A giant bushfire on the edge of Sydney, which has blanketed the city in smoke causing a spike in respiratory illnesses and the cancelation of outdoor sports, will take weeks to control, but will not be extinguished without heavy rain, firefighters said yesterday.
Thousands of weary firefighters, who have been battling bushfires for a month, were fighting nearly 100 blazes in New South Wales.
The mega-fire north of Sydney, Australia’s largest city, was created on Friday when several fires merged and was burning across 335,000 hectares.
Photo: EPA-EFE
The pilot of a helicopter supporting the fire efforts was lucky to escape with just minor injuries after crashing about 200km north of the city yesterday.
A shipping container full of fireworks exploded as the fire raged, authorities said.
There were no immediate reports of injuries from the explosion.
“We need flooding rain to put these fires out. That’s really what is going to stop it,” the New South Wales Rural Fire Service said. “These will take many weeks to put out.”
Bushfires are common in Australia during the summer, which begins in December, but this year the fires started much earlier, blamed on soaring temperatures, dry winds and arson.
A three-year drought has left much of Australia tinder dry.
The fires around Sydney have been pumping such vast amounts of smoke into the air that they appear as significant rain on the radars, the Australian Bureau of Meteorology said on Twitter.
New South Wales Health on Friday said that about 1,140 people had sought medical assistance for breathing issues or asthma in the past week — a quarter more than in a typical week.
New South Wales Ambulance fielded about one-third more calls.
Six people have been killed, nearly 700 houses burned down and millions of hectares of land razed.
Strong winds fanned flames toward several suburbs in southwest Sydney yesterday.
“It’s been going on all day, a fire came from the back and we put it out, but then another one came from the side so the firies [firefighters] covered the house in foam,” said Luke Wright, who helped save his brother’s home.
“The fence has been damaged, but that’s about it, very lucky,” Wright told local media.
Rural Fire Service Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons said that the worst might still be ahead, with temperatures forecast to rise to 40°C in the next few days and no meaningful rainfall expected until late next month.
“It’s a tough couple of months ahead yet and we’ve already seen the horrific consequences of fire so far this season,” Fitzsimmons told Australia’s 9News.
Easing conditions overnight provided brief respite in the state and allowed for controlled burning to prevent damage during the anticipated heat wave.
Queensland was yesterday battling about 45 bushfires in temperatures as high as 40°C.
Additional reporting by AFP
‘TAIWAN-FRIENDLY’: The last time the Web site fact sheet removed the lines on the US not supporting Taiwanese independence was during the Biden administration in 2022 The US Department of State has removed a statement on its Web site that it does not support Taiwanese independence, among changes that the Taiwanese government praised yesterday as supporting Taiwan. The Taiwan-US relations fact sheet, produced by the department’s Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, previously stated that the US opposes “any unilateral changes to the status quo from either side; we do not support Taiwan independence; and we expect cross-strait differences to be resolved by peaceful means.” In the updated version published on Thursday, the line stating that the US does not support Taiwanese independence had been removed. The updated
‘CORRECT IDENTIFICATION’: Beginning in May, Taiwanese married to Japanese can register their home country as Taiwan in their spouse’s family record, ‘Nikkei Asia’ said The government yesterday thanked Japan for revising rules that would allow Taiwanese nationals married to Japanese citizens to list their home country as “Taiwan” in the official family record database. At present, Taiwanese have to select “China.” Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said the new rule, set to be implemented in May, would now “correctly” identify Taiwanese in Japan and help protect their rights, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. The statement was released after Nikkei Asia reported the new policy earlier yesterday. The name and nationality of a non-Japanese person marrying a Japanese national is added to the
AT RISK: The council reiterated that people should seriously consider the necessity of visiting China, after Beijing passed 22 guidelines to punish ‘die-hard’ separatists The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has since Jan. 1 last year received 65 petitions regarding Taiwanese who were interrogated or detained in China, MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday. Fifty-two either went missing or had their personal freedoms restricted, with some put in criminal detention, while 13 were interrogated and temporarily detained, he said in a radio interview. On June 21 last year, China announced 22 guidelines to punish “die-hard Taiwanese independence separatists,” allowing Chinese courts to try people in absentia. The guidelines are uncivilized and inhumane, allowing Beijing to seize assets and issue the death penalty, with no regard for potential
‘UNITED FRONT’ FRONTS: Barring contact with Huaqiao and Jinan universities is needed to stop China targeting Taiwanese students, the education minister said Taiwan has blacklisted two Chinese universities from conducting academic exchange programs in the nation after reports that the institutes are arms of Beijing’s United Front Work Department, Minister of Education Cheng Ying-yao (鄭英耀) said in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper) published yesterday. China’s Huaqiao University in Xiamen and Quanzhou, as well as Jinan University in Guangzhou, which have 600 and 1,500 Taiwanese on their rolls respectively, are under direct control of the Chinese government’s political warfare branch, Cheng said, citing reports by national security officials. A comprehensive ban on Taiwanese institutions collaborating or
RSS