00:02A dire warning for the Northern Territory as the fire season intensifies.
00:08This season has the potential to be a really bad one given the amount of growth
00:12that we had after the record rainfall earlier this year.
00:16As fire yesterday ripped through rural blocks south of Darwin,
00:21two fires near Catherine threatened a business and burned through an orchard south of town.
00:28Unfortunately the fire within the Manbaloo pastoral property has appeared to continue to run on a large front towards the
00:36Vic Highway
00:37and we believe that there have been some impacts to the mango orchards within Manbaloo.
00:42Brought under control late yesterday, containment of the Blackmoor fire took 20 vehicles
00:48crewed by dozens of volunteer fireys still working this morning
00:53to prevent smouldering spot fires from flaring up with the afternoon winds.
00:58This fire was moving rapidly.
01:01Not only were the strong southeasterly winds pushing the main front,
01:04we were also experiencing a number of spot fires ahead of that main front
01:09which was extending the length of that fire.
01:13Residents of this property didn't want to speak on camera
01:16but said they wanted people to see what a fire could do.
01:20They lost two family pets in the fire which swept across the property within seconds
01:26destroying a decades old family home.
01:28At Bushfire NT's headquarters, crews can see how even slight changes in wind
01:35can easily satellite dried out grasses, conditions expected to worsen over coming months.
01:41We're expecting a late onset of that first 50 millimetres for around the Darwin area
01:46and until we get that rain that doesn't, the humidity is not going to be there
01:51so it's going to be fairly dry.
01:52We're still going to see these highs coming through, these wind surges.
01:55A total fire ban for Darwin, Palmerston and Adelaide River has been extended until midnight tomorrow.
