Post by Queen of the Damned on Feb 13, 2009 21:02:45 GMT -5
Australian Bushfires Burn in Southeast as U.S. Sends
By Angela Macdonald-Smith
Feb. 14 (Bloomberg) -- Twelve bushfires remain burning throughout Australia’s Victoria state as the U.S. said it will send 60 experienced wilderness firefighters to help tackle Australia’s deadliest blazes on record.
Two or three blazes are burning out of control, while cooler temperatures and lighter winds have enabled “good progress” in other regions, said Sally Bateman, a spokeswoman at the Country Fire Authority. The U.S. is sending firefighters in response to a request from the Victorian government, U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar said in a statement.
The death toll from the fires, which started a week ago, stands at 181 and the coroner is prepared for as many as 300 bodies, according to Victorian Police Commissioner Christine Nixon. Prime Minister Kevin Rudd on Feb. 12 promised to introduce an early warning system for bushfires that would send alerts to mobile phones and landlines in threatened areas.
“Australia is experiencing an unprecedented wildfire season due to record high temperatures, drought, high wind and low humidity,” Salazar said in the statement.
The U.S. firefighters will be deployed for up to 35 days, Salazar said. They will join about 4,200 already battling the fires, including some from Canada and New Zealand, Bateman said.
More than 450,000 hectares (1.1 million acres) of land has been destroyed, according to the Country Fire Authority. Damage from the blazes may total more than A$2 billion ($1.3 billion), Standard & Poor’s said this week. An estimated 1,834 homes have been lost, up from an earlier estimate of about 1,000, while about 7,000 people have been left homeless.
Suspected Arson
As many as 100 of the 500 residents of Marysville, a town 60 kilometers (30 miles) northeast of the state capital, Melbourne, may have died, according to Nixon. Residents who left before the fires will get their first chance today to see what remains of the town when they are taken by bus, accompanied by counselors and police, Sky News reported.
Police suspect the fire in the Marysville region may have been deliberately lit. A man was charged today with arson over separate fires in the town of Churchill, southeast of Melbourne, that killed at least 21 people. He was charged with arson causing death, intentionally or recklessly lighting a bushfire and possessing child pornography, police said in a statement.
Two weeks of record high temperatures, that reached 46.4 degrees Celsius (115 degrees Fahrenheit) in Melbourne, and hot northerly gales across southeast Australia made conditions last weekend worse than in February 1983, when 75 people in Victoria and neighboring South Australia died in what are known as the Ash Wednesday fires.
Milder weather has allowed authorities to build so-called containment lines to slow the progress of fires by bulldozing away scrub and forest. The Bureau of Meteorology is still warning of “high” fire danger today in the state, reaching “very high” over the northwest.
Royal Commission
A fire in the Yea-Murrindindi region to the northeast of Melbourne is among those still causing concern, the Fire Authority’s Bateman said. Fires at Bunyip Ridge and Maroondah- Yarra are also still burning out of control, she said.
A Royal Commission that will examine “every aspect” of the fires will be chaired by Justice Bernard Teague, who retired from the Supreme Court last year, Premier John Brumbysaid yesterday.
“Victorians rightly want and deserve to know all the details about how the bushfires occurred,” Brumby said. Rebuilding efforts will start with community buildings such as schools, he said.
To contact the reporter on this story: Angela Macdonald-Smith in Sydney at amacdonaldsm@bloomberg.net
Last Updated: February 13, 2009 20:05 EST
www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601080&sid=aTVJfS7Sepac&refer=asia
By Angela Macdonald-Smith
Feb. 14 (Bloomberg) -- Twelve bushfires remain burning throughout Australia’s Victoria state as the U.S. said it will send 60 experienced wilderness firefighters to help tackle Australia’s deadliest blazes on record.
Two or three blazes are burning out of control, while cooler temperatures and lighter winds have enabled “good progress” in other regions, said Sally Bateman, a spokeswoman at the Country Fire Authority. The U.S. is sending firefighters in response to a request from the Victorian government, U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar said in a statement.
The death toll from the fires, which started a week ago, stands at 181 and the coroner is prepared for as many as 300 bodies, according to Victorian Police Commissioner Christine Nixon. Prime Minister Kevin Rudd on Feb. 12 promised to introduce an early warning system for bushfires that would send alerts to mobile phones and landlines in threatened areas.
“Australia is experiencing an unprecedented wildfire season due to record high temperatures, drought, high wind and low humidity,” Salazar said in the statement.
The U.S. firefighters will be deployed for up to 35 days, Salazar said. They will join about 4,200 already battling the fires, including some from Canada and New Zealand, Bateman said.
More than 450,000 hectares (1.1 million acres) of land has been destroyed, according to the Country Fire Authority. Damage from the blazes may total more than A$2 billion ($1.3 billion), Standard & Poor’s said this week. An estimated 1,834 homes have been lost, up from an earlier estimate of about 1,000, while about 7,000 people have been left homeless.
Suspected Arson
As many as 100 of the 500 residents of Marysville, a town 60 kilometers (30 miles) northeast of the state capital, Melbourne, may have died, according to Nixon. Residents who left before the fires will get their first chance today to see what remains of the town when they are taken by bus, accompanied by counselors and police, Sky News reported.
Police suspect the fire in the Marysville region may have been deliberately lit. A man was charged today with arson over separate fires in the town of Churchill, southeast of Melbourne, that killed at least 21 people. He was charged with arson causing death, intentionally or recklessly lighting a bushfire and possessing child pornography, police said in a statement.
Two weeks of record high temperatures, that reached 46.4 degrees Celsius (115 degrees Fahrenheit) in Melbourne, and hot northerly gales across southeast Australia made conditions last weekend worse than in February 1983, when 75 people in Victoria and neighboring South Australia died in what are known as the Ash Wednesday fires.
Milder weather has allowed authorities to build so-called containment lines to slow the progress of fires by bulldozing away scrub and forest. The Bureau of Meteorology is still warning of “high” fire danger today in the state, reaching “very high” over the northwest.
Royal Commission
A fire in the Yea-Murrindindi region to the northeast of Melbourne is among those still causing concern, the Fire Authority’s Bateman said. Fires at Bunyip Ridge and Maroondah- Yarra are also still burning out of control, she said.
A Royal Commission that will examine “every aspect” of the fires will be chaired by Justice Bernard Teague, who retired from the Supreme Court last year, Premier John Brumbysaid yesterday.
“Victorians rightly want and deserve to know all the details about how the bushfires occurred,” Brumby said. Rebuilding efforts will start with community buildings such as schools, he said.
To contact the reporter on this story: Angela Macdonald-Smith in Sydney at amacdonaldsm@bloomberg.net
Last Updated: February 13, 2009 20:05 EST
www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601080&sid=aTVJfS7Sepac&refer=asia
