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Information on the ongoing fire emergency in the Bega Valley and Eurobodalla Shire Areas
Issued at 1.45pm on 1 January 2020
Tuesday 31 December was a horrific fire day right across the south coast of New South Wales and East Gippsland.
Prolonged drought has created a volatile landscape.
There was a significant amount of fire in the area prior to 31 December that was inaccessible and not possible to suppress despite our best efforts.
Forecast conditions for Tuesday lead to widespread warnings ahead of the impact.
Tragically, we know there have been three fatalities and significant property loss. We offer our condolences to all those impacted.
Crews are in the field to gather information on the damage and this will be shared as soon as possible.
Property protection continues and RFS crews are assisting in the re-establishment of essential services such as power and telecommunications.
While conditions have eased today they are forecast to deteriorate from Friday.
If you don’t need to be on the far south coast of New South Wales, leave well before conditions deteriorate to a safer location. Basic resources are becoming limited and more road closures may become necessary at short notice. It is in the best interests of visitors to leave now.
Issued by the Incident Management Team on behalf of the Commissioner of the NSW Rural Fire Service.