Lismore has a new home for card, board and role-playing gamers.Unplugged Games was opened in Dawson St today by the same people who run Online Coins and Collectibles in the shop next door.Heidi Green, who is the general manager of both, said it was intended to be a comfortable, welcoming and friendly place to game with friends, or make new ones.“We stock a wide range of games and accessories including Magic: the Gathering, Yu-Gi-Oh!, Dungeons and Dragons, Keyforge, Star Wars X-Wing and Legion, Bolt Action and the widest range of board games in Northern NSW,” Heidi said.Importantly, she said it would also be open all day as a venue for people to come and play games on their own and in the evening there would be organised tournaments.On Tuesday evenings is miniatures and wargames, Wednesday is D&D Adventurers League and boardgames, Thursday is Keyforge, Friday is Magic and Saturday is Magic (free learn-to-play and Commander sessions) and Yu-Gi-Oh! (advanced).Heidi said the owner of the businesses, Andrew Mitchell, saw there was a need for a place for gamers following the closure of Overdrive Gaming, in Carrington St, about nine months ago.“The space next door in Dawson St recently became available and we’ve pulled it all together in about three weeks,” she said."Liam who used to run Overdrive Gaming has come on board with us and is going to manage Unplugged Games.”The grand opening is today with a Magic tournament tonight and then a Keyforge tournament on Saturday.“Then we’ll be open during the day Monday to Saturday for people who can just come and play,” Heidi said.Unplugged Games is located at Shop 3, 132 Dawson St, Lismore. Phone: 6621 3122. Check out the Facebook page for more information: https://www.facebook.com/unpluggedgameslismore/

The organisers of the 11th Lismore Workers Masters Games are urging people not to dilly dally as registrations for the 2019 event close in one week.This year the biennial Masters Games is celebrating its 20th year since inception.The Masters Games will be held from 27-29 September at Lismore’s many sporting venues with additional special events and celebrations to honour the Masters Games’ 20th year.“The Masters Games is three days of fantastic fun – we’ll have more than 1500 competitors from our local region, NSW, Australia and the world descending on Lismore to socialise, renew lifelong friendships and enjoy competitive sports,” the council's events officer Leanne Clark said.“It is hard to believe this event has been going for two decades. I remember when we held the first Games... it was popular right from the get-go. We knew we had an enduring event once we saw the enthusiasm that was out there in the community.“The fact it has grown to become such a major event on our sporting calendar is testament to the sporting spirit here in Lismore and the many hundreds of volunteers who work so hard to create an unforgettable event.”This year competitors will benefit from major upgrades to several sporting facilities over the last two years including Crozier Field, the Albert Park Baseball and Softball Complex and the regional hockey facility at Hepburn Park.“We are also celebrating two decades of sponsorship by the Lismore Workers Club. The club came on board as the naming rights sponsor for our very first Games and has been a faithful partner ever since,” Ms Clark said.“At this event we will pay tribute to the Lismore Workers Club and our hard-working volunteers, some of whom have been with us since the inaugural event. The 20th year is the perfect time to say a huge thank you to the integral people that have made the Masters Games what it is today.”There are 19 sports people can choose to register for:BaseballBasketballCricketEquestrianGolfHockeyLawn bowlsNetballOztagFitness challengeFootballFive-a-side footballRugby UnionSoftballSwimmingMasters Mini Games (euchre, darts, pool and indoor bowls)Registrations close on 23 August. To register for the Masters Games or find out more, visit www.lismoremastersgames.com.au.

Rural road trauma will be the focus of a police operation this weekend.Operation Chrome will run from today through to Sunday in the state’s Northern, Southern and Western regions.The operation will utilise police from all 11 districts within the Northern Region, working alongside officers from the Traffic and Highway Patrol Command, providing a coordinated effort to reducing rural road trauma throughout the region.NSW Police say drivers and riders should expect to see more police on rural roads and highways over the coming days targeting risky driver behaviours.Northern Region traffic tactician Acting Inspector Justin Cornes said drivers need to follow the road rules in order to keep themselves and others safe on our roads.“Reducing road trauma is front and centre for Northern Region. With 69 people killed on Northern New South Wales roads so far this year, we need to continue the conversation and get people thinking about their behaviour on the roads.“Road trauma doesn’t just impact those in the car – it can tear regional communities apart; it can leave gaping holes in families. One life lost is too many,” Acting Inspector Cornes said.Northern Region Commander, Assistant Commissioner Max Mitchell APM said reducing rural road trauma is a priority for police right across NSW.“Our main aim is to stop fatal crashes before they happen. To do that, we make no apologies for enforcing the road rules that are the biggest contributors to fatal crashes.“Most crashes happen in rural and regional areas, which is why you will see us in numbers this weekend. Road safety is everyone’s responsibility – it’s that simple,” Assistant Commissioner Mitchell said.

Fire and Rescue NSW (FRNSW) are transporting a high-power water pump from Sydney to Lismore today to help extinguish the fire still burning in compost piles at the Lismore Recycling and Recovery Centre.The Hytrans bulk water transfer system can release up to 8000 litres of water per minute and will help to douse the nine large compost piles that continue to smoulder and produce smoke following Sunday’s fire, the council said in a statement this afternoon.FRNSW has indicated it could be a number of days or even weeks before the fire can be fully extinguished but is confident the water pump will speed up the process.Lismore City Council is working with the NSW Environment Protection Authority (EPA) and Department of Primary Industries (DPI) to establish an alternative site for the disposal of bulk green waste. Green waste cannot leave the yellow crazy ant exclusion zone around Lismore without sign off from the DPI.“We are working with the EPA and the DPI to meet requirements around yellow crazy ants and the proper recording of green waste weights,” the council’s executive director of infrastructure services Gary Murphy said.“We are looking for an appropriate alternative site where the public can drop off green waste and hope to have this in place by early next week.”There are currently delays to waste collection across the city, particularly with green organics bins, and residents are asked to be patient and leave bins out until they are emptied.The council will continue to send recycling to Chinderah via Ballina and general waste to Ipswich via Richmond Valley while the Materials Recovery Facility remains inoperable.“We would like to thank our neighbouring councils for their support. We have had to find quick solutions to complex waste management issues and they have been very responsive,” Gary said.“Ballina Shire Council and the Animal Rights & Rescue Group took in animals from the Lismore Pound and we’re very grateful for this.“We would also like to thank the fire brigade and different agencies involved for their unwavering support and hard work, and I would personally like to thank the council staff that have been working round the clock to help extinguish the fire and restore services to normal.“We have had many messages of support and sympathy from the public and this has been very heartening, as we realise the fire is impacting our community. I want to assure people we are working to resolve the fire and our waste management issues as quickly as possible.”For more information on the health impacts of smoke, visit the NSW Health website: http://www.health.nsw.gov.au/environment/factsheets/Pages/bushfire-smoke.aspx

An exhibition opening at the Lismore Regional Gallery later this month was inspired by the miraculous world of interconnectivity that exists between trees under the forest floor.Mullumbimby based artist Emma Walker says her work in The Dark Sublime references the underground intelligence systems of forests where white fungal webs grow out towards other trees.These fungal systems create a network of communication and exchange, allowing the forest to behave as though it were a single organism.Her works - which “evoke the relationships, exchange and even love that exists in the soil” - are not planned out but start in much the same way as a forest might, with a laying down of marks that inform those that follow.The paintings grow, with pioneers creating an environment for a succession of other species, and complementary forms and marks to live side by side.“In the studio I follow an informed process of trial and error, struggle and epiphany,” she says.Paint is applied in strokes, drips and pours, layer upon layer, and then it is wiped/scraped back in areas, sanded, and the timber substrate carved into, until the work reaches a point where she can see that it is working and a cohesion forming.Walker spent part of her childhood on a bushy rural property near Cootamundra, south-west NSW, as well as living in Sydney and sailing and travelling the world with her free-spirited family.She has work features in several major public and corporate collections and in private collections in Australia, Indonesia, The Netherlands, Hong Kong, United Kingdom and the US.For the last 18 years she has lived in the Northern Rivers.“In this subtropical area, it is easy to imagine that if we left the land to its own devices it would find a new balance,” says Walker.“Our impatience is that nature follows its own timeline, and the lives of mature trees in a complex ecosystem are so much longer than ours.”The Dark Sublime by Emma Walker opens at the Lismore Regional Gallery on August 31 and runs until October 20. The official launch will be on September 13 at 6pm and Walker will be speaking about the exhibition on October 10 at 11am.

Lismore City Council says firefighters are slowly making progress extinguishing a fire burning in nine large compost piles at the Lismore Recycling and Recovery Centre.Firefighters and council workers are using heavy machinery and five bulk water carriers to pull the compost piles apart and saturate with water.“FRNSW has indicated it could be a number of days or even weeks before the fire can be fully extinguished,” the council said in a statement.The council had previously expected the fire to be out within a few days.The NSW EPA said on Twitter that staff visited the site yesterday.“The NSW Environment Protection Authority (EPA) is working with FRNSW and Lismore City Council to address the impact of the fire on waste management and air quality,” the council said.Insurance assessors have begun preliminary investigations to assess the extent of damage to the Materials Recovery Facility.“A full damage assessment and an extensive clean-up of the site will need to be undertaken before the Lismore Recycling and Recovery Centre can reopen to the public, which could take a number of weeks.”The North Coast Public Health Unit is urging people with heart and respiratory conditions to take caution, with high air pollution levels in some areas of northern NSW as a result of the recycling centre fire as well as significant bushfire activity around the region.People with asthma who can see or smell smoke can collect free respirators at the Bunnings trade desk by showing ID with a residential address within or around Lismore.There are currently delays to waste collection across the city, particularly with green organics bins.Residents have been asked to be patient and leave bins out until they are emptied.“The collection of green waste is complicated by the yellow crazy ant exclusion zones still in place in and around Lismore,” the council’s executive director of infrastructure services Gary Murphy said.“We are working with the EPA and the Department of Primary Industries to implement a solution but this is causing some delays to our collections.“We urge residents to please be patient as we sort through these complex issues. Everyone is working their hardest to get the fire under control and services back to normal.”For more information on the health impacts of smoke, visit the NSW Health website: http://www.health.nsw.gov.au/environment/factsheets/Pages/bushfire-smoke.aspx

The Rural Fire Service has announced that the Northern Rivers Zone’s Bush Fire Danger Period will start early this year on Saturday.The statutory Bush Fire Danger Period runs from 1 October to 31 March, however it may vary due to local conditions.“The Northern Rivers Zone will start the Bush Fire Danger Period due to significant fire activity in the area following strong winds and low humidity over several days last week combined with the extended ongoing warm and dry conditions,” the RFS said in a Facebook post.The early start affects the Lismore, Richmond Valley and Kyogle local government areas. The Bush Fire Danger Period has already begun in some other areas of NSW.“Effective from [12:01am] on Saturday 17 August 2019, if you are planning to maintain a fire in the open, you will need a Fire Permit,” the post said.“This includes any burning activity that may already be occurring.“Fire Permits cost nothing from your local Brigade.“The Northern Rivers Zone will be ensuring that any burning will be limited only to activities that will take less than 24 hours to complete to ensure there is a reduced risk to the community in the event of unfavourable weather conditions being forecast.”

Lismore Police today charged a 30-year-old Lismore man who allegedly stole groceries from a supermarket in Lismore and then resisted arrest.“Police will allege that at 7:05am a 30-year-old Lismore man has attended Centro, Lismore,” crime prevention officer Senior Constable David Henderson said in a post on the Richmond PD Facebook page.“He has gone to Woolworths and walked out with $65 worth of groceries. He refused to stop when asked to by staff, who followed him and called police.“He was located on Market Street. When spoken to he started frothing at the mouth. He resisted arrest and it took considerable effort to place him in the police truck.”The man was charged with Larceny and Resist Police at Lismore Police Station and refused bail to appear in Lismore Local Court today.“Lismore shops are becoming more proactive when it comes to alleged shoplifters,” Senior Constable Henderson said.“Most stores have good CCTV coverage and staff are now quick to call police when property has been stolen.“I have noticed that they are starting to recognise repeat offenders as soon as they walk into their stores and will watch them closely.“If they cannot be identified by police or staff their photo will end up on this page, where invariably a member of the public will identify them and advise police.”

Lismore City Council last night voted to officially declare that the “world is in a state of climate emergency” joining at least 33 other local governments across Australia.Cr Elly Bird put forward the multi-part motion which officially recognises the threat posed by climate change and commits the council to a raft of symbolic and procedural actions in response.It followed a community access session during which five community members spoke in favour of the move, including several members the Lismore Extinction Rebellion group.While addressing the motion, Cr Bird painted a nightmare future affected by rising sea levels and climate change.In the next few decades, the number of extreme storms and severity and regularity of droughts and heat waves would increase, she said, which would impact on food production and access to clean, safe drinking water.She said the effects were already beginning to be felt in extreme weather events across the world. Towns such as Tenterfield, Guyra, Armidale, Stanthorpe and Tamworth were running short of water. Others are already completely dry.(Article continues below)“Since our own floods in 2017 I've been to a number of disaster conferences and I'm off to another one later this month - and I can tell you one thing,” she said.“Everyone in the emergency management field knows that climate change is real, that it is happening, and they are scrambling to get ready for what is coming.”Cr Bird said the world was undeniably heading for a future with significant changes - which was scary and overwhelming - but it wasn’t too late.“We have a rapidly shrinking window to turn things around,” she said.“Governments and societies need to take swift and decisive action to reduce emissions and shift energy use away from fossil fuels to renewables. And that's where we come in.“This motion reinforces our commitment to our renewable energy target and our commitments to partnerships with emergency services to increase our community disaster preparedness.“It's a first step by adopting this motion. Tonight we're taking action. We will look at what we're already doing.“We'll have a conversation with our community and then together we will act.”Crs Cook, Bird, Ekins, Smith, Moorhouse, Marks, Guise, Lloyd all voted in favour of the motion while Cr Battista voted against. Crs Casson and Bennett were not present at the meeting.

Trinity Catholic College's newly upgraded $5.1 million Technical and Applied Studies facility was officially opened today by Page Federal MP Kevin Hogan.The Federal Government kicked in $1.6 million for the project through the Capital Grants Program with the school funding the remainder.The refurbished and expanded Technical and Applied Studies facilities will offer courses including wood work, metal work, engineering and jewellery.“We invested $1.6 million in this wonderful new facility to ensure students have the best possible education to set them up for the future,” Mr Hogan said.“This much-improved facility will help students get the most out of their time at school."He said the Capital Grants Program provides funding for non-government schools to improve capital infrastructure where they otherwise may not have access to sufficient resources.“The Government is committed to improving the quality of our school education and ensuring students have access to the resources they need so they are equipped with the skills to succeed in an increasingly competitive world,” Mr Hogan said.“The Government believes in an education system that puts students first. That’s why in addition to our Capital Grants Program, our record levels of school funding will be allocated according to need and tied to a range of evidence-based initiatives.“These initiatives will focus on outcomes in literacy, numeracy and STEM subjects, helping lift teacher quality and better preparing our children for life after school.”Trinity Catholic College Principal Brother John Hilet said the new facility “will provide access to modern workspaces for students.”“The facility is at the cutting edge of the way technical and applied studies is moving,” Brother Hilet said.

Lismore City Council says dry and windy conditions may have caused the fire at the Lismore Recycling and Recovery Centre on Sunday. A post on the council Facebook page this morning said the green waste may have dried out after being exposed to “low humidity, strong winds and gusty conditions for an extended period of time” leading to spontaneous combustion. The council is still assessing the damage caused to the Materials Recycling Facility by the fire.“Council collects around 1600 tonnes of organic material per month from the Northern Rivers region,” the post said.“Council has an aeration system that automatically releases oxygen into the compost piles. These are turned once every three weeks to ensure even distribution of heat throughout the piles. “This process is undertaken in accordance with Australian Standards AS4454 – Compost, Soil Conditioners and Mulches and under the Environmental Guidelines: Composting and Related Organics Processing Facilities.“The nature of composting organic materials is that it’s a heat-generating decomposition process – this is what breaks down the organic materials into compost.“To produce compost it is necessary to maintain temperatures above 55 degrees for a minimum of 15 consecutive days to eliminate pathogens. It is not uncommon at times for temperatures to reach 80 degrees Celsius or above.“Council has a sprinkler system and a permanent water truck on site which are used to keep the piles moist. Steam from the compost piles is often visible.“The pile that we believe caught alight was exposed to low humidity, strong winds and gusty conditions for an extended period of time, which is believed to have led to moisture loss within the upper levels of the compost piles, causing spontaneous combustion of matter.“Council believes this created embers which passed to other compost piles and eventually to stockpiles of plastic and paper.“NSW Fire & Rescue is on site and is managing the process to agitate the compost stockpiles and saturate them with water to extinguish the smouldering.”Public safety warnings about smoke being produced by the smouldering compost piles are still in place.There are also some delays to waste collections (especially green bins) but residents should still put bins out as normal.The Lismore Recycling & Recovery Centre in Wyrallah Road, East Lismore, will remain closed until the fire in the compost piles is extinguished and damage to the Materials Recovery Facility is assessed.

A local man has been accused of shoplifting hundreds of dollars worth of food from a Lismore shopping centre and then assaulting a hospital security guard.“Police will allege that at 4:15pm on Tuesday a 40-year-old Coffee Camp man has attended Lismore Shopping Square,” Senior Constable David Henderson said in a post on the Richmond PD Facebook page.“He has been banned from attending the Square for various reasons until July 2020.“He has attended Coles and placed over $300 worth of food into his backpack and left the store without paying.“He then attended a wing of Lismore Base Hospital and assaulted a security guard.“Police located the man in the A&E waiting room and placed him under arrest.”The Coffee Camp man was refused bail after being charged with Assault, Larceny and Enter Inclosed Lands and is expected to appear at Lismore Local Court today.

In the Dark Museum, when Lismore’s dark scientist and performer Ana Wojak lifts a silver dome from a platter, there’s no telling what will happen next. It’s part of a secret installation set up inside the dungeons of Lismore’s Conservatorium of Music as part of the Dark Science Festival this coming weekend. The underside of the building has been transformed into a dark museum where each room houses an interactive experience with the dark sciences which Ms Wojak describes as a “sensory experience of sights, sounds and smells”.“I’ll be one of the exhibits on show and there’s no touching the exhibits,” Ms Wojak said. Celebrating her love of dead things and the beauty of decay, Ms Wojak said the performance will reference ancient Greek science, the Oracle and explore the wonders of nature and the circle of life and death.“And also our fascination with technology and its brave new future,” Ms Wojak said. “Even now, technology continues to be something scary –while opening us up to the potential of enlightenment, it’s still frightening because we are now more aware of its potential for darkness.”Ms Wojak will be performing the work entitled The Oracle with co-performer and sound artist Cloudbeard (Brandon Jaye Casidy) who will playing ambient doom music live for the show. “I worked with him last year when we performed in Malaysia last year at the Malacca Arts and Performance Festival,” she said. “Throughout the night, Cloudbeard will also be playing wooden machines he’s assembled out of found materials and you can be surprised at any time by him playing.”(Cloudbeard performing live. photo by Michelle Vine)Ms Wojak has been a performing artist for over 20 years and said The Oracle was first performed by her in Sydney at Elizabeth Bay House for History Week and it has evolved since then, going on to be performed at the Yoko Ono exhibition at the MCA.“The first time I performed it, I was set up on a table and plinth in the courtyard at Elizabeth Bay House where the kitchen used to be,” she said. “I was dressed as a colonial in a time when men got credit for developing science and research, but a lot of it was actually done by their wives and women who didn’t get the credit. Women were known for needlework, so I explore the idea that it’s not just needlework – is it a science experiment or a healing? Each time I perform it, it changes for the event.”In the Dark Museum, Ms Wojak will be channelling her dark scientist and will morph the show into the ancient art of divining from animal entrails.“It’s not just pure entertainment,” she said. “Working with the dark side is attractive to me – creating an emotional reaction that gets people thinking. A lot of art is based on cerebral art theory, which makes it harder to go to the heart place.“I’m interested in the visceral – the guts, internal organs and squishy bits, which includes the heart – I want to touch the brain through the heart and the viscera.“That way, the effects of the performance are more challenging and can potentially call things to question. It will stay with you longer, stimulating you to think.”She encourages people to take their time to look around the whole dark museum, with its specimens and exhibits referencing “allegorical archaeology”.“Rather than being repulsed or avoiding the inevitability of death on all levels, we will celebrate in the beauty in decay ­– death is an inevitable part of life,” she said.Ms Wojak said bringing the darker side of art and performance to Lismore through the Dark Museum is what Lismore is ripe and ready for.“Lismore’s keeping it real,” she said. “We have a diverse and eclectic population and we’re ready and gagging for it. So many art gallery shows are day time experiences and family oriented, so it’s nice to have something for grown ups.”The Oracle will perform at 6.30-7.30pm on Friday, August 16 and Saturday, August 17.The Dark Museum will be open from 5-10pm both nights and will also feature a range of performances from Al Khem in the Alchemist’s Den, animated videos by Karena Wynn Moylan and the Corridor of Doom. The Haunted Clubhouse will also be crawling with kooky paste ups, DJs and performance art. The whole Dark Science festival will take place in The Quad, Lismore as a celebration of Science Week. For more information, visit https://www.lismorequad.org.au/

British author Michael Hall, who wrote a book about the British Royal Family’s private collection which accompanied a BBC series and major exhibition, is doing an exclusive illustrated talk at the Lismore Regional Gallery later this month.The Royals' private art collection is the largest in the world, totalling over one million objects.The collection contains 7,000 paintings, 150,000 works on paper (such as drawings, lithographs, and other prints), 30,000 watercolours, as well as furniture, weapons and armour.It includes drawings by Michelangelo, paintings by Rembrandt, Johannes Vermeer and Canaletto and contemporary works by artists such as Andy Warhol and Anish Kapoor (who Lismore Regional Gallery exhibited in 2017) and the Crown Jewels, housed in the Tower of London.Hall is the author of Art, Passion and Power: The Story of The Royal Collection, published in 2016, which was the accompanying publication for the BBC series of the same name and a major exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts, London.“Together, this was the definitive statement on the British monarchy's treasures of the art world,” a media release from the Lismore Regional Gallery said.Hall is also the Editor of The Burlington Magazine, one of the world’s most respected art history journals.“Lismore Regional Gallery is the only Australian venue to be hosting Hall, where he will explain ‘the enthusiasms, whims and obsessions of the Royal Family for over 500 years’,” the media release said.The Story of the Royal Collection with Michael Hall is on at the Lismore Regional Gallery on Wednesday 28th August at 5.30 pm. Tickets are $15, or $10 Concession/Friend of Lismore Regional GalleryBookings are essential: https://www.trybooking.com/book/event?eid=525145&

Lismore City Council’s attempts to find somewhere to put Lismore’s green waste while the Recycling and Recovery Centre is out of action are being complicated by measures to limit the spread of yellow crazy ants.The centre has been shut down since a fire - which is believed to have started in piles of compost - ripped through Materials Recovery Facility on Sunday.The council has put interim measures in place for the collection and disposal of waste while the centre is closed and the damage is assessed.However, the council’s executive director of infrastructure services, Gary Murphy, said there had been delays to waste collection, particularly with green organics bins.“We are urging residents to be patient and leave bins out until they are emptied,” Mr Murphy said.“The collection of green waste is complicated by the yellow crazy ant exclusion zones still in place.“Green waste collected in Lismore cannot be disposed of elsewhere without approval from the Department of Primary Industries.“We are currently working with the department to implement a solution but this is causing some delays to our collections.”The exclusion zones are still in place from when the infestation of yellow crazy ants - considered to be one of the top 100 invasive species worldwide - was first discovered in Lismore’s CBD last year.The restrictions prevent the movement of plant matter and soil within a five kilometre radius of the Lismore Central Business District without approval from Local Lands Services.In the short-term while the Materials Recovery Facility is inoperable, the council will transport recycling from Lismore to Chinderah for processing while general waste will continue to go to Ipswich via Richmond Valley.The Brewster Street Drop-off Centre has reopened today and the Nimbin Transfer Station will be open Tuesday to Saturday this week, with additional staff in place. Residents are able to use waste vouchers at this location.The piles of green waste are still smouldering and the waste facility will remain closed until the fire is completely extinguished and damage to the Materials Recovery Facility is assessed.Now that the strong winds have abated, the compost piles are being turned and saturated with water to fully extinguish the fire. This could take several days.Smoke from the fire could potentially be harmful to people with respiratory or lung problems, and warnings remain in place for residents that can smell or see smoke to stay indoors with windows and doors closed until the smoke subsides or use a respirator if venturing outside.People with asthma who can see or smell smoke can collect free respirators at the Bunnings trade desk by showing ID with a residential address within or around Lismore.Animals from the Lismore Pound have been moved to Ballina Pound and the Animal Rights and Rescue Group to ensure they are not harmed should the wind direction change and smoke infiltrate the facility.“The fire has raised a series of complex issues around managing our waste and recycling, and our other operations on site. Council is working through these issues as quickly as we can to ensure the least disruption to residents,” Mr Murphy said.“Our major focus in the short-term is to extinguish the fire. Once this has been done we can focus on assessing damage to the facility and get an idea of what works need to take place immediately in order to reopen the facility to the public.”

Friends of the Koala have issued a plea to motorists to slow down and watch out after a spate of koala deaths on Lismore’s roads coinciding with breeding season.The organisation’s president, Ros Irwin, said following the start of breeding season many more koalas were on the ground, either juvenile males searching for new habitat or males searching for females.Ms Irwin said across the region eight koalas had been killed in recent weeks, with five in Lismore, mostly in Goonellabah along the Bruxner highway.She said a particularly distressing koala strike on Saturday night outside the Goonellabah Tavern, involving a koala called Vincent who had been rehabilitated previously, left a rescuer and vet nurse distressed.“This is the time of year that we at Friends of the Koala dread, as we know that during the breeding season between July and February the rescues will ramp up,” Ms Irwin said.“Whilst disease (and habitat removal) is the primary direct cause of koala deaths, car hits are next, and they’re generally fatal.“The koala hit on Saturday night was Vincent, a koala we had rehabilitated and released in Goonellabah just over two years ago.“His injuries were shocking, with his head virtually smashed and one eye hanging out, struggling to breathe and clearly terrified.“Fortunately one of our Keen Street Veterinary Clinic vets came in and euthanased Vincent as he could not be rehabilitated.”Vet nurse and rescue coordinator Marley Christian, who was upset by the extent of Vincent’s injuries, said FoK was grateful for the members of the public who saw it happen and called the Rescue Hotline 6622 1233.“We can only assume the driver of the vehicle was unaware of hitting the koala, but it was clear the car was travelling very fast to cause the injuries to Vincent,” Ms Christian said.“Whilst it isn’t always possible to avoid a koala crossing a road, at least if the car is travelling at a lower speed the animal might be able to be rehabilitated.“[Another koala] CW lost an eye and we thought he would be euthanased but his injuries were not as severe so CW lives and will go into Species Management at Port Macquarie later this week."Ms Christian reiterated Ms Irwin’s call to slow down and watch out for koalas and called on drivers to make sure they have the Koala Rescue Hotline (6622 1233) in their phones.

The North Coast Public Health Unit has issued a health warning about smoke in the area coming from bushfires in the region and a fire at the Lismore Recycling and Recovery Centre.The assistant director of Public Health North Coast, Greg Bell, said children, older adults and people with heart and lung conditions are most susceptible to the effects of air pollution and excessive smoke.“If you have asthma you should follow your Asthma Action Plan and take your relieving medication where necessary and if symptoms get worse, seek medical advice,” Mr Bell said.“Smoke may aggravate existing heart and lung conditions and cause irritated eyes, coughing and wheezing.“Stay indoors, close windows and follow your health plan.“To minimise any effects of smoke or air pollution, people should also consider avoiding vigorous exercise, seeking out air-conditioned premises and even consider moving away from the direct path of smoke whilst fires are still active.”“It’s also a good idea for people with known health conditions to check the NSW Rural Fire Service website for regular updates on current fires,” Mr Bell said.In case of emergency always remember to dial triple zero.For more information about bushfire smoke and health, visit the NSW Health website:http://www.health.nsw.gov.au/environment/factsheets/Pages/bushfire-smoke.aspx

UPDATE AT 2:08PMAccording to Live Traffic NSW, the accident scene was cleared by 1:59pm.ORIGINAL STORYDrivers have been urged to exercise caution following a two-vehicle accident on the Bruxner Hwy/Ballina Rd at Goonellabah.According to Live Traffic NSW, the accident occurred just east of Invercauld Rd about 12:30pm and eastbound traffic is being affected.NSW Police officers and NSW Ambulance Service paramedics attended the incident.An Ambulance Service spokesperson said that one person was treated at the scene but refused transport to hospital.No details were available about the person treated or their injuries.The Lismore App has attempted to contact Lismore Police for more details.

A development application has been lodged for a cheerleading dance studio in South Lismore.Lismore City Council received the development application for construction of a shed in Foleys Rd to be utilised as an indoor recreation facility earlier this month.A statement of environmental effects filed with the application said it was anticipated that classes would have up to 12 students with one instructor.Classes would run between 3.30pm and 8pm with private sessions by appointment during business hours and intermittent weekend classes/training session to prepare for competitions.“Only a small stereo will be utilised for the playing of music,” the SEE said.“A cheerleading (dance) studio falls within the definition of a Recreation Facility (indoor) which is a land use permitted with consent within the IN2 Light Industrial zone.”While the land is classified as “high flood risk” the proponent has suggested that instead of building a mezzanine - which would interfere with the cheerleaders’ acrobatics - a flood refuge platform and evacuation plan would mitigate flood concerns.The development application is available for public comment on the council’s website until August 28.