The fires that ravage Australia with particular virulence since last November have charged four new lives on this first day of the year. Three people have been found dead in the southeast of the country, in New South Wales (whose capital is Sydney), while a man who had gone missing was found dead inside his home in the region of East Gippsland, where these days have burnt down 675.600 hectares, according to the local environment The Age. The smoke from this fire has come to New Zealand. The number of dead in the current fire season already amounts to 16 people in the country. The authorities have launched a rescue operation for the thousands who spent the new year’s Eve on the beaches, refugees from the fire.
In New South Wales there are more than 100 active fire and thousands of firefighters on the ground, though a drop in temperatures has allowed the authorities to this Wednesday to make it balance. “Today is a day in which surely our police services and emergency they can reach up to properties that have been lost and, in some circumstances, meet up with some findings horrible,” he said to the press Gladys Berejiklian, premier of the state of New South Wales. “There is No magic wand that we can shake to fix this problem in a short period of time (…) I can confirm that we have lost 176 houses,” said the deputy commissioner of the Police Force of New South Wales, Gary Worboys, in declarations picked up by the local media The Sydney Morning Herald.
Such is the degree of destruction in this part of the country it is estimated that some villages have lost up to 80% of their homes and businesses. “It is easier to count the buildings that are not damaged that those who are”, said Shane Fitzsimmons, commissioner of the fire service in rural areas. Fitzsimmons has warned that weather conditions will worsen on Saturday. In these moments, the authorities are trying to reopen some major roads are closed. It is estimated that some 50,000 homes were without electricity in the south coast of New South Wales, where some 2,500 firefighters are fighting more than a hundred fires.
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This Wednesday, have been left uninjured, protected by fire trucks, some 4,000 people who had been caught the previous day on the beach in the resort town of Mallacoota, in the State of Victoria, after being surrounded by the fires. The authorities ‘ efforts are now focused on bringing supplies to the city, which may remain isolated for weeks. This Wednesday has begun the launch of food and has arrived a boat with “food, water, and 30,000 litres of fuel for about two weeks”, explained the commissioner of the Emergency Service of this state, Andrew Crisp. On Tuesday at eight in the morning, when the fire began to threaten this coastal town, the mercury had climbed to 49 degrees celsius.
To Mallacoota is also directed the boat humanitarian HMAS Choules, who has sailed from Sydney on the morning of this Wednesday. It is expected to reach the vicinity of this region of the south of the country on Thursday morning. Crisp has informed local tv channels that there are now 45 fires active in Victoria (whose capital is Melbourne, the second most important city of the country) due to the fact that on new year’s Eve fell lightning unaccompanied by rain, which resulted in arising new fires. In total have already burned five million hectares in Australia since the beginning of this early fire season.
