Sydney - A volunteer firefighter died Monday while fighting
bushfires that are raging across eastern Australia, the Rural Fire
Service reported.
The firefighter died when his fire truck overturned at Jingellic, 70
kilometres east of the New South Wales town of Albury, the RFS said
in a statement on Twitter.
It is the third death of a volunteer firefighter since the fires
broke out in October. Ninety per cent of the firefighters battling
the hundreds of blazes along the east coast are unpaid volunteers who
leave their work to defend their communities.
Two other firefighters suffered burns in the incident. It is believed
their truck rolled after being hit by extreme winds.
"A brave firefighter has lost their life protecting the community
east of Albury. Words fail at times like this," New South Wales
Premier Gladys Berejiklian said on Twitter.
Albury is close to the border of the state of Victoria, where
firefighters battled an outbreak of new fires on Monday as a heatwave
swept across the continent and caused thousands to evacuate.
Fire authorities in Victoria on the weekend told residents and
holidaymakers in the Gippsland region, 322 kilometres east of
Melbourne, to evacuate in anticipation of extreme fire conditions.
Victoria's Emergency Management Commissioner Andrew Crisp told
reporters Monday that those who had not left the holiday town of
Lakes Entrance by midday were trapped, as fires had blocked the only
access roads.
An estimated 30,000 holidaymakers were in the region, and not all had
heeded evacuation warning, he said.
Crisp said fire crews were fighting flames that were leaping 20
metres into the air and smoke columns rising 14 kilometres in extreme
conditions that created its own weather.
"There's lightning coming out of these smoke columns," Crisp said.
"It is dangerous out there and people need to stay tuned to their
local conditions so they can make good decisions."
The Bureau of Meteorology said the heatwave brought temperatures in
Victoria above 40 degrees and fire conditions would be made more
dangerous by an expected wind change due late on Monday.
The heatwave is expected to arrive in the Sydney region Tuesday where
firefighters are bracing for deteriorating conditions on New Year's
Eve.
The Bureau of Meteorology predicted western Sydney will reach 44
degrees Tuesday with some inland towns being hit with 45 degrees.
Winds are expected to pick up to 50 to 60 kilometres an hour, gusting
to 80 kilometres an hour.