Oz gets ready to battle new fires

FLARE-UP: STATE OF EMERGENCY DECLARED IN CAPITAL

Heatwave, strong winds and dry land put suburbs at risk.

Australian authorities warned yesterday of severe fire danger in densely populated areas this weekend, declaring a state of emergency in the capital, Canberra, as soaring temperatures and strong wind whipped up huge blazes.

With temperatures above 400C, emergency officials urged people to prepare for fires in parts of the southeast, including hundreds of kilometres of coast south of Sydney that has been badly hit in months of blazes.

“Tomorrow will be the peak of the heatwave in NSW with some areas expected to reach extreme heatwave conditions,” the New South Wales (NSW) state Rural Fire Service said yesterday.

Australia’s bushfires have killed 33 people and an estimated one billion native animals since September. About 2 500 homes have been destroyed as more than 117 000km2 have been razed.

Andrew Barr, chief minister of the Australian Capital Territory (ACT), said the area’s first state of emergency since fatal wildfires in 2003, indicated the danger this weekend. Four people were killed and almost 500 homes destroyed.

Officials said an out-of-control fire in the ACT’s south, on the doorstep of Canberra, had grown to 185km2, almost 8% of the territory’s land mass.

“This fire may become very unpredictable. It may become uncontrollable,” Barr said in a televised briefing. “The combination of extreme heat, wind, and a dry landscape will place suburbs in Canberra’s south at risk.”

The state of emergency will run for 72 hours, giving authorities greater powers to order evacuations, close roads and take control of property.

Victoria state, which adjoins NSW and ACT, is also expected to see heatwave conditions.

In New Zealand, firefighters were battling to contain about 25 fires that spread rapidly to cover about 100 hectares on the South Island. –