Australia braced for European-style fire season after scorching summer

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.