CANBERRA (XINHUA) – Firefighters and water-bombing aircraft have been deployed to contain multiple bushfires across South Australia (SA) amid extreme conditions.
Speaking at a press conference yesterday, SA’s Minister for Emergency Services Joe Szakacs said that as of 2pm local time, crews from the SA Country Fire Service (CFS) and Metropolitan Fire Service were fighting 12 separate fires after containing dozens more earlier in the day with help from aerial bombers than have performed more than 50 water drops. It comes as temperatures across much of SA exceeded 40 degrees Celsius yesterday, with strong winds and lightning storms exacerbating the fire risk, which the CFS said was the most significant in several years.
CFS chief officer Brett Loughlin, told reporters that in the 24 hours to yesterday afternoon, 30,000 lightning strikes were recorded in SA.
The extreme weather conditions have left 7,800 customers in SA without power. Loughlin said that there had been no major damage or losses from fires but warned that the danger had not passed.
“We have a lot of difficult conditions to get through before that risk is eased. We have hours and hours to go and people need to remain vigilant,” he said.
“It’s unfortunately a broad part of South Australia that’s a risk under these current conditions.”
Despite the looming change in conditions, Szakacs urged South Australians not to become complacent in the face of the fire threat.
