Australian Fire Chiefs Blame Climate Change For Escalating Bush Fires

Australian Fire Chiefs Blame Climate Change For Escalating Bush Fires

By Sammie Jones-

Fire chiefs in Australia are dreading escalating levels of bush fires after a  a fourth person died on the nation’s east coast .

The 58-year-old man’s body was found in northern New South Wales (NSW) on Thursday, days after a fire ripped through the region as the deadly flames escalate to worrying heights.They said the climate crisis was making bush fires deadlier and bush fire season longer, and the federal government needed to act immediately. A coalition of fire chiefs say the climate crisis was making bush fires deadlier and bush fire season longer, and the federal government needed to act immediately.

They accuse the Australian government of dodging the issue because of its political implications, but say the country is now suffering the practical implications of their negligence on climate change.

Crews are still battling over 120 fires in NSW and Queensland, but locals in Western Australia have now been warned of extremely dangerous conditions.On Thursday, a coalition of former fire chiefs accused the government of ignoring  climate change warnings and its potential to exacerbate fire emergencies. Several fire and emergency chiefs are said to have tried to set up a meeting with the prime minister, Scott Morrison, since April because they “knew that a bush fire crisis was coming”.

However,  Australian police charged a 16-year-old boy with deliberately starting a damaging fire,  destroying 14 homes around the town of Yeppoon, 650km (400 miles) north of Brisbane, Queensland Police said.

Fire chiefs have warned the worst of the summer is “still ahead of us”, after expressing alarm at the scale and severity of the spring bushfires. Several fires escalated across the state’s coast on Wednesday, with two blazes threatening homes in the port city of Geraldton.

Officials warned of potentially “catastrophic” conditions in one region. About a dozen blazes remain burning in the region.

 

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