All bushfires in hardest-hit Australia state now contained: firefighters

All the blazes in Australia's hard-hit state of New South Wales have been brought under control, firefighters said on Thursday, signalling the end of a months-long crisis that claimed 33 lives nationwide.

"As of this afternoon, all fires in New South Wales have now been contained," a Rural Fire Service spokesman told AFP, as fresh rainfall helped extinguish blazes that have burned along the east coast since September. "It is very good news."

Blazes scorched more than 10 million hectares in the country's east and south, killing at least 33 people and an estimated one billion animals while destroying more than 2,500 homes.

The crisis cloaked major cities like Sydney in smoke for weeks on end, saw towns cut off and prompted the deployment of the military to rescue stranded citizens.

The fires were exacerbated by prolonged drought and worsened by climate change in the country's hottest and driest year on record.

But days of rainfall -- the heaviest in 30 years -- have extinguished the largest fires and brought those that remain under control.

Beleaguered volunteer firefighters have fought the blazes day-in-day-out in what has been described as Australia's "black summer".

"After what's been a truly devastating fire season for both firefighters and residents who've suffered through so much this season, all fires are now contained in New South Wales," New South Wales Rural Fire Service Deputy Commissioner Rob Rogers said in a Twitter video.

"Not all fires are out, there's still some fire activity in the far south of the state but all fires are contained so we can really focus on helping people rebuild."

In the Australian Capital Territory around Canberra firefighters are still trying to bring one fire under control, but the blaze was not said to be threatening.

Australian senator claims 'eco-terrorists' caused bushfires
Canberra (AFP) Feb 12, 2020 - An Australian senator called on the nation's spies to investigate whether eco-terrorists were responsible for the country's unprecedented bushfire crisis.

Addressing parliament Tuesday Concetta Fierravanti-Wells -- a senior member of the ruling conservative Liberal party and former government minister -- echoed online conspiracy theories to claim it "defies logic" that hundreds of bushfires could have started at the same time.

Head of the New South Wales Rural Fire Service Shane Fitzsimmons earlier said arsonists were not the main cause of the fires that tore through millions of hectares of south-eastern Australia in 2019.

"This season has been dominated by natural causes, mainly lightning," he said in January.

Fierravanti-Wells claimed that the vast number of fires that started around the same time "not only gave the impression of the possibility of arsonist attack but also suggests a level of coordination."

"Who are they? What was their motive and intent? Are they lone actors or part of a sinister collective conducting eco-terrorism?" she asked.

The bushfires have reignited Australia's climate change debate, and the senator's comments echo online disinformation about the cause of the flames.

Fierravanti-Wells is the latest lawmaker from Prime Minister Scott Morrison's party to blame arson for the bushfires.

The PM is likely to distance himself from the claims after public pressure forced him to acknowledge climate change is a driver of the fires.

Over months blazes scorched more than 10 million hectares in the country's east and south, killing at least 33 people and an estimated billion animals while destroying more than 2,500 homes.

The fires were exacerbated by prolonged drought and worsened by climate change in the country's hottest and driest year on record.

Related Links
Forest and Wild Fires - News, Science and Technology

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Australia bushfires ignite calls for indigenous fire practices
Sydney (AFP) Feb 12, 2020
For tens of thousands of years, Australia's Aboriginal people have used fire to manage the landscape, and after a summer of raging bushfires the practice is increasingly being seen as a way to help stem future disasters. The unprecedented scale of the latest bushfire season - made worse by hotter and drier weather brought on by climate change - has prompted calls for greater integration of ancient land management techniques into bushfire prevention efforts. Months of uncontrollable wildfires h ... read more