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Australia braces for long, fiery summer
By Grant Holloway, CNN
SYDNEY, Australia (CNN) -- In an ominous sign for the approaching southern summer, more than 70 bush fires are burning around New South Wales and a total fire ban is in place for much of the state. The situation is being made worse by the extended drought across much of Australia, with many areas not seeing rain for more than six months. In NSW, Australia's most populous state, 93 percent of the state is now officially in drought with many areas the driest they've been since records began more than 100 years ago. So far the fires, many which have been burning for over a week, are not threatening built-up areas but fire authorities warn the situation could quickly become more threatening. Last Christmas hundreds of bushfires raged for more than two weeks in and around Sydney, Australia's commercial capital and largest city. That fire crisis, which began on Christmas Eve, razed more than 570,000 hectares (1.2 million acres) of land and destroyed 170 properties, causing more than $40 million of damage. At one stage more than 20,000 firefighters were required to control the flames and water-bombing helicopters were flown in from the United States to assist with the battle. A spokesman for the NSW Rural Fire Service told CNN Monday that the drought situation did not bode well for the months ahead. "It's certainly going to be a long summer. It's going to be full on," the spokesman said. Australia's bushfire season officially began on October 1 and fires have been burning ever since. The spokesman warned that areas which were burned by last year's infernos could easily catch fire again, although the blazes would be less intense. Natural eventAnd while hundreds of thousands of hectares were burnt last year, there remained "millions and millions" of hectares of bush which had been unaffected. Australian bushland is dominated by eucalyptus trees and other oily trees which catch fire easily in dry weather and burn with great intensity. However, many plant species in the Australian bush are also dependent on the fires to stimulate re-growth and the burnt-out areas are often fully restored in just a few years. While the fires are a necessary and natural event in Australia, the expansion of city suburbs into native bush areas over the past few decades has increased the damaging impact of the infernos on property. For example, Sydney, a city of 4 million people, has extensive bushland areas fringing the city and reaching deep into suburban areas, often to within just a few kilometers of the central business district. Last year's fires at one stage came to within 10 kilometers (6 miles) of the main central business district.
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