Australia Races to Control Major Blaze before Weather Worsens
Firefighters battled Monday to contain a major blaze ahead of the forecast return of strong winds and a heatwave following the loss of a dozen homes in the worst bushfire conditions in South Australia for three decades, officials said.
The state fire service said properties were still at risk after nearly 13,000 hectares of scrub and farmland were razed in the Mount Lofty Ranges, east of Adelaide, over the weekend.
South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill said that with cooler weather and calmer winds forecast for Monday and Tuesday, it was now a race against time before the tougher conditions expected Wednesday in the Adelaide Hills.
"This is by no means over," Weatherill told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation on Monday.
"We're really racing against time to try to make sure that we get as much of this contained before the hotter weather and the stronger winds are expected later in the week."
Weatherill confirmed the loss of 12 homes and said the fate of 20 more feared to have been destroyed would be known later in the day.
At least 29 people, mostly firefighters, have suffered minor injuries from the fire, police said.
In Kersbrook, one of the worst hit villages in the Adelaide Hills, resident Dave Miller, surveyed the scene of destruction where his home once stood.
The 60-year-old told the Australian Associated Press he had very little left. "No house, not very much of anything, mate."
"I've got a diesel tank still standing with 4,000 liters of diesel in but I've got nothing else," he said.
"I've got full rainwater tanks with fire pumps attached to them that just disintegrated."
But like most residents Miller vowed to rebuild and has no intention of leaving, despite the annual bushfire menace.
"I'll stay up here. I'll get a caravan or something to live in and just keep going."
- Temperatures soar -
Temperatures were forecast to soar again to 38 degrees Celsius (100 degrees Fahrenheit) on Wednesday after highs of well over 40C at the weekend in the Adelaide Hills, which has a population of 40,000 and is dotted with scenic villages known for farming produce and wineries.
Country fire service chief Greg Nettleton said the winds were key to the next stage of the operation.
"At the moment I think they're predicting [winds of] about 35 kilometres per hour (21 miles per hour).
"That's enough given the dryness of the country for the fire to spread, so our number one priority is to secure the outer perimeter of that large fire so it doesn't impact on further communities," Nettleton said
Hundreds of firefighters from the neighbouring states of Victoria and New South Wales joined their South Australian counterparts Sunday, taking the total crew battling the blaze to more than 800, although the numbers dropped to 500 on Monday.
State officials said the weekend fire conditions were the worst since a 1983 disaster killed more than 70 people in South Australia and Victoria and destroyed thousands of homes and buildings.
The fire service downgraded an emergency warning on Sunday, but noted the blaze continued to burn freely in all directions.
In Victoria, cooler temperatures Sunday saw bushfire warnings downgraded across the state. Officials said thousands of livestock were believed to have been lost.
Three blazes were still burning in Victoria on Monday but no communities were under threat.
Bushfires are common in Australia's hot summer months and "Black Saturday", the worst firestorm in recent years, devastated southern Victoria in 2009, razing thousands of homes and killing 173 people.
Source: Agence France Presse
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