WESTERN COVE HISTORY

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2020 — FIRE

On January 8, 2020, Adelaide sweltered in 42^oC heat; and Kangaroo Island was on fire.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison visited disaster areas in the morning and Vivonne Bay was evacuated in the afternoon.

January 9th saw blustery winds from multiple directions. Fires jumped containment lines and approached Parndana whose inhabitants evacuated to Kingscote.

In the afternoo fire advanced along the Cygnet. Roads into Kingscote were closed to traffic. And a fire danger alert was broadcast for Kingscote airport and Nepean Bay. The fire was only about 12 km from Western Cove.

CHRONOLOGY of the 2019–2020 BUSHFIRES

September 2019: Following a 2-year drought and Australia's driest spring on record bushfires start in eastern Australia.

November 11: A state of emergency is declared in Queensland. On Eyre Peninsula in SA uncontrolled fire is heading toward Port Lincoln.

November 12: Catastrophic fire danger is declared in the Greater Sydney region for the first time since the introduction of this level in 2009.

November 20: Fire on Yorke Peninsula  threatens Yorketown and Edithburgh.

December 17: The average maximum temperature, Australia-wide, is 40.9^oC making this Australia's warmest day in modern history, beating the previous record of 40.3^o on January 7, 2013.

December 18-20: Three days of 44^o in Adelaide.  Fires start in the Adelaide Hills, Flinder's Chase (KI), and Western Australia. 

December 23:   More than 100 bushfires are burning in NSW.   

December 28:  An evacuation order is issued for Gippsland (eastern Victoria).

January 3: Fires reach Kosciuszko National Park (southwest of Canberra). On KI fire destroys the Southern Ocean Lodge ("Australia's celebrated multi award winning lodge") at Hansen Bay.

January 4: Australia-wide hundreds of major fires are burning.  A 400km section of Eyre Highway linking South Australia and Western Australia is closed. Australia's east coast from Eastern Victoria up to Bateman's Bay in NSW is a disaster area. Firestorms from Nowra in NSW to Victoria threaten to destroy coastal communities up to Mount Kosciuszko. Some fires have flames up to 60 metres high. Thousands of people are being evacuated on ships.

The Weekend Australian (January 4-5) reports:

On the NSW south coast ... The historic town of Cobargo is all but gone. About 100km to the north,
the community of Lake Conjola surrendered 89 homes... Malua Bay, 300km south of Sydney looked
like it had been bombed... Tens of thousands of people are expected to pour out of East Gippsland
over coming days...

January 5: The Sunday Mail reports that the Prime Minister is committing 3000 army reservists to help battle the fires. 100 American firefighters have also arrived. On page 9 we read:

Defence aircraft yesterday evacuated people from the small town of Omeo as nightmare condi-
tions fuelled the bushfires raging in Victoria's east.
About 200km further north, firefighters were desperately defending the town of Corryong for the
second time in a week as an enormous blaze crossed the border into NSW....
Residents in dozens of alpine towns were told it was too late to leave, and urgently sought shelter
as a wind change brought strong gusts and helped out-of-control blazes swell in size ...
73 fires started in the past two days with 53 still out of control last night...

January 7: Smoke from the Australian bushfires reported 11,000 kilometres away over South America!

    NEPEAN BAY ALERT

January 9th: Fire isolates Kingscote and an alert is declared for Nepean Bay. It looks like Western Cove could be threatend the next day.

January 10th: On KI cooler weather, reduced wind speeds, rainfall, and the arrival of more firefighters stops further advance of the fire toward Nepean Bay. The Weekend Australian reports:

...an extra 55 firefighters had been rushed to the Island on Friday to bolster the 280 personnel who bore the brunt of the overnight crisis that pushed to extreme the threat to life and property. (January 11-12, p. 5)

On KI blustery conditions and heat return, flare-ups continue to occur, and the fire-front is 120km wide. The website adelaidenow.com.au reports:

Emergency services are working around the clock to contain the Kangaroo Island bushfire... About 450 personnel, including 388 firefighters as well as Australian Defence Force members and police remain
on the ground battling the fire and putting in place preventative measures. Water bombers have ... made 960 drops since the blaze started... Thirty engineers from the New Zealand army have arrived on the island to help with recovery efforts...

January 16-21: Rainfall over eastern Australia from Gippsland to Queensland douses some of the 100 fires still burning.

January 20: On Kangaroo Island the CFS, SES and Australian Defence Force personnel clear roads, reinforce containment lines, and do control burns. Flare-ups continue to occur but are dampened by further rain on the night of January 22.

The bushfires have burnt almost half of Kangaroo Island, taken two lives, destroyed 87 homes and hundreds of sheds and outbuildings, killed more than 50,000 sheep and cattle, decimated commercial forestry plantations and native flora and fauna, and destroyed major facilities such as the Southern Ocean Lodge, Vivonne Bay Lodge, Hanson Bay Cottages, Western KI Caravan park, etc.

In January the Bureau of Meteorology released data identifying 2019 as Australia's hottest and driest year on record. Worldwide, 2019 was the world's second warmest year since records began, and 2010-2019 was the warmest decade.

The land surface at the eastern end of the Western Cove township is lower than the western side. Several times since 2000 high tides advanced over the Esplanade and sea water surrounded several houses, but not deep enough to flood the interior of any house. In 2017 resurfacing of the Esplanade elavated it by about 30 cm. One resident on the Esplande said that since then no high tide has reached her property. 

The Kangaroo Island Council Development Plan (2014) allows for a 30cm sea level rise in the next 50 years in agreement with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (USA) predicts that sea levels will rise between 20cm and 2 metres by 2100. If the higher estimate turns out correct then within the lifetimes of today's children Western Cove will be under water. Anyone who builds or buys a low-lying house with the hope of keeping it in the family for his grandchildren to inherit might want to keep sea-level predictions in mind.

Some of the new houses at Western Cove, especially along the Esplanade, have been built on posts up to two metres high. Coastal erosion is evident along much of the beach.

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