Highway reopens as bushfires burn
Posted
The Newell Highway has reopened between Coonabarabran and Narrabri where bushfires are burning within containment lines.
The road was closed about 3:00pm AEDT yesterday amid concerns about smoke and ash on the road.
The highway reopened this morning. However, the Rural Fire Service is asking drivers to be be mindful of smoke and debris in the area.
Fire crews are continuing to strengthen and burn-in containment lines at the fires burning in the Mount Kaputar National Park and in a number of blazes burning in the Pilliga around Coonabarabran.
Collectively, they have burned out hundreds of thousands of hectares.
The National Parks and Wildlife Service says it has not found any dead wildlife in the areas it has checked in the bushfire-affected Pilliga forest near Coonabarabran.
Fires started by lightning last week have burnt through more than 80,000 hectares, raising fears for the safety of one of the state's most important koala habitats.
National parks' spokeswoman Jackie Roberts says the Pilliga stretches over 400,000 hectares and it appears most koala areas have not been affected.
Ms Roberts says the teams that entered one of the region's key habitats saw several healthy koalas.
"We've seen that there were no signs of dead koalas and the team also reported that there were no signs of other dead wildlife either, which is great news for the wildlife in that area," she said.
