Around 2,700 hectares of both national park and private land has now been burnt following a bushfire on Tasmania’s east coast.
The Coles Bay blaze, which has been active in the area since Tuesday, prompted multiple backburning operations by the Tasmania Fire Service over the weekend to control the fire’s spread.
Favourable weather conditions on Saturday allowed the backburning operations to progress well, however, the fire remains uncontained in challenging-to-reach areas to the north and northwest of Friendly Beaches.
TFS Incident Controller Mark Klop said the bushfire, which remains at ‘Advice level – Monitor Conditions’, is being battled by both TFS and PWS crews, heavy machinery and aircraft.
The operation was “undertaken with consideration of the weather and fuel conditions, crew safety, natural and cultural values”, TFS say.
The weekend backburn saw around 1,284 hectares of national park and 650 hectares of private land burnt, on top of the estimated 750 hectares lost in the initial blaze.
