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Australia's Deadly Wildfires Rage, Overshadowing Holiday Period Bloomberg
It’s become a symbol of this year’s tragic holiday season in Australia: a tree crafted from burned bicycles, charred wood and even a fire alarm collected in areas scorched by raging bush fires.
The “burnt Christmas tree” is on display in Sydney’s central business district as “a symbol of support for those who’ve lost their homes and livelihood,” according to the Australian Red Cross, which helped set it up as part of a fundraising campaign.
It’s one of several projects underway by Australians trying to keep a holiday spirit alive as they struggle with the fallout of weeks of fierce fires, sizzling temperatures and suffocating pollution that have left eight people dead and, so far, destroyed more than 700 homes and 3 million acres of farming land.
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On Friday, Australia suffered through the fourth day of a historic heat wave in the South Hemisphere summer that has swiftly surpassed previous records. The heat wave has provided fresh kindling for the over 200 bush fires that firefighters were battling across five states, leaving cities even hundreds of miles away, such as Melbourne, enveloped in hazardous smoke.
The chaos pushed Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison to cut short a planned family trip to Hawaii. He apologized Friday for being on holiday as the fires blazed. Morrison’s conservative government has tried to calm Australians by emphasizing that bush fires and droughts in the country are common. That has not eased the fears of many who see these fires as symbolizing climate change’s threat to their way of life in a country that’s a major producer of coal, oil, and natural gas.
Slideshow by photo servicesIn the meantime, Australians, aren’t giving up. Aid groups such as the Salvation Army have set up stations across affected areas, while volunteer firefighters have deployed for weeks now despite the low pay and many dangers, including death. Charities are urging people to buy gifts, anything from crafts to a Christmas ham, from businesses in areas affected by the fires. Even firefighters in Canada have offered to give up their Christmas or winter break to come to Australia and help fight the blaze.
Australian schools are now closed for a holiday break, a popular time to travel to areas around Sydney, such as the Blue Mountains and Shoalhaven and Illawarra regions, that this year are engulfed in flames. At first Australians were hesitant to change Christmas or other vacation plans, but now authorities are warning residents of smoke-filled Sydney not to leave, lest they become caught in burning roads and inferno-like conditions, the Guardian reported.
Still, there have been little moments of luck or, for some, miracles, along the way.
A man who calls himself Neil — who told Australia’s ABC that he “wished to remain anonymous because he believes that is part of the fun” — has for the past seven years decorated one tree along a road in Queensland with Christmas lights and cheer, after his wife first came up with the idea. Last year, their efforts went locally viral on Facebook when they added solar-powered lights. This year, Neil was so sure the yuletide tree would be lost to the flames that he had already bought new decorations.
But help came in the form of 70-year-old volunteer firefighter Curl Santacaterina, who insisted they save that tree. And so Santacaterina bravely stood on the back of a firetruck and sprayed a hose to water the tree as flames raged around him.
“We’re really, really pleased that everybody is getting a buzz out of it and getting a bit of Christmas spirit,” Neil told ABC.
He added, “When I heard it had been saved I guess I almost got a bit emotional about it. ... I thought ‘wow, this has really taken off and got a bit of community spirit — a bit of something happening’.”
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One person has died and another is missing as wildfires continue to burn across three Australian states.
In New South Wales, sudden southerly winds fanned the flames of more than 100 blazes and fire officials said a man who had chosen to stay at his property could no longer be contacted.
Saturday had been an "awful day", NSW fire chief Shane Fitzsimmons said.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has cut short a holiday in Hawaii after being criticised for leaving amid the crisis.
Earlier acting prime minister Michael McCormack conceded that more had to be done to tackle global warming, after many Australians linked the severity of this year's fires to climate change.
Since September, Australia's bushfire emergency has killed at least nine people, destroyed more than 700 houses and scorched millions of hectares.
Rising temperatures and strong winds worsened fires in three states.
In South Australia one person was found dead, another was critically injured and 15 homes had been destroyed about 40km (25 miles) east of the state capital of Adelaide.
In New South Wales a man was missing in the Blue Mountains west of Sydney after towns in the area were hit by an ember attack - when burning vegetation is blown ahead of the main blaze and starts new fires.
However the southerly winds later eased and by Saturday evening six fires in the state were deemed to be at emergency level - the second highest level of danger after catastrophic - including two near Sydney.
In Canberra a cricket match was called off because of poor air quality resulting from smoke from the fires.
New South Wales leader Gladys Berejiklian urged Christmas travellers to delay their journeys.
"We are asking everybody not to travel on roads anywhere near the vicinity of an active fire unless you absolutely have to," she said.
In Victoria, authorities said 142 fires had started in the state since Friday. One of these was burning at an emergency level by Saturday afternoon.
A combination of temperatures above 40C, low humidity and strong winds have worsened the struggle for the 3,000 emergency personnel mobilised to deal with the bushfires in NSW.
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"We are in a period of unbelievable drought and some areas haven't seen rain for more than 12 months", NSW Rural Fire Services Inspector Ben Shepherd told the BBC.
"These fires are likely to continue to spread well past Christmas", he added.
Some of the fires in NSW were generating their own thunderstorms, the Rural Fire Service said.
Conditions were expected to improve over the next few days ahead of another period of hot weather expected next week.
"We will not get on top of these fires until we get some decent rain - we have said that for weeks and months," Mr Fitzsimmons said.
However weather officials say no major rainfall is expected in the next two months.
The Gospers Mountain mega fire has destroyed about 460,000 hectares (1.14 million acres) north-west of Sydney and fire officials said there was a risk it could merge with the Grose Valley fire in the Blue Mountains.
The states of NSW and South Australia are the focus of the travel warnings.
In NSW, several major roads and highways have been closed, including a section of the Princes Highway.
As of 03:00 (16:00 GMT), 22 roads and highways in NSW were affected by fire, according to a government website.
Roads have been closed in South Australia as well, with residents asked to monitor the government traffic website for updates.
"If members of the public attempt to enter the areas, they will be turned away, regardless of being property owners or business owners, due to specific safety reasons," a police official said.
Tributes have been paid to firefighters Geoffrey Keaton, 32, and Andrew O'Dwyer, 36, who died when their truck was hit by a falling tree near a fire front, causing it to roll off the road.
Three other firefighters who were also in the vehicle survived with minor injuries.
NSW fire commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons said firefighters everywhere were grieving over the "huge loss" of the two young fathers, who were caught up in "the worst imaginable set of circumstances".
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"[They] simply went out, doing a remarkable job, like all their colleagues, and like they have done year-in, year-out, and to not be coming home after their shift is a tremendous grief," he said.
South Australian Premier Steven Marshall said a person had been killed in Murraylands, when the car they were driving hit a tree. Another person died in the Charleston area of the Adelaide Hills, authorities said.
Many Australians have accused Prime Minister Scott Morrison's government of inaction on climate change.
Last year, the UN reported that Australia was not on track to meet its commitments under the Paris Agreement - the global deal to tackle rising global temperatures.
Firefighters' union leader Leighton Drury said Australia was "seeing an absolute lack of leadership from this government and it is a disgrace".
Criticism grew as a heatwave broke records across the country and exacerbated mammoth blazes, making the task even harder for exhausted firefighters - many of them volunteers.
Mr McCormack acknowledged that further action must be taken to combat climate change but said there was "a lot of hysteria" surrounding the issue.
"Climate change is not the only factor that has caused these fires. There has been dry lightning strikes, there has been self-combusting piles of manure, there has been a lot of arsonists out there causing fire," he said.
Although climate change is not the direct cause of bushfires, scientists have long warned that a hotter, drier climate would contribute to Australia's fires becoming more frequent and more intense.
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Rural Fire Service officers engage in property protection of a number of homes along the Old Hume Highway near the town of Tahmoor, New South Wales, as the Green Wattle Creek Fire threatens a number of communities in the southwest of Sydney. Dean Lewins/AP hide caption
A large portion of Australia is on fire after weeks of extreme heat, strong winds and drought have created ideal conditions for hundreds of bushfires to thrive across the country. Several fires have been burning since November, particularly in the Eastern state of New South Wales.
The fires threaten many of Australia's largest population centers, including Sydney, a city of more than 5 million, which has been cloaked in smoke. Blazes have destroyed hundreds of homes and almost 3 million acres of bushland, threatening the habitat of countless wildlife, including already endangered koalas. One fire in the state of Victoria has reportedly become large enough to generate its own weather.
The fires come after years of drought in parts of the country and record-breaking heat. Earlier this week, Australia had its hottest day on record — only to break that record the following day. And fire season has just begun, leaving many bracing for worse.
Thick smoke from wildfires shroud the Opera House in Sydney, Australia, Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2019. Hot dry conditions have brought an early start to the fire season. Rick Rycroft/AP hide caption
Thousands of firefighters are currently deployed, many of whom are volunteers. Several have been injured and two died earlier this week when a fallen tree limb overturned their vehicle. Their deaths prompted Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison to return early from a family vacation to Hawaii — a vacation that was largely criticized as tone-deaf by much of the public as the country battled its worst fire season in recent memory.
"I deeply regret any offence caused to any of the many Australians affected by the terrible bushfires by my taking leave with family at this time," Morrison said in a statement released Friday. Morrison has previously been scrutinized for his unwillingness to link Australia's greenhouse gas emissions to extreme fire conditions last month.
The prime minister's return coincides with a new state of emergency issued for New South Wales, the country's most populous state, as "catastrophic" fire conditions were listed for the region, the highest fire danger rating possible in the country. Andrea Peace, a meteorologist for Australia's Bureau of Meteorology said Saturday could be the worst day for the area, as a front moves in from the south.
"What it's going to do is bring quite a strong, gusty southerly wind...(which) creates a really dangerous period for the fire grounds because it rapidly changes the directions of the fires there," Peace said.
She said there could be gusts of up to 100 kilometers per hour, or about 62 miles per hour.
The strong southerly winds are likely to have a significant impact on a number of #NSW fire grounds over nxt few hours, especially north & nth-west of #Sydney. Multiple #fires at #Emergency levels tonight & properties have been lost today. Keep monitoring https://t.co/o2h2Cyg7YZ pic.twitter.com/MFiLdip9lT
— Bureau of Meteorology, New South Wales (@BOM_NSW) December 21, 2019
Julia Holman, a reporter for Australian Broadcasting Corporation in Sydney, told NPR's David Greene earlier this week that the fires are already overwhelming the area.
"New South Wales is an enormous state. It's bigger than the size of Texas. And the fires literally go from the top of the state right down to the bottom," Holman said.
She said fires are very common in Australia, but not like this.
"The problem is that it's so dry that we cannot put out these fires. And that's what's different this time around," she said.
"These fires are also in very dense bushland. They cannot be put out by human effort," Holman continued. "We're waiting for rain. But we're in the midst of the worst drought on record here in New South Wales. So there is no possible way that these fires can be put out no matter the enormous human effort that is going into it."
Australia’s most populous state was paralyzed by “catastrophic” fire conditions Saturday amid soaring temperatures, while one person died as wildfires also ravaged the country’s southeast, officials said.
“Catastrophic fire conditions are as bad as it gets,” New South Wales Rural Fire Services Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons told reporters. "Given we have a landscape with so much active fire burning, you have a recipe for very serious concern and a very dangerous day.”
A fire truck is seen during a bushfire near Bilpin, 90 kilometers (56 miles) northwest of Sydney, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2019. Australia's most populous state of New South Wales declared a seven-day state of emergency Thursday as oppressive conditions fanned around 100 wildfires. (Mick Tsikas/AAP Images via AP)
Areas in western Sydney were forecast to hit 47 degrees Celsius (115 Fahrenheit). Cooler air was expected to move through New South Wales late Saturday, although authorities warned that strong winds could push fires in dangerous new directions.
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New South Wales is in a seven-day state of emergency, with around 2,000 firefighters battling 100 wildfires.
Two firefighters died Thursday battling blazes southwest of Sydney. Geoffrey Keaton, 32, and Andrew O’Dwyer, 36, were in a truck convoy southwest of Sydney when a tree fell and caused their vehicle to roll off the road.
Firefighters talk with local residents as a fire burns near Mangrove Mountain, north of Sydney, Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2019. Hot dry conditions have brought an early start to the fire season. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)
Authorities confirmed Saturday that one person died and 15 homes were destroyed in South Australia as a wildfire ravaged the Adelaide Hills on Friday, just 40 kilometers (25 miles) from the state capital of Adelaide. Another person was critically injured after fighting to save his home from the fires.
That follows the death of a 24-year-old man in a road crash in South Australia on Friday, which sparked a fire in the area of the Murraylands.
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Authorities said 23 firefighters and several police officers have also suffered injuries, as more than 40,000 hectares (98,842 acres) burned across South Australia.
A wallaby hops across a road to flee a fire near Mangrove Mountain, north of Sydney Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2019. Hot dry conditions have brought an early start to the fire season. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)
“It is going to be a real scene of devastation, especially for those people in the Adelaide Hills who have been most affected,” South Australia Premier Steven Marshall said. “We know that in addition to the buildings and vehicles lost, there are very significant losses in terms of livestock, animals, crops, vineyards.”
The annual Australian fire season, which peaks during the Southern Hemisphere summer, started early after an unusually warm and dry winter. Around 3 million hectares (7.4 million acres) of land has burned nationwide during a torrid past few months, with nine people killed and more than 800 homes destroyed.
The devastation has put pressure on Prime Minister Scott Morrison, who has received criticism for going on a family vacation in Hawaii during the wildfire crisis. He apologized on Friday for any offense “caused to any of the many Australians affected by the terrible bushfires by my taking leave with family at this time.”
Thick smoke from wildfires shroud the Opera House in Sydney, Australia, Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2019. Hot dry conditions have brought an early start to the fire season. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)
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Morrison did cut short his vacation and returned home on Saturday night. He is due to visit the New South Wales Rural Fire Service headquarters on Sunday.
Debate has reignited on whether Morrison’s conservative government has taken enough action on climate change. Australia is the world’s largest exporter of coal and liquefied natural gas.
Fatih Birol, International Energy Agency executive director, believes Australia has missed opportunities to mitigate the impact of coal.
"I find the Australian energy debate far too emotional, far too nervous and far too hot. It is hotter than the climate change itself," he told The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.
A home stands as smoke from the Grose Valley fire rises in the distance in Bilpin, west of Sydney, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2019. Australia’s most populous state has been paralyzed by “catastrophic” fire conditions Saturday amid soaring temperatures as wildfires also ravaged the country’s southeast. (AAP Image/Dan Himbrechts)
Protesters on Thursday camped outside Morrison’s Sydney residence demanding urgent action on climate change.
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Morrison, who critics have deemed a climate change skeptic, conceded earlier this month that “climate change along with many other factors” has contributed to the wildfires.
SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison issued a rare public apology on Friday and cut short a Hawaiian vacation in response to mounting public anger after two volunteer firefighters were killed battling bushfires sweeping the country’s east coast.
Flowers and the helmets of volunteer firefighters Andrew O'Dwyer and Geoffrey Keaton, who died when their fire truck was struck by a falling tree as it traveled through the front line of a fire, are seen at a memorial at the Horsley Park Rural Fire Brigade in Horsley Park, NSW, December 20, 2019. AAP Image/Bianca De Marchi/via REUTERS
Some areas of Sydney are set for “catastrophic” conditions on Saturday, and the deadly fires are now engulfing other parts of the country. One person was killed in a car crash on Friday near South Australia’s capital city of Adelaide where an emergency warning is in place, though the precise circumstances surrounding the death is not yet clear.
Australia has been fighting wildfires across three states for weeks, with blazes destroying more than 700 homes and nearly 3 million acres (1.2 million hectares) of bushland.
The death of the two firefighters overnight when their fire truck was struck by a falling tree as it traveled through the front line of a fire brought the fires death toll in New South Wales to eight since the start of October.
Ten more firefighters were seriously injured on Thursday, with four in South Australia being treated for burns and smoke inhalation.
“The worst imaginable set of circumstances unfolded,” New South Wales (NSW) Rural Fire Service (RFS) Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons told reporters in Sydney. “This hurts everybody to the core.”
Shortly after the pair’s deaths were announced, Morrison issued a statement saying he would return as soon as possible from a family holiday in Hawaii, a trip that has drawn sharp criticism in recent days as the wildfires crisis deepened.
“I deeply regret any offence caused to any of the many Australians affected by the terrible bushfires by my taking leave with family at this time,” Morrison said in the statement.
Morrison later told 2GB radio that the trip had been planned as a surprise to his young daughters to replace leave originally scheduled for January that he had canceled because of official trips to Japan and India.
His return comes as firefighters prepare for “catastrophic” fire danger - the most severe level - in NSW on Saturday as searing heat and high winds are forecast, leading officials to urge people to evacuate their homes early if they live close to bushland.
“It is a fairly strong likelihood that we will lose homes tomorrow, it would be a miracle if we don’t,” RFS Deputy Commissioner Rob Rogers told reporters in Sydney.
There are more than 200 fires burning across Australia - 70 of which are classified as uncontrolled, mostly in NSW.
In South Australia, more than 120 blazes have broken out in catastrophic conditions. Bracing for more potential fatalities, authorities said an emergency fire in Lameroo, 210 km (130.5 miles) east of Adelaide may pose a threat to lives directly in its path and urged residents to flee now.
Morrison’s conservative Liberal-National coalition government has been under sustained pressure to defend its climate change policies as it has downplayed links to the unprecedented early arrival and severity of this year’s bushfire season.
Hundreds of protesters gathered outside Morrison’s Sydney residence on Thursday. One protestor, wearing an Hawaiian shirt, carried a sign reading, “ScoMo, where the bloody hell are you?” referencing the leader’s nickname and a well-known international advertisement for Tourism Australia.
Australia is one of the world’s largest carbon emitters per capita because of its reliance on coal-fired power plants. It has pledged to cut carbon emissions by 26% from 2005 levels by 2030, but critics accuse Morrison of paying lip service to that commitment.
In June, the government approved the construction of a new coal mine in Queensland state by India’s Adani Enterprises that is expected to produce 8 million to 10 million tonnes of thermal coal a year.
As Morrison was apologizing on radio on Friday morning, opposition Labor Party leader Anthony Albanese was serving breakfast to firefighters near the front line of a fire in rural Bilpin.
The fires have resulted in days of heavy pollution in Sydney, pushing air quality to unprecedented hazardous levels and resulting in viral images of heavy smoke haze over the usually sparkling harbor and landmarks like the Opera House.
The fires are being spurred this week, by record temperatures across the country which led NSW, the most populous state with 7 million people, to declare a seven-day state of emergency.
Thursday’s declaration gave firefighters broad powers to control government resources, force evacuations, close roads and shut down utilities.
Days out from Christmas, a time when many Australians head to the coast for the holidays, NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian urged people to reconsider travel plans.
“What is most important for us is that everyone is safe and if that means changing your plans for Christmas, we ask you do to that,” Berejiklian told reporters in Sydney.
(GRAPHIC: Forests in flames: Images from space show Australia's bushfires in different light - here)
Additional reporting by Swati Pandey; Editing by Jane Wardell & Shri Navaratnam
Australia had its hottest day on record Dec. 17, with a nationally averaged temperature of 105.6 degrees (40.9), according to the country’s Bureau of Meteorology. This beats the old record of 104.5 degrees (40.3 Celsius) on Jan. 7, 2013.
However, it’s a record that may not stand for long — perhaps for just 24 hours, as forecasters anticipate it could be broken both Wednesday and Thursday eastern time, as a searing, early-season heat wave roasts the country.
“This hot air mass is so extensive that preliminary figures show that yesterday was the hottest day on record in Australia,” said BOM meteorologist Diana Eadie.
It’s highly unusual for a national temperature record to be broken, but to be broken on two to three straight days is even more rare.
[Australia braces for highest temperatures in recorded history amid blistering heat wave]
Numerous locations in inland Australia exceeded 115 degrees (44.8 Celsius) on Dec. 17, with even higher temperatures expected Wednesday. The hottest temperature ever recorded in Australia, which was 123 degrees (50.6 Celsius), set on Jan. 2, 1960, in Oodnadatta, may be in jeopardy during this event.
The heat is combining with drought conditions and burning wildfires to lead to severe to “extreme” fire danger in parts of Victoria, South Australia and New South Wales on Thursday local time. The extreme fire danger warning includes metropolitan Sydney, where the heat is ramping up.
The heat is forecast to peak Friday in Adelaide, where the forecast high temperature is 113 degrees (45 Celsius), as well as Melbourne, which is predicted to reach 109 degrees (43 Celsius).
The BOM is also forecasting that many locations will break monthly records for the hottest temperatures in December. In fact, some places in New South Wales could see their hottest temperature on record for any time of the year, particularly Saturday, according to BOM meteorologist Blair Trewin.
In New South Wales, which has been the state hit hardest with bush fires, parts of Sydney could reach 104 degrees amid smoky conditions Thursday, before temperatures retreat over the weekend.
In general, temperatures have been running between about 18 to 30 degrees above average in parts of the country, according to the BOM.
“Smoke will become a significant issue for populated areas in New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory,” Eadie said. “This will combine with severe to extreme heat wave conditions to have a large impact on people’s health.”
Extreme heat is the number one weather-related killer in Australia, and smoke from ongoing bush fires has occasionally been so thick that visibility has deteriorated to below one mile in Sydney. Bush fire smoke can worsen asthma and other respiratory conditions, aggravate heart problems, and pose risks for the young and elderly alike.
Climate studies have shown clear and causal links between bush fires — as well as wildfires in the United States — and long-term global warming. Climate change helps escalate fire risks by drying out vegetation and making it more flammable, among other effects.
According to a new BOM report on the 2019 bush fires, spring 2019 brought the highest fire weather danger on record in Australia, as measured by the Forest Fire Danger Index, with “record high values observed in areas of all states and territories.”
Long-term climate trends in Australia show clear warming and an increase in extreme heat events. Last summer, for example, was the country’s hottest on record, and the meteorology bureau found that climate change exacerbated extreme heat events as well as droughts during the year.
Australia has warmed by just over 1.8 degrees (1 Celsius) since 1910, with most of the warming occurring since 1950. The BOM has found an increase in the frequency of extreme heat events and severity of drought conditions during this period, as well.
Nine of Australia’s top 10 warmest years on record have occurred since 2005, and 2019 is likely to join that list. Globally, 2019 is virtually assured to be the second-warmest year on record, according to NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Australia is one of the most vulnerable major industrialized countries to climate change, particularly when it comes to extreme heat and drought conditions. However, the country is also a major exporter of coal, a greenhouse-gas-intensive energy source.
The heat and bush fires this spring and summer have put pressure on the pro-business and pro-coal Liberal government of Prime Minister Scott Morrison to take more aggressive climate action.
