Man burned as massive wildfire forms

BURRAGATE, AUSTRALIA >> Two wildfires have merged to form a massive inferno in southeast Australia, and a man suffered serious burns protecting a home during a night of treacherous conditions during the nation’s unprecedented fire crisis.

Authorities were assessing the damage after firefighters battled flames fanned by strong winds through the night and lightning strikes sparked new blazes in New South Wales and Victoria, Australia’s most populous states. Conditions were expected to be milder today and forecast to remain relatively benign for the next week.

“In the scheme of things, we did OK last night,” Victorian Emergency Management Commissioner Andrew Crisp said.

New South Wales Rural Fire Service Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons told reporters that officials were “extremely relieved” the fires were not been more destructive overnight.

A man suffered burns protecting a home and was airlifted to a Sydney hospital in serious condition to undergo surgery, Fitzsimmons said. Several firefighters received minor burns, and one suffered shortness of breath but were not admitted to a hospital, he said.

With no heavy rain expected, the 2,300-square-mile fire in southern New

South Wales near the Victoria border is expected to burn for weeks, officials said.

The fire crisis in southeast Australia has killed at least 26 people, destroyed more than 2,000 homes and scorched an area twice the size of the U.S. state of Maryland since September.

It also has brought accusations that Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s conservative government needs to take more action to counter climate change, which experts say worsens the blazes. Thousands of protesters rallied late Friday in Sydney and Melbourne, calling for Morrison to be fired and for Australia to take tougher action on global warming.

The protesters carried placards saying, “We deserve more than your negligence,” “This is ecosystem collapse” and “We can’t breathe,” referring to wildfire smoke that has choked both cities.

On Friday, thousands of people in the path of fires fled to evacuation centers, while some chose to ignore evacuation orders and stayed to defend their homes.

Evan Harris, who lives in the New South Wales rural village of Burragate, said police and fire crews told him he should leave his cottage because of the threat. He told them he wasn’t going anywhere.

Burragate was choked with smoke for several hours Friday and was directly in a fire’s path.