Australian firefighters brace for another heat wave

MELBOURNE－The intense heat scorching Australia eased on Monday, bringing relief from extreme bushfires, which destroyed around 180 houses and killed one person over the weekend. Firefighters are still preparing for worsening conditions following Christmas Day.

A total of six people have now died in the bushfires, which have destroyed more than 3.7 million hectares across five states.

Potter Steve Harrison, 67, only survived a major blaze southwest of Sydney by crawling beneath a makeshift kiln as the flames passed over.

Harrison stayed to defend his property in the town of Balmoral on Sunday but, by the time he changed his mind, it was too late to leave.

The town of Balmoral, with a population of only 400 and 150 houses, was virtually destroyed, the New South Wales State Premier Gladys Berejiklian said.

Australia has been fighting wildfires for months as hot, dry conditions brought about an early start to the fire season.

Australia posted record temperatures above 41 degrees Celsius last week as an extreme heat wave swept across the country and a long-running drought in the country's east has created tinder-dry conditions.

PM defends stance

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison defended his government's climate policy on Monday, as authorities warned the wildfires crisis ravaging the country's most populous state could fester for months.

The disaster has led to renewed criticism that Morrison's conservative government has not taken enough action on climate change.

Morrison made the rounds on several Australian television networks Monday morning following his return on Saturday from a much criticized family vacation to Hawaii amid the wildfires crisis.

Morrison rejected calls to downsize Australia's lucrative coal industry. Australia is the world's largest exporter of coal and liquefied natural gas.

"I am not going to write off the jobs of thousands of Australians by walking away from traditional industries," he told Channel Seven.

He also dismissed calls from Swedish environmental activist Greta Thunberg to take more action on climate change.

When asked about a Twitter post on Sunday by 16-year-old Thunberg that linked the fires with climate change, Morrison said that he would remain focused on Australia's interests.

"Australia and the Australian government will set our policies based on Australia's national interests, on what Australia needs to do," Morrison told reporters while visiting evacuees in the state of New South Wales on Monday.

"That's where I keep my focus. It's not for me to make commentaries on what those outside of Australia think that Australia should do."

Morrison was responding to Thunberg's tweet referring to a news article about the Australian fires: "Not even catastrophes like these seem to bring any political action. How is this possible?"

"Because we still fail to make the connection between the climate crisis and increased extreme weather events and nature disasters like the #Australia Fires," she said.

"I'm not here to try to impress people overseas," he said.

"I'm here to do the right job for Australians and put them first, and that means putting the environment in which we live at the top of the agenda, along with the economy in which people live at the top of the agenda."

REUTERS/AP/XINHUA