Heavy rain yesterday was raising hopes for an end to Australia’s unprecedented bushfire crisis, as downpours doused blazes that have burned out of control for months.
The devastating fires, fueled by prolonged drought and record-high temperatures, have raged since September last year, burning more than 10 million hectares and killing 33 people.
An estimated 1 billion animals have perished in the fires that have destroyed more than 2,500 homes.
Photo: Reuters
The rains in New South Wales, which began earlier in the week in some areas and are forecast to extend into next week, are expected to drench a number of the remaining fires and help contain others.
“It’s breaking the back of this bushfire season, there’s no doubt about it,” New South Wales Rural Fire Service Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons said.
By yesterday afternoon there were no bushfires burning in New South Wales at the most dangerous emergency or “watch-and-act” levels — a situation virtually unseen in almost six months.
Beleaguered volunteer firefighters who have fought the blazes day in, day out declared themselves “over the moon” at the rain.
Even Fitzsimmons — who became the public face of the crisis through stoic daily TV briefings and consoling children, who, like him, lost their firefighting fathers in bushfires — expressed his joy at listening to the rain fall overnight and driving with windshield wipers on.
“Obviously, we don’t want to see lots of widespread damage and destruction from flooding, but it is certainly a welcome change to the relentless campaign of hot, dry weather,” Fitzsimmons told Australian Broadcasting Corp.
As the bushfire crisis abates, authorities are now bracing for possible flooding.
The Australian Bureau of Meteorology issued a string of flood warnings and said some parts of New South Wales would see their highest rainfall in four years.
Bushfires are an annual problem during the summer, but the flared earlier than usual after months of drought and high temperatures linked to climate change.
“Even if we get a return to hot, dry weather, which has the potential as we go through the balance of February and into March, of course, we’re certainly not going to have the underlying conditions of such profound moisture deficit and drought” of past months, Fitzsimmons said.
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