Australia’s worst bushfire hot spots revealed

A massive stretch of the Australian east coast has been rated as having above normal fire potential, as firefighters warn there may not be enough water to fight outbreaks.

A massive stretch of the Australian east coast stretching from Victoria’s Gippsland region to Rockhampton has been rated as having above normal fire potential for the remainder of 2019.

Other parts of Australia deemed especially at risk include Queensland’s southwest, South Australia’s Eyre Peninsula and Kangaroo Island, Tasmania’s east coast, and an area around Broome in Western Australia.

The Australian Seasonal Bushfire Outlook, released today in Melbourne, presents a grim forecast of warm and dry conditions for much of the continent throughout spring and summer.

“It has been the fifth-driest start to the year on record, and the driest since 1970. This is

especially the case over the southern half of the country, which has experienced the driest

January to July on record (January to July 1902 is the second driest),” the outlook report, prepared by the Bushfire and Natural Hazard Cooperative Research Centre, stated.

The Australian Seasonal Bushfire Outlook August 2019, prepared by the Natural Hazards Cooperative Research Centre.

The report also identified an emerging problem for firefighters: in some drought-affected areas, such as the Darling Downs and Granite Belt districts in Queensland, water shortages “(have) the potential to impact the availability of water for fire suppression.”

In some areas of NSW, agencies are planning “firefighting tactics that minimise the use of water”.

The fire seasons in Queensland and New South Wales are already underway, continuing a trend that had been noticed since 1990.

Some areas are into their third consecutive year of dry conditions, the report stated.

NSW Rural Fire Service senior assistant commissioner Bruce McDonald said the conditions in some parts of the state were similar to October 2013, when raging bushfires destroyed 248 homes (mainly in the Blue Mountains) and two lives were lost.

In Victoria, the coastal and foothill forests of East Gippsland, extending into West Gippsland and the Great Dividing Range were identified as the regions with the greatest fire risk, while in South Australia, the lower Eyre Peninsula and Kangaroo Island were rated as having above normal fire potential, due to earlier rainfall creating above average fuel loads.

Firefighters working overnight at the scene of an out-of-control bushfire at Terragon, near Uki, northern New South Wales.

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A number of regions in Western Australia were identified as having above normal fire potential, including parts of the Swan Coastal Plain, Avon Wheatbelt, Jarrah Forest, Warren, Esperance Plains and Mallee regions, some parts of the Nullarbor and coastal areas of the Pilbara.

Tasmania’s east coast was highlighted as the island state’s biggest bushfire danger, while the Northern Territory was regarded as being at normal risk of fires this season, despite the Top End experiencing its driest wet season since 1992.

The warning comes as the world’s attention is increasingly being drawn to thousands of fires raging in the Amazon.

Asked about the situation in South America on Sky today, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the government would consider any requests for firefighting aid, but stressed “we also have a lot of our own challenges to deal with within Australia.”

Australia’s bushfire outlook will be reviewed towards the end of spring.

— Additional reporting by AAP