Daytrippers had to sleep in their cars and school children were separated from their parents after a bushfire cut the only access road in and out of a popular tourist region on Tasmania's east coast.
On Tuesday afternoon, residents and tourists at Friendly Beaches were urged to evacuate as a fire on the northern side of Coles Bay Road took off amid winds of more than 100kph and isolated the Freycinet Peninsula.
An emergency warning was declared and Coles Bay Road later closed, with people being urged to shelter in place last night.
The road is the only access in and out of the town of Coles Bay, which is the entrance point for Freycinet National Park and popular sites like Wineglass Bay.
A caller to ABC local radio said more than 100 people had to sleep in their cars.
"They did come and tell us that there was the community centre open but the was no bedding or services there like hot coffee or anything like that," the caller, Crystal, told ABC Breakfast.
"They did say the best place for us to stay last night was in our vehicles for the night."
Tasmania Fire Service Deputy Chief Officer Matt Lowe said the community centre was not an official evacuation centre but was opened by locals keen to help.
The Coles Bay boat ramp was a designated nearby safer place for people to evacuate to.
"I accept that people were uncomfortable overnight, but under the conditions last night, that was the best place for people to be," he said.
"I'd much prefer people sleeping in their cars at a nearby safer place than being on the road where trees are falling down.
"The fire crossed Coles Bay Road over a three-and-a-half-kilometre front, so very dangerous conditions."
'It could have been horrible'
Coles Bay resident Barbara Barrett opened the local hall after she heard the mayor on television saying it would be available for those in need overnight.
They had up to 20 people there at one stage, with business owners regularly coming by to offer support.
Ms Barrett said it demonstrated how reliant Coles Bay is on its public infrastructure, due to only having one road in and out.
"It's just a good example of how reliant we are on power, and on media and the tower. If it really got bad, it could have been a horrible, horrible situation," she said.
Rachel Jaeschke stayed in town and prepared evacuation backpacks when the fire incident was called in, while her husband headed off to fight the fire as a local volunteer.
Their three children were at school in Bicheno, and stayed with friends overnight with buses unable to return to Coles Bay.
Ms Jaeschke said she received regular texts from her husband to assure her that the Coles Bay township was safe.
She said it was encouraging to see how the community banded together.
"It just shows what we can do as really small community, even though we were cut off from everywhere, we've pulled together and did what we could with what we had to make a difference," Ms Jaeschke said.
About a dozen Bicheno Primary School students who live in the Coles Bay area could not catch their school bus home because of the road closure.
Shannon Griffiths was one of the Coles Bay parents separated from their children.
She said she could not reach her five-year-old daughter Ruby.
"Initially it was fairly distressing, more for her, but once we explained the situation and put her at ease she was OK," she said.
Ms Griffiths said the school and the community handled the situation very well, with many opening their homes to the stranded children.
"She was in good hands, with friends of ours, so we were really lucky there," she said.
Yesterday afternoon, people in the danger zone were urged to evacuate to Coles Bay or Swansea.
Glamorgan Spring Bay Council general manager Greg Ingham told ABC Breakfast not many people attended the Swansea evacuation centre and none stayed overnight.
"We had visitors come in who had been caught out travelling so they had been out of the day and couldn't get back to Coles Bay," he said.
Road reopens, fire downgraded
The Friendly Beaches fire, at Coles Bay Road, has now been downgraded to watch and act, but is still "uncontrolled", the Tasmania Fire Service (TFS) says.
Winds have eased and about 3mm of rain fell in the area.
Tasmania Fire Service District officer Claudio Muench told ABC Breakfast crews hoped to contain the blaze today.
"The situation at Coles Bay has significantly improved, we had a little bit of rain overnight so that's dampened fire activity," he said.
"We've had no reports of any structures lost, no people have been injured at this point in time."
Alex Melitsis from the Bureau of Meteorology said it was a very gusty night.
"We generally detected gusts of around 100 to 110 kilometres per hour across much of the east coast and south east of Tasmania," he said.
"Last night we observed a gust of 106 kilometres per hour at Friendly Beaches right next to Coles Bay, and also 104 kilometres per hour at Hobart."
Leon Smith from the State Emergency Service said besides assisting Tasmania Fire Service, the SES had been called to 27 other wind-related incidents, including roof losses and fallen trees.
Crews are working to restore power and mobile phone services to Freycinet residents, and Coles Bay Road has reopened to limited traffic, with authorities giving escorts through the fire zone.
Bushfire advice warnings remain in place for Coles Bay and Swanwick, Tasman Highway at Apslawn and Bicheno, and Springhill Bottom Road and Grahams Road in the Colebrook area.
The cause of all the fires is still under investigation.
Mr Lowe urged people to be prepared for a troubling fire season ahead, saying it was the earliest an emergency warning had been issued.
"We're on the fringe of our fire season, so this is a common event, but probably a bit earlier than we'd expect."
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