‘Shocking’ Australia bushfire destroys 33 homes, burns over 150 square miles of land
By Ilya Gridneff and Kristen Amiet
15 January 2013 (Sydney Morning Herald) – The worst bushfires in NSW for more than a decade have ripped through the state’s north-west, taking 33 homes and destroying 40,000 hectares [154 square miles] of land. More than 80 Rural Fire Service volunteers supported by 18 aircraft spent most of Monday trying to contain the 100-kilometre wide front that burned through the Warrumbungle National Park near Coonabarabran. About 100 people living in the area were forced to evacuate their homes and the RFS on Monday night said the blaze remained ”a large and dangerous bushfire” that was worse than the Black Christmas fires in 2001. On Monday night there were 125 bushfires burning in NSW, 30 of which were uncontained. The acting Premier, Andrew Stoner, described the bushfire season so far as ”a hell of a week” but while milder temperatures helped firefighters on Monday, winds and temperatures were expected to increase by Friday. The Bureau of Meteorology said most of the state would be in the high 20s to mid-30s with Sydney temperatures rising from 30 degrees on Wednesday to 37 on Friday. Bourke is forecast to be in the high 30s for most of the week, peaking at 40 degrees on Saturday. As Australia recovers from last week’s record-breaking temperatures, the head of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Rajendra Pachauri, said it was clear heatwaves were occurring more frequently, and would increase further as the planet warms. […] An RFS spokesman said the Warrumbungle National Park fire had been ”absolutely shocking”. ”At one point there was a smoke plume rising 14 kilometres in the air. The fire was so big and there was so much smoke, it was shocking,” he said. ”It’s still not under control. It’s still burning in the Bugaldie area. It’s been a big effort to get around it. ”The winds, the temperature, the low humidity, just shocking.” [more]
