Australia firefighters race to contain blazes as heatwave looms

Firefighters raced to contain massive bushfires in southeastern Australia yesterday, taking advantage of a brief drop in temperatures and some much-needed rainfall before another heatwave strikes later this week.

Exhausted volunteers cleared ground vegetation and carried out controlled burns before temperatures and winds were expected to pick up again by Friday.

“It really is about shoring up protection to limit the damage potential and the outbreak of the fires over the coming days,” said New South Wales Rural Fire Service commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons. He described current conditions as “much more favourable” but warned “we are expecting hotter weather to return later in the week”.

Dozens of vast blazes continue to burn out of control across the east of the country and there are growing fears that two fires in New South Wales and Victoria could connect to form another uncontrollable megablaze.

Rainfall on Monday offered modest relief, but it was not heavy enough in most areas to extinguish the fires, and in some places it hampered firefighters’ preparations by making back-burning more difficult.