Reuters AlertNet Lite - Kinder weather helps fight against Australia fires

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Kinder weather helps fight against Australia fires

23 Nov 2006 07:43:18 GMT
Source: Reuters

SYDNEY, Nov 23 (Reuters) - Milder weather helped firefighters make significant inroads against dozens of bushfires burning across southeast Australia on Thursday but authorities said the danger was not over.

More than 50 fires were still burning across New South Wales, Australia's most populous state, with tens of thousands of hectares of tinder-dry land already burnt out.

Three firefighters were injured as they battled one of the biggest blazes near the township of Molong, about 250 km (155 miles) west of Sydney.

"One was injured from smoke inhalation and two were injured by trees that fell," Rural Fire Service spokesman Simon Heemstra said, adding that none of the injuries was serious.

The body of an elderly man had been found tangled in a wire fence on Tuesday after a small grassfire south of Sydney which was not related to the major blazes.

Firefighters say Australia faces an extreme fire danger this summer after a worsening drought left rural areas bone dry. Scientists fear that climate change will bring more frequent higher temperatures and less rainfall.

Winds of up to 100 kph (62 mph) fanned a major blaze in the Blue Mountains on Sydney's western outskirts on Wednesday.

But cooler, calmer weather on Thursday helped firefighters who lit backburning fires to consume some of the tinder-dry undergrowth as well as steer the blazes away from townships.

The flames were only about 2.5 km (1.5 miles) from the township of Mount Tomah and were still burning out of control but officials said mild weather was forecast for the next two days.

The threat from fires flared again in the southwest of neighbouring Victoria state, where one blaze had already burnt out 10,000 hectares (25,000 acres) since it began 10 days ago.

Water-bombing aircraft joined firefighters trying to control that blaze but their efforts were being hampered by hot, dry conditions and inaccessible terrain.

The fire had escaped containment lines and officials were concerned no rain was expected.

"If you could order it for me, I would take buckets full of it," firefighting official Bill Spears told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio.

In January 2004, the deadliest bushfires in 22 years killed nine people injured in South Australia.

Four people were killed and 530 homes destroyed in Canberra in 2003. That same year, bushfires fuelled by drought ravaged a slice of Australia three times the size of Britain. (Reporting by Paul Tait, editing by Roger Crabb; paul.tait@reuters.com; Reuters Messaging: paul.tait.reuters.com@reuters.net; +612 9373-1811))

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Last updated:Thu Nov 23 07:45:30 2006