An emergency situation has been declared in the Barkly region of Northern Territory. a fire is burning towards the Stuart highway and has already burnt through more than 10-thousand square kilometres of land. However, this evening the residents of Tennant Creek are being told they are in less danger and should remain calm.
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00:00 As flames barrel furiously, the town of Tennant Creek watches on from a distance.
00:07 I think it's travelling fast and we're not sure where the next direction is going to go.
00:12 The situation now is pretty full on. I've never seen anything like it.
00:16 In the last couple of days we've realised how dramatic it is.
00:22 It wasn't like that before. I think Sunday when all the planes were going over.
00:26 ADF personnel bolstering efforts in the sky and on the ground
00:31 as two strike teams from South Australia prepare to join the fight
00:35 with the situation now officially declared an emergency.
00:39 The reason for this is to ensure that our police, our emergency services
00:45 have the powers that they need in case we see this fire situation escalates.
00:52 To an extent the fire is fairly uncontrolled and it's very large.
00:56 I think we're up to nearly 10,000 square kilometres of burnt ground and scarred ground.
00:59 People warn to avoid travelling to the Barclay and for those already there to be prepared.
01:05 I think that fire itself brought some concern to residents that in fact the larger fire
01:10 may in fact be closer than what people have been anticipating.
01:14 So there has been some anxiety around that over the last couple of days.
01:19 The blaze is sitting 50 kilometres from the town thanks to containment lines
01:24 but the next 24 hours could see winds pick up.
01:27 We've already been going on this for a week so I wouldn't put a timeline on this.
01:31 Some of these fires can run three to four weeks.
01:34 We had one fire run last year for nearly three months.
01:37 While fires in the Barclay are not uncommon, the scale and the threat posed by this blaze
01:42 to the town of Tennant Creek has not been seen in recent history
01:46 leaving residents anxious about what the next few days will hold.
01:50 No plans for evacuation but the town remains on high alert.
01:56 [BLANK_AUDIO]