UPDATE – Monday: The fire remains at emergency warning level.
Several homes are now confirmed to have been destroyed. Click here to read the latest.
EARLIER – Sunday: Emergency responders report that several properties have been impacted by the fire, but the extent of damage is not yet known.
Tasmania Police drones are being deployed overnight to assist with impact assessment.
The fire is not yet under control and 14 fire trucks and 30 firefighters are still battling the blaze.
Powerlines are down on Dolphin Sands Road. Dolphin Sands Road is closed at Yellow Sandbanks Road, and will remain closed until it is safe.
A further group of 17 people have gathered at the Dolphin Sands boatramp at the end of the spit. They are several kilometres from the fire and are not in danger. These people are accompanied by Tasmania Police and are in regular contact with TFS.
There is an Evacuation Centre at Swansea Town Hall, 12 Franklin Street for those who have already left the area, and seven people presented there.
EARLIER: The Tasmania Fire Service have upgraded a bushfire that is currently burning at Dolphin Sands to ‘Emergency Warning’ level.
The TFS say it is now “too late to leave” the affected area, with the bushfire currently endangering homes in the vicinity, and are urging those near the blaze to “seek shelter immediately”.
Spokesperson Peter Middleton said the “very active fire” is currently burning to the east, along the Dolphin Sands Peninsula, from Yellow Sandbanks Road towards the end of the spit.
He said flames were reaching “5 metres” in height in some areas, with more than 12 firetrucks working to “protect houses and people and property”.
“This is very much a wind-driven fire that’s intensely burning along that spit in very dry, coastal heathy vegetation,” Middleton said.
“We don’t know at this stage about how many houses or shacks or properties are directly impacted, but there’s certainly people in the area and our priority at the moment is protecting people and those properties.”
He said weather conditions were “very erratic” and urged people to “seek shelter where they are or to go down to the beach well away from vegetation”.
An evacuation centre is open at the Swansea Town Hall, while a nearby safer place can be found at the Swansea recreation ground for people that left the area before Dolphin Sands Road was closed.
“We’ll continue to be throwing as many resources at this as possible and be working to protect lives and property,” he said.
TasNetworks say the fire has also brought down power lines, cutting power to around 400 households in Cranbrook, Dolphin Sands and parts of Swansea.
The fire was first reported at 6pm and its cause remains unknown.
For fire updates visit tasalert.com
TFS WHAT TO DO:
- If your home is built using contemporary bushfire design standards, is well prepared and you can actively defend it, it may provide shelter.
- If your home is unprepared, go to a safer location now only if the path is clear.
- There is a nearby safer place at Swansea Recreation Ground.
- If you have made a bushfire plan, use it now.
- If you don’t live near Dolphin Sands Road, Dolphin Sands, stay away.
- Smoke and ash may make it difficult to see and breathe.
- Conditions are expected to worsen.
- For fire updates visit tasalert.com
8pm, 12 November: The fire has now been upgraded to Watch and Act.
There is an difficult to control bushfire at Dolphin Sands Road, Dolphin Sands.
The fire is travelling towards North Easterly direction along Dolphin Sands Road, Dolphin Sands.
Embers, smoke, and ash may fall on Dolphin Sands Road, Dolphin Sands and threaten you and your home before the main fire arrives.
Tasmania Fire Service is attending. Conditions are expected to be changeable.
EARLIER: People on Tasmania’s east coast are being urged to ‘monitor conditions’ as firefighters battle a bushfire near Swansea.
The Tasmania Fire Service say the bushfire has ignited in the Dolphin Sands area around 198 Dolphin Sands Road.
They say while “conditions are expected to be changeable”, there is currently “no immediate threat” to people nearby.
TFS what to do:
If you have a bushfire plan, check it now.
Well prepared homes are expected to be defendable in these conditions.
Monitor conditions, and if they get more dangerous, and you are not well prepared, plan to go to a safer place.
For fire updates, visit tasalert.com
