High temperatures and winds worsen Australian wildfires

Firefighters in New South Wales and Lithgow continued to battle some of the most destructive wildfires Australia has ever seen. Since Thursday, the fires have killed one man, destroyed at least 208 homes, and damaged another 122. 

|
Paul Miller/AP
A New South Wales Rural Fire Service volunteer puts out a fire in the town of Bell, Australia, on Sunday. Firefighters battling some of the most destructive wildfires to ever strike Australia's most populous state were focusing on a major blaze Sunday. Authorities warned that high temperatures and winds were likely to maintain heightened fire danger for days.

Firefighters battling some of the most destructive wildfires to ever strike Australia's most populous state were focusing on a major blaze Sunday near the town of Lithgow that stretched along a 300-kilometer (190-mile) front.

Authorities warned that high temperatures and winds were likely to maintain heightened fire danger for days in New South Wales state.

The fires have killed one man, destroyed 208 homes and damaged another 122 since Thursday, the Rural Fire Service said.

Firefighters have taken advantage of milder conditions in recent days to reduce the number of fires threatening towns around Sydney from more than 100 on Thursday night to 61 on Sunday, Rural Fire Service spokesman Matt Sun said.

Fifteen of these fires continued to burn out of control, including the blaze near Lithgow, west of Sydney, which was given the highest danger ranking by the fire service. Authorities expect that blaze will continue to burn for days and have advised several nearby communities to consider evacuating ahead of worsening weather conditions.

Sun said temperatures in the fire zone on Sunday exceeded 25 degrees Celsius (77 degrees Fahrenheit), with winds reaching 20 kilometers per hour (12 miles per hour) and humidity dropping to 30 percent.

"It's not as dire as it could be, but it's certainly challenging work for firefighters and expected to get worse," Sun said.

The Defense Department, meanwhile, said it was investigating whether there was any link between the Lithgow fire, which started Wednesday, and military exercises using explosives at a nearby training range on the same day.

"Defense is investigating if the two events are linked," the department said in a statement on Saturday.

Sun said the cause of the fire was also under investigation by fire authorities and would be made public when determined.

Arson investigators are examining the origins of several of more than 100 fires that have threatened towns surrounding Sydney in recent days.

Rural Fire Service Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons said the weather was forecast to deteriorate further over Monday and Tuesday.

"The worst of that weather will be probably culminating on Wednesday, but (there won't be) much relief in the intervening period," he told Australian Broadcasting Corp.

The wildfires have been extraordinarily intense and early in an annual fire season that peaks during the southern hemisphere summer, which begins in December.

Wildfires are common in Australia, though they don't tend to pop up in large numbers until the summer. This year's unusually dry winter and hotter than average spring have led to perfect fire conditions.

In February 2009, wildfires killed 173 people and destroyed more than 2,000 homes in Victoria state.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

QR Code to High temperatures and winds worsen Australian wildfires
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Latest-News-Wires/2013/1020/High-temperatures-and-winds-worsen-Australian-wildfires
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe