Exhausted firefighters yesterday said they had finally brought Australia’s largest “megablaze” under control, as wet weather promised to deliver much-needed respite for countryside ravaged by bushfires.
New South Wales (NSW) firefighters said they finally had the upper hand in the fight against the vast Gospers Mountain fire on Sydney’s northwestern outskirts, which has been burning for almost three months.
Visiting the area yesterday, NSW Rural Fire Service Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons said there was a “small area of burning still to complete,” but the “containment prognosis looks promising.”
Photo: AP / Maxar Technologies
The fire seared an area of national park three times the size of Greater London and lit several connected blazes totaling more than 800,000 hectares.
As residents and authorities continued to come to grips with the sheer scale of the devastation, the Australian Bureau of Meteorology forecast some firegrounds areas could get up to 50 millimeters of rain in the next week, a relief after a prolonged drought.
If that forecast bears out, the NSW Rural Fire Service said it would be “all of our Christmas, birthday, engagement, anniversary, wedding and graduation presents rolled into one. Fingers crossed.”
Photo: EPA-EFE
Dozens of other fires are yet to be controlled. The climate change-fueled fires have prompted an international outpouring and donations from around the world to help communities and animal populations.
Australian Minister for the Environment Sussan Ley has warned that in some areas, koalas might have to be reclassified as endangered.
The government has earmarked an initial A$50 million (US$35 million) to spend on helping with the wildlife recovery.
“This has been an ecological disaster, a disaster that is still unfolding,” Australian Treasurer Josh Frydenberg announcing the emergency fund he visited the Port Macquarie Koala Hospital, where 45 koalas were being treated for burns.
“We know that our native flora and fauna have been very badly damaged,” he said.
In a mission dubbed Operation Rock Wallaby, national park staff used helicopters to air drop thousands of kilos of carrots and sweet potatoes to brush-tailed rock wallabies in remote areas of NSW.
“The provision of supplementary food is one of the key strategies we are deploying to promote the survival and recovery of endangered species like the brush-tailed rock wallaby,” NSW Minister of Environment Matt Kean said. “The wallabies typically survive the fire itself, but are then left stranded with limited natural food as the fire takes out the vegetation around their rocky habitat.”
Frydenberg said the “iconic” koala would be a focus of national government funding, adding that the full extent of the damage would not be known until the fires are out — something experts say could be months away.
The political impact of the bushfires, which have razed more than 11.2 million hectares, nearly half the area of the UK, is also coming into sharper relief.
A poll released yesterday showed Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s approval ratings have nosedived in the face of widespread anger over his handling of the deadly crisis.
The Newspoll survey showed 59 percent of voters are dissatisfied with the conservative leader’s performance overall, and only 37 percent were satisfied, an abrupt reversal since his shock election win in May last year.
Morrison has been criticized heavily for his response to the months-long crisis — which included going on holiday to Hawaii, making a series of gaffes and misleading statements about his government’s actions, and forcing angry victims to shake his hand.
Additional reporting by Reuters
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