The scorching temperatures that have led to numerous bushfires around the county are receding in some parts. The cooler change provides welcome relief to the thousands of firefighters who have been at the forefront of the battle to save property and lives.
Tragically, however, a Victorian firefighter has died while fighting a bushfire on the Tasman Peninsula, south of Hobart. The man aged in his 60s was found dead yesterday about three kilometres from a fire edge east of Taranna. He was one of the Victorian firefighters sent to Hobart to assist in controlling the bushfires that have destroyed about 170 properties.
The Sydney Morning Herald reports that, elsewhere, firefighters are also working to control blazes in Victoria and Tasmania while the threat from fires in Central Australia has eased. In New South Wales, more than 170 fires continue to burn across the state and about 50 of them are uncontained. The Herald reports that a large bushfire that damaged part of the famous Siding Spring Observatory west of Coonabarabran has been downgraded from emergency to watch-and-act status.
The fire, in the Warrumbungle National Park, has reportedly burnt out up to 40,000 hectares. Residents in the area, as well as 18 staff from the observatory, had to be evacuated at the height of the blaze late yesterday. The Rural Fire Service’s Laura Ryan says the threat has eased slightly thanks to a drop in winds overnight. “That change in weather conditions has helped getting the fire slowed, although it remains a very dangerous fire,” she told the SMH.
The Rural Fire Service says part of the observatory – the country’s largest optical astronomy research facility – was damaged, while six other buildings in the area were destroyed.
