Northern Tasmania police have praised the Miena community for their cooperation and kindness during an intense day of evacuations and road closures on Tuesday.
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A bushfire at Great Pine Tier broke containment lines and crossed the River Ouse on Monday night, forcing many to leave their homes and shacks.
Northern district Commander Brett Smith said police provided evacuation and traffic management support, as well as coordinating responsibilities in conjunction with Tasmania Fire Service and keeping frontline staff working in at-risk areas.
The Northern district sent four non-frontline officers to work with the fire service in coordinating efforts in the area and they were utilised from the moment they arrived.
Police Senior Sergeant Dale Cook said they’d barely walked in the door when they were told Shannon needed to be evacuated.
For the next hour and a half Senior Sergeant Cook and his fellow officers told those living in the area they needed to leave or provided information to those who wanted to defend their properties. Police and firefighters develop messaging together, tailoring advice to each home owner.
“About 80 per cent of homes had already self-evacuated or they were empty shacks,” Senior Sergeant Cook said.
Although some residents were well prepared for a bushfire, police still advised everyone to evacuate based on advice from firefighters.
Immediately after evacuating Shannon the officers started door knocking at Tods Corner.
After a brief stop at Miena community hall, emergency services were called to evacuate Liawenee and Lochiel Drive.
“The community up there was fantastic. People at the community centre were feeding us,” Senior Sergeant Cook said.
“We didn’t have any issues at road blocks or from people leaving.”
Roadworks setup during a bushfire are often unmanned, with emergency services relying on signage so they can continue supporting the community in tangible ways.
“A lot of the time, in these dynamic situations, we don’t have a spare emergency service worker to put at every sign, so we are relying on people to obey those signs,” Senior Sergeant Cook said.
“If you’re driving into an area where there’s bushfire activity obey the road closure signs.”
Senior Constable Annabel Shegog also supported the police operation at Miena.
“A lot of people were switched on, they were keeping updated with the Tasmania Fire Service alerts and road closures in the area,” she said.
Senior Sergeant Cook said the fire is imminent if police are knocking at the door.
“We want people to evacuate,” he said.