Firefighters battle explosion of wildfires in Australia

0 Comments | AFP, December, 2006

MELBOURNE (AFP) — Thousands of Australian firefighters are battling to save three small towns from bushfires that have ravaged an area larger than Luxembourg and destroyed 18 homes. Prime Minister John Howard flew to fire battle zones in the island state of Tasmania and in Victoria, where the worst of the blazes is still raging over more than 3,700 square kilometres (1,480 square miles) of tinder-dry bush.

More than 2,500 firefighters were waging war against the blazes in Victoria alone, where fire has raced through 408,000 hectares (one million acres) or 4,080 square kilometres (1,575 square miles) of land in the past week, officials said. "These fires are among the worst we've had in a while because of the severity of the drought that has left the bush really dry and...