Wildfires threaten hundreds in Australia
Firefighters today struggled to contain a wildfire blazing out of control near the southern Australian city of Hobart, threatening up to 1,000 homes.
Hot, dry winds were pushing the fire – one of several blazing across southern Australia – downhill toward a wildlife reserve in the suburbs of Hobart on the southern island state of Tasmania, according to Danny Reid, a spokesman for the state fire service.
Reid said up to 1,000 homes could be as risk, unless firefighters succeeded in containing the blaze.
“There’s four or five streets that back onto the reserve. It’s got the potential to threaten about 1,000 homes,” he said.
Eighteen fire service crews and one helicopter are fighting the fire, which started around at a disused quarry about a mile from central Hobart, Reid said.
Meanwhile, firefighters and volunteers were working to contain a fire burning near Port Lincoln on South Australia state’s Eyre Peninsula, where deadly blazes killed nine people and injured 113 others last year.
Wildfires are a regular feature of Australian summer months, burning thousands of acres of forests and sometimes blasting into towns and cities with deadly results.
About 20 firefighting vehicles and two water bomber aircraft were working to contain the fire, which was mostly under control, the Country Fire Service said.
