Extreme fire danger grips Australia’s south-east amid heatwave

SYDNEY – Australia’s south-east sweltered in a heatwave on Jan 27, raising the bushfire risk and prompting the authorities to issue fire bans for several parts of Victoria state.

The extreme temperatures brought back memories of the

catastrophic 2019 to 2020 “Black Summer”

that saw fires destroy an area the size of Turkey, killing 33 people and billions of animals.

On Jan 27, the nation’s weather forecaster warned that the temperature could reach 41 deg C in Victoria’s capital Melbourne, more than 14 deg C above the city’s mean maximum temperature for January.

The authorities rated the fire danger at extreme, the second-highest danger rating, in five Victorian regions on Jan 27.

Senior meteorologist Dean Narramore at Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology told the Australian Broadcasting Corp that the hot and windy conditions could spark “big fires” ahead of a cool change due in Victoria later on Feb 2.

Elsewhere, the states of New South Wales, South Australia, Western Australia, Queensland and the Northern Territory were under heatwave alerts on Jan 27, the forecaster said on its website.

In New South Wales, Australia’s most populous state, Mr Narramore said “low to severe heatwave conditions” were expected on Jan 27, forecasting the heatwave to intensify there on Jan 28. REUTERS