Bush fires in parts of south-east Australia amid spring heatwave
A bush fire in Australia's Victoria state more than trebled overnight, and the authorities urged residents in a remote part of Tasmania state to evacuate as a spring heatwave fanned fires across the country's south-east.
Around 17,000ha were ablaze on Tuesday in the eastern part of Victoria state's Gippsland region after high winds spread fires overnight, according to the state fire authorities, who had deployed some 650 firefighters, Reuters reports.
"We moved in strike teams in the very early hours of this morning," said Mr Jason Heffernan, chief officer of Country Fire Authority, Victoria. "It is quite a large fire spread across a large area...Read More : Europe heatwave: No respite in sight for heat-stricken southern Europe It's proving to be quite difficult, burning in private property but also some pine plantations." Across the Bass Strait in Tasmania state, residents on the northern edge of Flinders Island were told to evacuate because of an out-of-control bush fire.
Fires are being stoked by hot, dry winds across the south-east as the country experiences an unseasonably hot spring.
Australia began spring with its driest September on record, according to the Bureau of Meteorology, with rainfall 71 per cent below the 1961 to 1990 average.
Conditions are expected to change rapidly in Victoria on Tuesday afternoon, with heavy rain expected to help douse fires but potentially trigger flash flooding. "It's very concerning," said Mr Heffernan. "There's a bit of a running joke down here in Victoria that you can expect four seasons in one day, and I gotta tell you, today, they're not wrong."
Hot and dry conditions also led the New South Wales authorities on Tuesday to ban open fires across large swathes of the state, including the greater Sydney region. There were 82 fires burning across the state, 16 not contained, on Tuesday morning.
Temperatures are expected to hit 37 deg C in Sydney's west on Tuesday afternoon.
Around 17,000ha were ablaze on Tuesday in the eastern part of Victoria state's Gippsland region after high winds spread fires overnight, according to the state fire authorities, who had deployed some 650 firefighters, Reuters reports.
"We moved in strike teams in the very early hours of this morning," said Mr Jason Heffernan, chief officer of Country Fire Authority, Victoria. "It is quite a large fire spread across a large area...
Fires are being stoked by hot, dry winds across the south-east as the country experiences an unseasonably hot spring.
Australia began spring with its driest September on record, according to the Bureau of Meteorology, with rainfall 71 per cent below the 1961 to 1990 average.
Conditions are expected to change rapidly in Victoria on Tuesday afternoon, with heavy rain expected to help douse fires but potentially trigger flash flooding. "It's very concerning," said Mr Heffernan. "There's a bit of a running joke down here in Victoria that you can expect four seasons in one day, and I gotta tell you, today, they're not wrong."
Hot and dry conditions also led the New South Wales authorities on Tuesday to ban open fires across large swathes of the state, including the greater Sydney region. There were 82 fires burning across the state, 16 not contained, on Tuesday morning.
Temperatures are expected to hit 37 deg C in Sydney's west on Tuesday afternoon.
Source: dailyasianage.com
