Astate of emergency
has been declared in New South Wales as firefighters battle the worst bushfires seen in the state for “decades and decades”.
The declaration gives the Australian authorities special powers to deal with “whatever eventualities may arise”, the state’s premier Barry O’Farrell said. For the next 30 days, firefighters will be able to force evacuations, demolish any building and order the public to leave or enter an area, with any attempt to prevent them doing so a criminal offence.
The wildfires are some of the worst ever to strike Australia’s most populous state, and are expected to worsen as unreasonably high temperatures and strong winds make tackling them increasingly challenging.
There are also serious concerns that the three largest blazes, two in the Blue Mountains and one near the town of Lithgow, could combine to form one massive fire and threaten the suburbs of Sydney itself.
So far the fires have destroyed 208 homes, damaged another 122 and led to the death of one man — possibly due to a heart attack, the Rural Fire Service said.
Rural Fire Service Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons said the weather was forecast to deteriorate further over Monday and Tuesday and, according to live crisis updates from the Sydney Morning Herald, appeared alongside O’Farrell to say that you had to go back “decades and decades” to find comparable spring bushfires.
Though wildfires are common in Australia, they tend not to occur in large numbers until the summer. An unusually dry winter and hotter than average spring have created conditions which lend themselves to these unseasonable blazes. THE INDEPENDENT
has been declared in New South Wales as firefighters battle the worst bushfires seen in the state for “decades and decades”.
The declaration gives the Australian authorities special powers to deal with “whatever eventualities may arise”, the state’s premier Barry O’Farrell said. For the next 30 days, firefighters will be able to force evacuations, demolish any building and order the public to leave or enter an area, with any attempt to prevent them doing so a criminal offence.
The wildfires are some of the worst ever to strike Australia’s most populous state, and are expected to worsen as unreasonably high temperatures and strong winds make tackling them increasingly challenging.
There are also serious concerns that the three largest blazes, two in the Blue Mountains and one near the town of Lithgow, could combine to form one massive fire and threaten the suburbs of Sydney itself.
So far the fires have destroyed 208 homes, damaged another 122 and led to the death of one man — possibly due to a heart attack, the Rural Fire Service said.
Rural Fire Service Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons said the weather was forecast to deteriorate further over Monday and Tuesday and, according to live crisis updates from the Sydney Morning Herald, appeared alongside O’Farrell to say that you had to go back “decades and decades” to find comparable spring bushfires.
Though wildfires are common in Australia, they tend not to occur in large numbers until the summer. An unusually dry winter and hotter than average spring have created conditions which lend themselves to these unseasonable blazes. THE INDEPENDENT
NATURE’S FURY: A fire service volunteer on Sunday tries to put out a blaze in the town of Bell in New South Wales as emergency was declared in the Australian state. Wildfires near Sydney are likely to worsen over the next few days beacuse of hot and windy weather
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