Disaster assistance is now on offer to help victims of the South Coast fire that destroyed three homes so far.
The horror Coolagolite bushfire ignited in hot and windy weather on the afternoon of Tuesday, October 3, in the Bermaguee Nature Reserve and quickly spread towards Bermagui.
By the morning of October 5 if had burnt 6745 hectares and destroyed three homes, but authorities are still working to establish the full extent of the losses.
Assistance will begin the recover process for those directly affected, Federal Minister for Emergency Management Murray Watt said.
"We continue to collect information to understand the full impacts of the fires," he said.
Assistance will be available to people in Bega Valley Shire local government area through the Commonwealth-State Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements, and it may include:
- Help for eligible people whose homes or belongings have been damaged (eligibility criteria apply).
- Support for affected local councils to help with the costs of cleaning up and restoring damaged essential public assets.
- Concessional interest rate loans for small businesses, primary producers, and non-profit organisations.
- Freight subsidies for primary producers.
Residents faced an anxious wait as the flames roared toward their home, for others the blaze trigged horror memories of the Black Summer fires that torched the region.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, NSW Premier Chris Minns and NSW Rural Fire Service Commissioner Rob Rogers visited the Bega emergency operations centre on Wednesday afternoon for a briefing on the bushfire.
"This must be an incredibly traumatic experience. We can smell, we can see the impact these fires are having," Mr Albanese said.
"That would be having a triggering response for people who went through such a traumatic time during the summer of 2019-20."
Impact assessment teams are still scouring over the large fire ground to assess the full impact of losses and damage
"There's a lot of work to get to a final number ... it could've been so much worse," Mr Rogers said.
Illawarra firefighters deployed to fight the fire continue to work with local crews in an effort to contain the blaze. At 6.45am on Thursday, the RFS said it was at 'advice' level and being controlled.
For information on personal hardship and distress assistance, contact Service NSW on 13 77 88 or visit www.nsw.gov.au.
To apply for a concessional loan, contact the NSW Rural Assistance Authority on 1800 678 593 or visit www.raa.nsw.gov.au.
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Nadine Morton
Breaking news journalist at the Illawarra Mercury. Email: nadine.morton@austcommunitymedia.com.au
Breaking news journalist at the Illawarra Mercury. Email: nadine.morton@austcommunitymedia.com.au
