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Australian firefighters battle to save three towns

Thousands of Australian firefighters were yesterday battling to save three small towns from bushfires that have ravaged an area larger than Luxembourg and destroyed 18 homes.

Prime Minister John Howard flew to fire battle zones in the island state of Tasmania and in Victoria, where the worst of the blazes is still raging over more than 3,700km2 of tinder-dry bush.

More than 2,500 firefighters were waging war against the blazes in Victoria alone, where fire has raced through 4,080km2 of land in the past week, officials said.

Two towns in Tasmania, where flames ripped through 18 houses overnight on Monday, were on high alert as an army of firefighters battled to slow the advance of the voracious fires after winds temporarily died down.

Fire crews were carrying out a massive backburning exercise to clear brush near the town of St Marys, home to 1,200 people, and Irish Town, population 600, which lie southwest of Scamander where the 18 homes were destroyed.

"Our message to people is those [who are] adequately prepared [to defend their homes], we encourage them to stay with their properties to help us defend them," said Ken Burns, a Tasmanian Fire Service incident controller.

Residents of the northeastern Victoria town of Glencairn were also put on high alert as a blaze dubbed the "Mount Terrible Fire" bore down on it, sending a shower of burning embers into the sky and spreading the flames.

The town was expected to come under ember attack within 24 hours.
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