Aussie firefighters race to beat rising heat

YASS, Australia: Australian firefighters raced to control a series of blazes yesterday before a forecast rise in temperatures brings the risk of more infernos, as dramatic accounts of survival emerged.
Fires have been raging across southeast Australia for nearly a week. While many have been contained, 120 are still burning and at least 17 remain out of control in the country's most populous state, New South Wales. Cooler weather that brought some relief on Wednesday continued in many parts yesterday. But temperatures are set to soar again to well over 40 degrees Celsius today, piling pressure on firefighters.
In Tasmania residents of the fishing village of Dunalley, where 90 homes were destroyed, could be allowed to go home today, police said, as gripping stories of survival emerged.
NSW Rural Fire Service commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons said crews were working flat-out containing blazes before the heat returned.
“It's about focusing on getting as much contained and consolidated as we can ahead of a return to hotter and dryer conditions dominating much of NSW over the coming days,” Fitzsimmons told a news channel.
“We're looking at temperatures across much of NSW into low-to-mid 40s and extending into the high 40s on Saturday. The only reprieve, if you can call it that, is that we are not expecting significant wind strengths to build.”
The blazes have scorched more than 350,000 hectares (865,000 acres) of land in New South Wales alone, with one fire burning just two kilometers (1.2 miles) from a former weapons range littered with unexploded bombs. The 5,840-hectare Deans Gap fire is near the Tianjara plateau which, until the mid-1970s, was used by the army as a practice bombing range.
“If it was required they'd be looking to put in a firebreak in that area,” a New South Wales Rural Fire Service spokeswoman told AFP. Were the flames to reach the plateau south of Sydney, it could complicate firefighting efforts, with the unexploded bombs making water-drops impossible.