Worst Still On The Way In Australia Fires; Mayors Enraged By Gov. Climate Stupidity

[hatrack]

More than 85 fires burned across Australia’s east coast on Tuesday, 40 of them out of control, as officials warned that catastrophic conditions would worsen through the afternoon and evening, with intensifying winds blowing flames toward larger cities and towns. More than 100,000 homes are at risk over the coming days as a combination of drought, heat and blustery winds bears down on New South Wales, the country’s most populated state.

“The conditions are expected to get worse,” Shane Fitzsimmons, the Rural Fire Service commissioner, said on Tuesday afternoon in Sydney. “There’s still a way to go before they reach the potential of the forecast.” “Complacency kills,” he added. “We cannot afford to be complacent.”

The fires, which began burning in earnest over the weekend, have caused four deaths and destroyed more than 150 properties, with a handful more added every few hours. Maps from fire officials showing the areas likely to burn showed blazes potentially doubling in size over the next 24 hours, with Coffs Harbour, a coastal city of 70,000 people, looking especially vulnerable, along with Sydney’s outer suburbs.

Link to tweet

And as an especially hot day wore on, with temperatures far above seasonal norms, the fires also continued to set off emotional arguments about climate change. A day after the deputy prime minister, Michael McCormack, said that only leftist “lunatics” were linking the blazes to climate change, mayors from the areas already burning demanded that lawmakers pay attention to common-sense science and public outrage. “They need to get out and have a real look at what’s happening to this country,” said Claire Pontin, the deputy mayor of the MidCoast Council. Carol Sparks, the mayor of Glen Innes, where two people died over the weekend, said: “It is not a political thing — it is a scientific fact that we are going through climate change. I think that Michael McCormack needs to read the science.”

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https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/11/world/australia/fires-sydney-new-south-wales.html

[Mike 03]

1. "...said that only leftist "lunatics" were linking the blazes to climate change"

Can you believe this?? What are we going to do about these people? They are literally preventing us from saving ourselves, or at least trying. I'm so close to saying Climate Denial from someone in a position of authority or power should be a crime--because of the deadly consequences.

[Farmer-Rick]

2. Wow, talk about denial.

As the country burns because of global warming, the leader of the country denies the cause. Stupid is as stupid does.

[Mike 03]

3. Links to emergency services scanners in NSW in case anyone wants to listen.

Source: Broadcastify

New South Wales, Mid North Coast, Taree Emergency Services: https://www.broadcastify.com/listen/feed/23815
(More than 4,000 listening as I type this, the most I've seen since the fires broke out)

New South Wales, Mid North Coast, Rural Fire Service: https://www.broadcastify.com/listen/feed/28767

They have been announcing new fires every few minutes. One of the dispatchers, moments ago, said "We've got incidents coming out of our ears."

EDIT: Just for reference, it is seven minutes after midnight on Wednesday in Sydney (as I type this).

[Mickju]

4. As a former resident of Australia this breaks my heart.

It also breaks my heart that they have been taken over by the Rupert Murdoch crowd, as have we actually.

[IcyPeas]

5. blazes might double in size:

(from the above OP post)

Maps from fire officials showing the areas likely to burn showed blazes potentially doubling in size over the next 24 hours, with Coffs Harbour, a coastal city of 70,000 people, looking especially vulnerable, along with Sydney’s outer suburbs.