Months of bush fires ahead says Aussie PM

RAGING bush fires devastating Australia could burn for months, the country’s prime minister said yesterday.

The warning from Scott Morrison, who has been criticised for his lacklustre response to the crisis, came amid a warning of imminent high winds and rising temperatures.

Forecasters said temperatures will rise rapidly by Friday in New South Wales. Winds of up to 80mph will add to the peril.

Burning

The fires, which have killed 26 and destroyed more than 1,200 homes, are currently so fierce that rain in NSW had no effect.

And the skies in Auckland, New Zealand – 1,300 miles from Sydney – were last night turned orange by smoke.

Yesterday, as almost 200 fires were still burning across the country, naturalists warned that up to 500 million animals could be affected so far.

Sheep and cattle have been caught, while kangaroos and koalas – among the hardest-hit species because of their slow movement and habitat among the eucalyptus trees – have also died in large numbers.

Kangaroo Island off the coast near Adelaide, dubbed Australia’s Galapagos Islands because of its wealth of species, has been badly affected.

As well as thousands of koalas and kangaroos killed, the fires may have completely wiped out the rare black cockatoo and a mouse-like marsupial, the dunnart.

Sam Mitchell, co-owner of the Kangaroo Island Wildlife Park, said: “It’s been quite emotional.” Meanwhile, a fundraising Facebook page for the tragedy, launched by comicCeleste Barber, topped £10million yesterday.

Donors included Aussie actress Nicole Kidman, who pledged £270,000.

Farmer, left, in Victoria surveys the ruins. A saved koala and, below, vehicles on roads filled with smoke