Overview
- The blaze on Tasmania’s east coast has burned roughly 700 hectares and remains uncontained, with residents told it is not safe to return.
- An evacuation centre is operating at Swansea Town Hall and Dolphin Sands Road is closed.
- Two firefighters were injured as high winds grounded aircraft on Thursday before aerial support resumed on Friday.
- TasNetworks reports severe damage to about 25 poles in the area, leaving roughly 270 customers facing outages that could last at least a week.
- The fire’s cause is under investigation, and the Bureau of Meteorology says a formal fire weather warning was not issued because forecast thresholds were not met.