Tasmania Heartbreak As Scamander Faces Ruins And Regrets
The Age
Wednesday December 13, 2006
THE most destructive Tasmanian bushfire in years menaced the island's east coast last night, challenging fire authorities' message that defended property would survive.
Heartbroken owners stood amid the ruins of houses and businesses in the coastal town of Scamander, where 18 properties were destroyed or damaged.But many more people in the same bushy streets survived the flames, to stand dazed amid their unburned assets. As the fires raged on into the evening through forests around the town of St Marys, firefighters and home owners stemmed further losses despite a 20-kilometre front. "I have every confidence in the advice we have been giving: stay and defend, or leave early," Tasmania's chief fire officer, John Gledhill, said.About one in 15 of the bush block dwellings in southern Scamander burned, and many of those were defendable, according to Tasmanian Fire Service acting district officer Ian McLachlan. "We feel some of the structures destroyed may have been saved, had people stayed," Mr McLachlan said. One man was injured in the fire. He was flown to Royal Hobart Hospital where he was in a satisfactory condition, a hospital spokeswoman said. The mayor of the local Break O'Day Council, Robert Legge, said emergency services had coped well with the devastation.
© 2006 The Age
