Australia & Pacifics

TOMERONG, Australia (AP) — The wildfire was behaving erratically last week, and Doug Schutz and his team needed to make a quick decision. So they moved a bulldozer from another job and used it to widen a firebreak. That likely helped prevent hundreds of homes from going up in flames.

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Thunderstorms and showers brought some relief for firefighters battling deadly wildfires across Australia’s drought-parched east coast on Wednesday, but also raised concerns that lightning will spark more fires before dangerous hot and windy conditions return.

Around 2,300 firefighters in New South Wales state were making the most of relatively benign conditions by frantically consolidating containment lines around more than 110 blazes and patrolling for lightning strikes, state Rural Fire Service Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons said.

SYDNEY (AP) — Bolstered by cooler weather and desperately needed rain, exhausted firefighters in Australia raced to shore up defenses against deadly wildfires before the blazes flare again within days when scorching temperatures are expected to return.

The first hints of the financial toll from the disaster began to emerge on Tuesday. The Insurance Council of Australia said the estimated damage bill had doubled in two days, with insurance claims reaching 700 million Australian dollars ($485 million).

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 6 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The Australian government on Monday announced the establishment of a national bushfire recovery fund with an initial funding of A$2 billion.

Announcing this, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the recovery fund will help those affected by the deadly Australian bushfires, which have recorded more than 20 deaths, wiped out thousands of houses and businesses, and continue to bring devastation to many communities as the burning continue in more than six-million hectares of land across the country.

SYDNEY (AP) — Australia’s government on Monday said it was willing to pay “whatever it takes” to help communities recover from deadly wildfires that have ravaged the country.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the government was committing an extra 2 billion Australian dollars ($1.4 billion) toward the recovery effort in addition to the tens of millions of dollars that has already been committed.

Melbourne, Jan 5 (PTI) Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Sunday established a National Bushfire Recovery Agency to co-ordinate recovery efforts ranging from rebuilding infrastructure to providing mental health support even as authorities struggled to tackle the raging bushfire crisis which has so far claimed the lives of 24 people.

The agency, headed by former federal police chief Andrew Colvin, will help bushfire affected communities recover, media reports said.

SYDNEY (AP) — Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison defended his leadership and his government’s record on climate change Sunday as milder temperatures brought hope of a respite from wildfires that have ravaged three states, claiming 24 lives and destroying almost 2,000 homes.

Morrison has faced widespread criticism for taking a family vacation in Hawaii at the start of the wildfire crisis, his sometimes distracted approach as it has escalated and his slowness in deploying resources.

SYDNEY (AP) — Australia’s prime minister called up about 3,000 reservists as the threat of wildfires escalated Saturday in at least three states with two more deaths, and strong winds and high temperatures were forecast to bring flames to populated areas including the suburbs of Sydney.

Scott Morrison said 23 deaths have been confirmed so far this summer, including the two in a blaze on a highway on Kangaroo Island off the coast of South Australia. “We are facing another extremely difficult next 24 hours,” he told a televised news conference.

SYDNEY, Jan 3 (NNN-Xinhua) — Australia is once again bracing for extreme fire conditions on Friday, with widespread evacuations amid warnings that conditions could significantly deteriorate over the weekend.

Strong winds and temperatures above 40 degrees celsius were forecast for the States of New South Wales (NSW) and Victoria, where at least nine people lost their lives earlier in the week.

SYDNEY (AP) — Navy ships plucked hundreds of people from beaches and tens of thousands were urged to flee Friday before hot weather and strong winds in the forecast worsen Australia’s already-devastating wildfires.

More than 200 fires were burning, and warnings of extreme danger to come Saturday set in motion one of the largest evacuations in Australian history. Thousands have already fled at-risk coastal areas, creating traffic gridlock in places, and firefighters escorted convoys of evacuees as fires threatened to close roads.