Australian fires: Singaporeans stay indoors and brace for evacuation, while travel agencies watching situation closely

SINGAPORE — Smothered by black skies and plumes of smoke, Singaporeans living in Australia are doing their best to cope as bushfires rage across New South Wales and Queensland.

Those who spoke to TODAY said they have been staying indoors as much as possible, preparing emergency bags in case they have to flee and are experiencing intermittent disruptions in their communication lines.

Meanwhile, travel agents in Singapore who are organising tours to Australia in the next few weeks are monitoring the situation closely, although they say none of their customers has cancelled their trips yet.

Singaporean student Jonathan Chang, 25, said the halls of residence at Macquarie University in Sydney, where he is enrolled, released a preliminary evacuation notice on Tuesday (Nov 12), which warned students to be prepared to make an emergency departure from the area.

“My accommodation is surrounded by national parks, which is a fire hazard. That’s why I took it upon myself to prepare an emergency bag, just in case,” Mr Chang said, adding that he has packed a change of clothes, enough water to last several days and medication.

He said there has also been intermittent disruption of phone lines, which has made it difficult for him to reach his friends in the city.

“I’ve been telling people to text me all day, because it’s hard to talk on the phone when there are so many disruptions,” he said.

University of Newcastle (UON) student Teo Zheng Xiang, 24, who was scheduled to sit for his final exam for the semester on Tuesday, said he received a notice from the university that it would be postponed to this Saturday.

The notice, given to students last Sunday, also said that all four UON campuses would be closed, due to weather forecasts that have reached “catastrophic” levels.

Mr Teo, a second-year student pursuing a Bachelor’s degree in surveying, said that although the nearest bushfire to his campus is a five-hour drive away, the area where he lives is blanketed in smoke and there is a pervasive pungent smell in the air.

The university is among the 600 schools across the New South Wales, which includes Sydney, Wollongong and Newcastle, which have been closed after the authorities declared a seven-day state of emergency on Monday.

Aside from the New South Wales, areas near Brisbane, the Gold Coast and the state of Queensland are also affected by the bushfires, which have claimed three lives and left thousands displaced.

“WORSE THAN SINGAPORE’S HAZE”

Even Singaporeans who are used to the heat and annual haze season at home said the air quality and soaring temperatures are worrying them.

Video editor Joey Tong, 37, who lives about 40 minutes away from the bushfires in Turramurra, near Sydney, said the smell of smoke is very prominent in the air.

Student Sarah Lim, 22, quipped that the air quality in Sydney is now much worse than that seen in Singapore during haze season, adding: “I have been staying home all week. I had to close my windows and keep my air diffuser on all day because my nose was acting up.”

She added that the weather has been “erratic”, swinging from 37 degrees Celsius in the morning to 13 degrees in the evening.

Optometrist Jia Sheng Choo, 26, told TODAY that the sky was noticeably black on his 45-minute drive from Brisbane to Ipswich for work on Tuesday, adding that it felt like “a storm was nearby”.

TRAVEL AGENCIES MONITORING CLOSELY

Four travel agencies based in Singapore who spoke to TODAY said none of their customers with upcoming trips to Australia have cancelled their bookings, but they continue to monitor the situation closely.

A spokesperson for Dynasty Travel said it now has about 40 travellers in different parts of Australia.

The majority of them are in a convoy in Western Australia, which is not affected by the bushfires, he said, while some are in Melbourne, which is also unaffected. 

The agency is also in touch with some travellers in Sydney but they are “in the city centre and are not affected by the bushfires”, he added.

“We have established contact with all our customers and they are all safe,” he said.

Meanwhile, Chan Brothers Travel said it has a group tour departing to Australia in the next two weeks, while CTC Travel has groups departing in December.

Both agencies say their trips are still expected to proceed. However, a spokesperson for Chan Brothers Travel added: “If required, necessary changes to flights and itineraries will be made in order to allow our travellers to continue their programmes as scheduled as far as possible.”

A Ministry of Education (MOE) spokesperson added that there are a few schools which have organised student trips to Australia. Some are already there now, while others will be going in the weeks ahead.

Both schools and MOE are monitoring the situation closely, the spokesperson said.

“They will seek advice from the MOE-appointed travel consultant for any potential risks, and for support during the trip if necessary,” the spokesperson added.

“Based on the assessment of the risks and taking reference from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ travel advisories (if issued), travel itineraries could be adjusted and trips could be shortened, postponed or cancelled.”