Canberra’s New Year’s Eve fireworks shows have been canceled with the total fire ban declared by the ACT until Wednesday morning.
Key points:
- Thousands of people were expected to attend the fireworks in the Civic Square
- There is a total fire ban in the ACT until 6:00 a.m. Wednesday
- Authorities have yet to decide whether to cancel other New Year’s Eve parties
The Meteorological Office forecasts warm, dry and windy conditions over the next few days, and temperatures are expected to exceed 39 degrees.
Fireworks shows had been planned at 9pm and midnight as part of the New Year’s Eve celebration in the city in the Civic Square.
Events ACT decided to cancel the events after receiving advice from ACT Emergency Services Agency curator Georgeina Whelan.
“It’s a sensible decision for us not to continue with the ACT fireworks,” Commissioner Whelan said.
At this stage, Sydney’s famous New Year’s Eve fireworks will go ahead as planned, but the NSW Rural Fire Service has refused to rule out the cancellation of the event at the last minute.
Given the severe fire conditions and poor air quality in Canberra, Commissioner Whelan said she is unlikely to give up because the fireworks would continue.
“We have thousands of ACT residents who really go to the lookouts in Canberra, like Mt Ainslie, Black Mountain, Mt Pleasant and Red Hill,” he said.
“With these views they only had very limited access and obviously evacuation points, and the healing of the grass in these areas, what worried me most was the risk of fire that would be associated.”
Thousands of people were expected to attend New Year’s Eve celebrations at the CBD.
But Events’ Jo Verden of ACT said other planned activities, including live music performances, could also be canceled.
“Events ACT continues to monitor weather conditions and smoke fog to determine if other planned activities and live music performances can continue without the fireworks,” it said in a statement.
“It’s disappointing that we can’t bring the fireworks to Canberra this year, but public safety remains a priority to provide a fun and safe event.”
The fireworks business supports the cancellation
Martin Brady, whose business Fireworks Australia has been exhibiting for several years, said he understood the need to call off the event.
“We fully understand why fireworks shows are canceled,” he said.
“From what I can tell, it’s been the right decision every time, as bad as it is for our industry, but [fires are] terrible for many industries.
He said his business would feel the impact of the cancellation as it would take a lot of manpower to disassemble the screen safely.
“It’s actually cheaper for us to shoot a program than to package it,” he said.
“There’s a cost to canceling the program, actually a pretty high cost.”
The forecast for the fire hazard classification in the ACT will be severe over the next few days and there will be a total fire ban until 6am on Wednesday.