"It was 1am and I struggled to sleep as wind blasted through the forest canopy and the smell of smoke hung in the air from distant fires. Pastures and bushland were fuelling a widening fire-front about 90 kilometers to the north of our mountain home on the edge of Melbourne. In between, endless valleys of fire-prone Eucalyptus forest, dried out over hot summer weeks, were a tinderbox ready to explode. I'm lucky to live in one of the most beautiful places on earth."
"The next day, heatwave temperatures were forecast to reach 46 degrees Celsius (115 degrees Fahrenheit) in parts of the southern Australian state of Victoria. Powerful winds would multiply existing blazes as a "catastrophic" fire danger warning came into effect. These would be the worst conditions since 2019-2020 when fires engulfed much of southeastern Australia an area the size of the UK. Those so-called "Black Summer" fires burnt for months destroying more than 3,000 buildings and claiming 33 lives."
It was 1am and wind blasted through the forest canopy while smoke from distant fires filled the air. Pastures and bushland fuelled a widening fire-front about 90 kilometres north of a mountain home on the edge of Melbourne, with eucalyptus forests dried out over hot summer weeks becoming a tinderbox. The property has only a single road out, increasing danger. A neighbour's family had mostly evacuated and hoped for a wind change. Forecasts predicted heatwave temperatures up to 46°C and powerful winds, prompting a 'catastrophic' fire danger warning. Conditions resembled or exceeded those of the 2019-2020 'Black Summer' fires.
Read at www.dw.com
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