The Star Malaysia

Australian bushfires ease as damage mounts after record heat

-

Sydney:

Australia was counting the cost to property and livestock after firefighte­rs battled weekend blazes in some of the hottest conditions on record.

At least 19 homes were destroyed in eastern Australia as emergency teams were sent out to assess the damage after a “catastroph­ic” weekend saw over 100 fire outbreaks, with 2,500 firefighte­rs deployed and thousands more on standby.

About 80 fires continued to burn yesterday, with around a quarter still uncontaine­d, said New South Wales (NSW) state Rural Fire Service Commission­er Shane Fitzsimmon­s, as conditions began to cool.

“We know that there are going to be homes lost. We know that there are going to be plenty of other buildings that have been destroyed.

“There is machinery that has been destroyed and ... we are talking about livestock that has been destroyed as well,” he told reporters yesterday, without giving numbers. While bushfires ravage the Australian landscape every year, land and sea temperatur­es have been pushed up due to climate change, increasing the severity of fire seasons.

A statewide NSW average temperatur­e of 44°

C on Saturday set a new February record, while temperatur­es above 47 were recorded across some parts of the state on Sunday.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull praised the work of emergency workers, many of whom are volunteers.

“We have had in New South Wales the worst fire conditions on record ... and yet, the fires have been contained,” he said, adding that 24 were still raging.

Communitie­s suffered “enormous” loss of property and livestock, he added.

“(But) it could have been much worse and were it not for those great Australian firefighte­rs, it could have been a truly disastrous weekend in New South Wales with those record temperatur­es.”

 ??  ?? Soaring heat: A bushfire raging near Leadville in New South Wales. — AFP
Soaring heat: A bushfire raging near Leadville in New South Wales. — AFP

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from Malaysia