Australian bush fire season

waltky

Wise ol' monkey
Feb 6, 2011
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Military exercise sparked big Australian wildfire
Oct 24, `13 -- Fire officials defended Australia's defense department on Thursday after investigators revealed a military training exercise ignited the largest of the wildfires that have torn across the nation's most populous state over the past week.
The Rural Fire Service said Wednesday that one of the more than 100 fires that have burned since last week began at a Defense Department training area as a result of "live ordnance exercises." The fire it sparked near the city of Lithgow, west of Sydney, has burned 47,000 hectares (180 square miles) and destroyed several houses, but no injuries or deaths were reported from the blaze. In a statement, Acting Defense Minister George Brandis said the military was cooperating with investigators.

Rural Fire Service commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons said the defense department's actions were obviously an accident. "It wasn't deliberate; it was a side effect of a routine activity, it would appear, and clearly there was no intention to see fire start up and run as a result of that activity," Fitzsimmons said. "There is no conspiracy here."

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A firefighter mops up after a firestorm swept through a property in Bilpin, 75 kilometers (47 miles) from Sydney, Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2013. Scores of Australians evacuated their homes in mountains west of Sydney on Wednesday as intensifying winds fanned wildfires and grounded the helicopters that were fighting them.

Meanwhile, police said a pilot helping fight a fire near Ulladulla, south of Sydney, was killed when his fixed-wing aircraft crashed in a remote area Thursday morning. The 43-year-old man was the only person on board. "We are trying to recover the pilot from the scene but are being challenged by weather conditions and nearby fire," New South Wales police Superintendent Joe Cassar told reporters in Nowra, a city near Ulladulla. The fires over the past week have killed one resident and destroyed more than 200 homes in New South Wales state. Sixty-five fires were burning Thursday, with 24 out of control, though all emergency warnings had been lifted.

Investigators are still looking into the causes of the other fires. Some were started by power lines brought down in strong winds, the fire service said. A few appear to have been deliberately lit, and police have arrested several children in connection with those. The major wildfire threat had passed Thursday, as cooler temperatures and calm winds prevailed and hundreds of residents returned to homes they had evacuated earlier.

News from The Associated Press
 
Defence should have an explosions range where they can safely fire artillery shells or blow stuff up in other ways without starting bush[forest] fires.
Some Defence Force personnel are also Rural Fire Service volunteers.

Two 8 years olds today are the latest kids caught trying to light fires.
8 year olds should be tied to their mothers' waists, not roaming around the countryside.
 
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Whole town of Yarloop burned off the face of the earth...

A Raging Wildfire in Western Australia Has Destroyed an Entire Town
"I look around 360 degrees and everything is burnt to a cinder"
The remote Australian town of Yarloop, population 600, is the latest casualty of a string of wildfires that have razed parts of the country in recent months. Some 95 homes were lost in the town, located about 120 km from the Western Australian capital of Perth, after wildfires swept through it Thursday night after burning through more than 31,000 hectares earlier in the week, according to news site WAToday.com.au.

Hundreds of people have fled to evacuation centers to escape the fire, which was caused by a lightning strike Wednesday evening local time. “There’s very little of Yarloop left … I look around 360 degrees and everything is burnt to a cinder. I think the post office is the only building left standing [in the main street],” one resident reportedly told local radio.

WAToday.com.au cited Perth television journalist Geoff Parry, who on Friday morning flew over Yarloop in a helicopter, as saying “There’s a house here and there and that’s it.”

Dry and hot conditions across Australia make rampaging wildfires — known locally as bushfires — a seasonal hazard. More than a hundred homes were destroyed in a fire on Christmas Day in the southeastern state of Victoria.

Wildfire Destroys Western Australian Town of Yarloop
 
Australia bushfire threatens more towns...

Australia Waroona fire threatens more towns after devastating Yarloop
Fri, 08 Jan 2016 - A massive bushfire that devastated a small town is still burning out of control in Western Australia, threatening several more towns.
A massive bushfire that devastated a small town is still burning out of control in Western Australia. About 95 houses in Yarloop, south of Perth, have been destroyed and three people are reported to be missing. Wind gusts of up to 60km/h (37mph) overnight fanned the blaze, dubbed the Waroona fire, to heights of 50m. The fire area is now 58,000 hectares and emergency warnings remain in place for Waroona, Harvey and surrounding areas including Preston Beach.

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This handout photo from firefighters shows the Waroona fire burning near Yarloop​

A local politician told the BBC the fire "could well be the end" of Yarloop. Western Australia Fire Commissioner Wayne Gregson told a news conference that the fire in Yarloop was too intense to be tackled head-on. He said four firefighters were injured battling the blaze and one fire truck was destroyed.

'Could be the end'

A large thunderstorm hit the town of Pinjarra to the north of the fire zone at about 10:00 local time (02:00 GMT). Reports said lightning struck an evacuation centre in the town, injuring a man in his 50s and cutting power. The storm was understood to be heading towards the fire zone - a downpour of rain could ease conditions, but lightning strikes could also spark further fires. Local politician Murray Cowper told the BBC that the loss of property was "significant". He said firefighters told him the town's pub, bowling club and historic timber workshops had been destroyed. "You've got seasoned firefighters who've been around for many years saying they've never seen anything like it," Mr Cowper said. "A big fireball came through and there was no way they were going to stop it. "This could well be the end of the town."

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Yarloop resident Alex Govanovich told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation the fire was "crazy - one fireball after another" with "devastating" winds. A Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) spokesman said conditions were "very tricky", with wind gusts of up to 60km/h expected again on Friday. Thunderstorms and sea breezes could add further unpredictability to the situation if they rapidly pushed the fire in new directions. Thunderstorm systems could also be generated within the fire itself, the spokesman said.

What causes the fires?
 

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