITE (English) LOCAL RESIDENT, JOSEPH HARPER SAYING: "It's very, very stressful. It's been stressful, especially with young children, trying to work out what the best option is, whether we go. We've been reading about the reports of it taking sort of three hours to travel a few kilometres along the highway in either direction. So, not wanting to get trapped on the highway in a fire, we've decide to stay. The kids are pretty good at the moment. They think it's a bit of camping trip but that could change as things become a bit scarier." TENTS AND CAMPER VANS VARIOUS OF GEORGE AND PAULINE COOK WITH THEIR PET DOGS AT EVACUATION CAMPING GROUND PAULINE COOK LOOKING AT HER DOGS (SOUNDBITE) (English) LOCAL RESIDENT GEORGE COOK SAYING: "The bottom line is that it's going to be a long slow day working pretty hard to keep the house protected. I'm getting a bit long in the tooth for that sort of thing. If I was 25 years younger it would be a different game. And, unfortunately my wife's got cancer and so she's not really up to the job either. So, between the pair of us we really felt it was best to be here rather than defending the house and then finding that we couldn't do it and getting into all sorts of strife." CAMPER VAN AT EVACUATION SITE PEOPLE SITTING IN CHAIRS AT EVACUATION SITE BORDIN PUTTING STEREO INTO CAR
- Embargoed: 17th January 2020 01:58
- Keywords: Australia New South Wales bushfire evacuation fire
- Location: BATEMANS BAY, AUSTRALIA
- City: BATEMANS BAY, AUSTRALIA
- Country: Australia
- Topics: Disaster/Accidents,Wildfires/Forest Fires
- Reuters ID: LVA001BUMA8NB
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Batemans Bay resident, Angelo Bordin is busy preparing his house ahead of severe fire conditions expected for Saturday (January 4) - clearing leaves from roof, raking leaves, hosing his neighbours yard.
His car is packed ready to go, should he need to.
Catastrophic bushfires swept through the area on January 31st, destroying hundreds of homes and prompting mass evacuations which caused bumper-to-bumper traffic on the main highway out of the region.
Angelo is one of many residents who have decided to stay and defend his house. Unfortunately for others such as George Cook, the task of preparing their homes to withstand the fires was no longer feasible.
"If I was 25 years younger it would be a different game. And, unfortunately my wife's got cancer and so she's not really up to the job either. So, between the pair of us we really felt it was best to be here rather than defending the house and then finding that we couldn't do it and getting into all sorts of strife," George said.
Joining George at the local evacuation centre is Joseph Harper's family who have decided to take refuge there rather then leave.
"It's been stressful, especially with young children, trying to work out what the best option is, whether we go. We've been reading a bout he whether reports of it taking sort of three hours to travel a few kilometres along the highway in either direction. So, not wanting to get trapped on the highway in a fire, we've decided to stay," Joseph said.
Bushfires so far this season have scorched more than 4 million hectares (10 million acres) of bushland and destroyed over 1,000 homes, including 381 homes destroyed on the south coast just this week.
(Production: Jill Gralow, Cordelia Hsu, Masako Iijima) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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