Australia braces for its own fire season after sweltering European summer
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A firefighter walks through a wall of smoke as New South Wales Rural Fire Service personnel conduct a controlled burn to eliminate fuels before the upcoming bushfire season in the Arcadia suburb of Sydney, Australia, September 8, 2020. REUTERS/Loren Elli
(Corrects to fix typographical error in credits)
By Stefica Bikesh
CLARENCE TOWN, Australia, Sept 8 (Reuters) - Australian firefighters say they are on alert as temperatures in the southern hemisphere begin to pick up, following a devastating fire season in Europe.
Australia is already experiencing a strong El Nino weather event that typically brings with it hotter, drier weather, and an increased risk of wildfires.
“We're concerned this year that we'll see increased fire risk (versus) prior years,” said Trent Curtin, head of the New South Wales Rural Fire Service, the world’s largest volunteer firefighting force.
Large parts of Europe, the world's fastest-warming continent, endured sweltering summers, leaving vegetation tinder-dry and fuelling severe wildfires.
Britain had its hottest summer since records began, with Italy’s the warmest for 75 years.
“We're seeing some extraordinary conditions in the northern hemisphere at the moment,” Curtin said.
“They're experiencing fires that they haven't seen for a couple of decades or maybe never seen before.”
Australia has a long history of fighting wildfires, including the 2019 to 2020 Black Summer blazes that destroyed an area the size of Turkey and killed 33 people.
Authorities frequently conduct hazard reduction burns, where sections of forest are burnt in a controlled manner to reduce the spread of wildfires should they happen.
“For this year we're alert but not alarmed. We’re conscious of the fact that the seasonal outlook is expecting a busier than usual fire season – conditions will be quite dry, hot,” said Alex Capararo, a sector commander for the Forestry Corporation of New South Wales, which manages state-owned land, as he led a hazard reduction burn around three hours north of Sydney.
Peak fire danger season usually starts in mid-October in northern New South Wales and in December in southern parts of the state, according to the Bureau of Meteorology.
(Reporting by Stefica Bikesh in Clarence Town; Writing by Alasdair Pal; Editing by Kate Mayberry)
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