豪森林火災、消防隊が消火活動に奔走　熱波再来に備えて

【シドニーＡＦＰ＝時事】大規模な森林火災が続くオーストラリア南東部で7日、短時間気温が低下し、切望されていた雨がようやく降った。今週にも熱波の再来が予想されており、消防隊はこの機会を最大限に生かそうと消火活動に奔走した。（写真は豪ニューサウスウェールズ州で、森林火災の被害を受けた土地）
　消火活動で疲弊したボランティアたちは、防火壁を修理し、草木の手入れをすると、野焼きを実施した。
　ニューサウスウェールズ州地方消防局のシェーン・フィッツシモンズ局長は、「今後数日間にわたる潜在的な被害と火災の発生を制限する対策の補強を今まさに行っている」と説明。現状は「はるかに好ましい」が、「今週中に再び気温が上昇すると予想している」と警告した。
　オーストラリア東部一帯では多数の大規模森林火災が続いており、火の勢いを食い止められずにいる。ニューサウスウェールズ州とビクトリア州の森林火災が合体して、制御不可能な巨大火災になるとの懸念が高まっている。
　６日の降雨は若干の安堵（あんど）をもたらしたが、消火には不十分だった。雨で消防隊の作業が妨げられる場所もあった。
　昨年９月から続く森林火災により、これまでに２５人が死亡、住宅１８００棟超が焼失。アイルランドや米サウスカロライナ州に匹敵する約８万平方キロが焼き尽くされた。
　来週は森林火災のピーク時の状況には及ばないと予測されているが、フィッツシモンズ氏は豪ＡＢＣに「誤った安心感」に陥らないことが大事だと語った。
　森林火災の多くは消火するには規模が大きすぎるため、継続した雨が唯一の解決策となり得るという。
　チリとアルゼンチンの気象当局によると、森林火災による煙霧の影響は、１万２０００キロ以上離れた両国においても観測されている。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2020/01/08-09:25）

Firefighters raced to quell massive bushfires in southeastern Australia Tuesday, taking advantage of a brief drop in temperatures and some much-needed rainfall before another heatwave strikes later this week.
Exhausted volunteers fixed containment lines, cleared ground vegetation and carried out controlled burns before temperatures and winds were expected to pick up again by Friday.
It really is about shoring up protection to limit the damage potential and the outbreak of the fires over the coming days, said New South Wales Rural Fire Service commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons.
He described current conditions as much more favourable but warned we are expecting hotter weather to return later in the week.
Dozens of vast blazes continue to burn out of control across the east of the country and there are growing fears that two fires in New South Wales and Victoria could connect to form another uncontrollable megablaze.
Rainfall on Monday offered modest relief, but it was not heavy enough to extinguish the fires, and in some places it hampered firefighters' preparations by making back-burning more difficult.
Twenty-five people have died since the start of the disaster in September, more than 1,800 homes have been destroyed, and some eight million hectares (80,000 square kilometres) has burned, an area the size of Ireland or South Carolina.
Smoke from the fires has been spotted more than 12,000 kilometres (7,400 miles) away in Chile and Argentina, weather authorities in the South American countries said.
The cost of the disaster is still not clear, but the Insurance Council of Australia said claims worth Aus$700 million ($485 million) had already been filed and the figure was expected to climb significantly.
The government has earmarked an initial Aus$2 billion ($1.4 billion) for a national recovery fund to help devastated communities.
The human toll was again laid bare Tuesday, as firefighters held a memorial in Sydney for 36-year-old colleague Andrew O'Dwyer who died battling blazes in late December.
Volunteers in bright orange fire suits lined the road as his cortege passed -- with the coffin draped in a Rural Fire Service flag.
- Glimmers of hope -
Conditions in the next week are not expected to match the worst days of the crisis, but Fitzsimmons told public broadcaster ABC it was important not to get lulled into a false sense of security.
Many of the blazes are too big to be put out, so only sustained rainfall would end the crisis.
There were some faint signs Tuesday that a reprieve may be on the way, as a tropical cyclone formed off the northwest coast.
It was nice to see a cyclone forming. I shouldn't say that -- hopefully no damage -- but it was nice to see a cyclone forming up the top end of (Western Australia), said Fitzsimmons.
Hopefully (it is) a signal that we may see monsoon activity which will disrupt the dominant hot air mass continuing to influence so much of the weather.