Cool relief for blazing Australia

A southerly change has brought some cool relief to south-east Australia as fire crews continue to battle hundreds of bushfires across several states.

Temperatures in New South Wales have fallen more than 10C after one of the highest-risk fire days in its history.

But scorching conditions are predicted to return at the weekend and new fires are spreading despite the drop, authorities say.

The bushfires have destroyed homes in New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania.

Fire fighters in Queensland are monitoring conditions closely in the state’s south, as hot weather moves towards the coast. Temperatures are forecast to reach the high 40s in some parts.

‘Catastrophic’

But while the mercury soared to above 40C in Sydney on Tuesday, forecasters on Wednesday predicted temperatures to peak around 25C.

The New South Wales Rural Fire Service has downgraded the ratings of all major bushfires around the state following a favourable change in conditions overnight.

Earlier, four areas in the state had been given a “catastrophic” fire danger rating, meaning that if fires broke out they would be uncontrollable and fast-moving, so residents should leave.

However, despite the cooler weather, more than 140 fires are currently still burning in New South Wales, around 30 of which have not been contained.

The blazes are along the coast, and also in the north-west of the state, but the largest concentration is in the south-east, around the Canberra area.

Fire services are trying to contain a big fire still burning near Cooma, 100km (60 miles) south of Canberra. On Tuesday, authorities advised residents to seek shelter, saying it was too late to leave.

Fire crews in New South Wales have been working around the clock to bring the blazes under control

All national parks, state forests and reserves have been closed to the public and many tourists are reported to be leaving campsites.

Thousands of livestock are estimated to have died in the bushfires.

State Rural Fire Service (RFS) Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons warned that conditions remained dangerous despite the cooler weather.

“We’ve still got a lot of fires. We’ve still got a lot of fire activity across NSW and as we speak we’re getting reports of new fires in places like Lithgow that are developing,” he told the ABC news channel on Wednesday.

“And some potential for risk with the current fire activity that we’ve got burning since yesterday, particularly in light of that slow moving front that continues to travel through large areas of NSW today.”

Above 50C

Meanwhile, teams in Victoria are fighting an out-of-control blaze, which has destroyed the historic Carngham Station homestead.

But with temperatures dropping to below 30C, the state’s Country Fire Authority said the mild, cool conditions overnight had been “a great help to the fire suppression effort”.

An uncontrolled fire is also still burning by the Tasman peninsula, near areas already hit by blazes over the weekend.

The blaze is reported to have destroyed more than 20,000 hectares and destroyed more than 120 homes.

Teams have been searching through ravaged buildings as around 100 people remain accounted for, but no deaths have been reported.

Temperatures have been so high the Australian Bureau of Meteorology has increased its temperature scale to 54 degrees, and added a new colour code.

The fires and warnings follow days of searing heat. In a statement, Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology revealed that for each of the first six days of 2013, the “national area-average” temperature had been in the top 20 hottest days on record.

It was also the first time that average national top temperatures over 39C had been recorded on six consecutive days.

As a result, the bureau has added new colours to its forecast chart to indicate temperatures above the previous 50C-limit.

Bans on lighting fires remain in place across New South Wales, Canberra, Tasmania and Victoria.

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