Michael Perry, Reuters 6 Feb 09;
SYDNEY (Reuters) - Firefighters with aircraft and thermal imaging equipment tackled bushfires in and near Australia's two largest cities late on Friday as the country's densely populated southeast braced for a major heatwave.
Forecasts that searing hot weather over the weekend could bring the worst bushfires for decades put much of the country on alert, with fire bans in three states and warnings that arsonists would be harshly dealt with.
Nursing homes were warned to be ready after several deaths during a heatwave last week. The temperature in the outback town of Ivanhoe in New South Wales (NSW) state is forecast to reach 47 degrees Celsius (116 Fahrenheit) on Saturday and the coastal cities of Sydney and Melbourne will bake under 40-plus Celsius.
Late on Friday, fire fighters said a fire broke out in a national park in the Sydney suburb of Lane Cove, while another hit the city's northern outskirts.
"We are going through mopping up operations at the moment," Superintendant Paul McGuiggan of the NSW fire service told Reuters. "We really want to ensure that through the night there's no chance of others. We have got crews working their way through the bush with thermal imaging cameras."
Aircraft were also water-bombing a fire east of Melbourne where 120 ha (300 acres) of parkland was destroyed, Victoria's Country Fire Authority said.
A spokesman said there were fears the fire in the Bunyip State Park could spread on Saturday. "It is still going. It is not under control," the spokesman said.
BRACED FOR WORST DAY EVER
Tens of thousands of firefighters are on standby to cope with bushfire outbreaks, with authorities in Victoria state warning Saturday's conditions could be worse than those that led to the deadly "Ash Wednesday" fires of 1983, which killed 75.
"It's just going to be probably ... the worst day ever in the history of the state in terms of temperatures and winds," Victoria state premier John Brumby told reporters on Friday.
"The state is just tinder dry, so people need to exercise real commonsense tomorrow, if you don't need to go out don't go out, it's a seriously bad day," he said.
Authorities fear the heatwave, which last week caused major blackouts and left thousands of residents without air conditioning, could again be fatal to the elderly.
There were 22 "sudden deaths" in Adelaide last Friday at the height of the heatwave and several in Melbourne.
"This is about protecting our nation's frail and aged," said Minister for Aging Justine Elliot, in warning nursing homes to prepare for the heatwave. Nursing homes in southeast Australia care for some 170,000 residents.
South Australia's main morgue was now almost full with 71 bodies, a temporary morgue has been hired, and elective surgery delayed as hospitals try to cope with more than 600 heat-related cases, said local media.
Rail authorities in Sydney have ordered a slowdown of the network to try and avoid accidents if rail lines buckle, as they did in last week's heatwave in Melbourne and Adelaide.
Three train lines in Adelaide will be closed on Saturday.
Emergency officials have imposed fire bans in three states, warning that arsonists would be severely dealt with.
"The government obviously has absolutely no tolerance for arsonists," NSW state Emergency Services Minister Steve Whan told reporters.
(Editing by Jeremy Laurence)
Fires to follow floods as wild weather hits Australia
Amy Coopes Fri Yahoo News 6 Feb 09;
SYDNEY (AFP) – Eastern Australia braced for more fires and floods Friday as the south faced extreme heat and heavy rain threatened to swell floodwaters ravaging the north.
A once-in-a-century heatwave was forecast to intensify over the weekend with high temperatures and dry winds producing the worst wildfire conditions in 25 years, authorities said.
"We're talking about fire danger that hasn't been seen since Ash Wednesday coming up on Saturday," said Ron Patterson, an environment department spokesman from Victoria state.
The Ash Wednesday fires of 1983 killed 75 people and devastated large areas of Australia's southeast, wiping out some 2,500 homes.
The mercury is expected to top 44 degrees in Sydney, Australia's largest city, on Sunday, with temperatures in excess of 46 degrees forecast for inland areas.
Much of the southeast has sweltered under record temperatures this summer, with wildfires destroying at least 29 homes last week and dozens of mainly elderly people dying of heat-related stress.
The temperature in the South Australian capital Adelaide soared to above 42 degrees on Friday and authorities warned of worse to come.
"The fire danger forecast for Saturday may be as extreme as we've seen in South Australia for a number of years," said fire service spokesman Euan Ferguson.
A 120-hectare blaze was Friday threatening to break containment lines and threaten property in Victoria's Gippsland region, with the state's premier John Brumby describing conditions as "tinder-dry".
Almost 40 separate fires raged in the neighbouring state of New South Wales, where 70,000 volunteer firefighters will be on standby throughout the weekend.
Adding to the fear is the knowledge that many of Australia's wildfires are lit by arsonists.
Police are hunting fire starters believed to have sparked last week's fire that destroyed nearly 30 homes in Victoria state.
The government's Australian Institute of Criminology released a report on Sunday which said half of the nation's 20,000 to 30,000 bushfires each year are deliberately lit.
But in the northeast, floodwaters have devastated more than one million square kilometres (385,000 square miles), inundating homes, destroying at least a fifth of the region's sugar cane fields and stranding tens of thousands of cattle.
"There are cattle suffering pretty seriously," said Cattle Council of Australia president Greg Brown.
"There is some mortality rate, just how great that is at this stage is pretty hard to tell, but it's going to be, I think, substantial."
Farmers unable to move produce due to the floods were facing millions of dollars in losses, while the army was preparing to drop food into some towns that have been cut off for up to a week.
The deluge, which followed two recent cyclones, hit almost 3,000 homes, forcing dozens of evacuations and leaving scores of people stranded.
Some towns in the Gulf of Carpentaria region could remain inaccessible by road for another six weeks, authorities have warned.
Further heavy rains are expected, as a tropical low hovers off the coast, the weather bureau said.
Meteorologists have warned the extreme temperatures and downpours -- a common feature of Australian summers -- would only increase as a result of climate change.
