Iconic Canberra car festival Summernats swelters through heatwave, fire ban
Thousands of petrolheads endured heatwave conditions and descended on the nation’s capital as emergency services gave the green light to the iconic Summernats car festival despite a total fire ban.
Approximately 130,000 revelers are expected to visit Canberra during the four-day festival, which features a variety of entertainment as well as burnout and classic car competitions.
Temperatures soared to 37 degrees on Saturday amid a heatwave, but the conditions didn’t seem to deter car enthusiasts eager for the annual event.
“Summernats has been going strong for 38 years, and this year we expect nearly 3,000 attendees to bring their crazy, colorful and loud rides to Exhibition Park,” Summernats co-owner Andy Lopez said in a statement Thursday.
“Summernats are everything people know and love. Burnouts, rides, show cars and thousands of amazing fans.”
The event kicked off on Thursday, with hundreds of show cars circling the capital before arriving at Exhibition Park.
The event went ahead despite ACT authorities imposing a total fire ban for a 24-hour period from midnight on Friday; this was the first such announcement since 2020.
“The Total Fire Ban has been declared because the weather conditions forecast for Saturday mean fires starting will be difficult to control, increasing the risk of bushfires spreading rapidly,” ACT Rural Fire Chief Rohan Scott said.
According to the ACT Emergency Services Agency, activities at Summernats were exempt and a Fire and Rescue representative was stationed at the incident control center to monitor conditions.
Organizers say they are well prepared for the severe conditions, with shade and mist fill spots where around 50,000 Zooper Doopers are available.
The Summernat event started on Thursday and will end on Sunday.
