Bushfires

[Célinefull]

CANBERRA, Australia (Reuters) -- Australia's military on Thursday rushed to help battle bushfires that threaten to merge into a giant fire-front ahead of what authorities said could be one of the most dangerous weekends for blazes in the country's south.

 

Army bulldozers and fuel tankers were sent to Victoria state in the country's southeast, where 1,800 firefighters are struggling to contain 50 blazes burning in the rugged, inaccessible mountains of the Victorian Alps.

 

An urgent call for help was also sent to New Zealand and Victorian state Premier Steve Bracks said he hoped about 40 remote-area specialist firefighters would arrive ahead of four days in which temperatures were tipped to soar to 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit).

 

"It is a critical time now, but it is more critical as we approach this weekend," Bracks told reporters. "It's going to be one of our most difficult fire weekends in the history of this state."

 

Firefighters say Australia faces an extreme fire danger this summer after a worsening drought left rural areas bone dry. Scientists fear climate change will bring more frequent higher temperatures and less rainfall to parts of Australia.

 

Authorities said the blazes stretching 150 kilometers (93 miles) from the central King Valley to the southern coast could destroy more than 600,000 hectares (1.4 million acres) in coming days as fires merged in the face of strong winds.

 

A 25-kilometer-wide smoke plume covered Australia's east coast in photos taken from space and shown in newspapers.

 

Fire authority spokesman Greg Leach said at least seven towns were under immediate threat.

 

"We had a number of larger fires merge overnight. We've had 10 years of drought in Victoria and the forests are extremely dry, and we are seeing fire behavior that we haven't witnessed before," Leach said.

 

In neighboring New South Wales there was some relief with the discovery that large fires burning there had not destroyed one of the healthiest remaining colonies of koalas in the country, as earlier feared.

 

Leach said four houses had been destroyed in Victoria and residents in Dargo, Licola, Bairnsdale and Maffra towns would have to decide whether to flee or fight approaching blazes.

 

"Obviously firefighter safety and the safety of the community are our key objectives, but we are going to try and control these fires," he said.

 

In January 2005, the deadliest bushfires in 22 years killed nine people in South Australia.

 

Four people were killed and 530 homes destroyed in Canberra in 2003. That same year, bushfires fueled by drought ravaged a slice of Australia three times the size of Britain.

 

Over the past 40 years, more than 250 people have been killed in bushfires in Australia.

 

I went outside this morning and I could smell burning wood..and it's all hazy everywhere..it's quite disgusting actually. Rain is expected on Sunday so hopefully then they will stop. The problem is that the eucalyptus oil explodes and keeps burning ( ) even if the fire stops...because it's highly flammable and explosive.. Hopefully no one will be killed.

[celinefanonline]

so you alright??

i saw the news here NZ and it's very serious...