Schools close as Australia braces for more wildfires
MELBOURNE, Feb 26 (AFP) Feb 26, 2009 – Hundreds of Australian schools and childcare centres will be closed Friday because of a resurgent threat from wildfires that have already killed more than 200 people, officials said. … Temperatures of 39 degrees Celsius (102 degrees Fahrenheit) are expected across the state on Friday, raising fears that the heat and wind will stoke five major fires still burning or that lightning will start new ones. Three schools burnt down on "Black Saturday" — February 7 — when temperatures of up to 46 C combined with high winds to raze more than 2,000 houses and kill a total of 210 people. "This certainly is an extreme set of circumstances. We’ve got a tinder-dry environment and existing fires. The risk is very great on Friday," Pike said. On Thursday, a heavy pall of smoke drifted across the eastern suburbs of the capital Melbourne as more than 3,000 firefighters worked on building defences against Friday’s feared conflagration. …
