Fires in Victoria, Australia
Fires in Australia
20 December 2006
Fires in Alpine National Park, Victoria
Throughout December 2006, large bushfires raged throughnational parks and other remote areas of Victorias Barry Mountains. Despitethe fact that summer was not officially underway, the late spring weather wasextremely challenging for firefighters: hot, windy, and dry. Rough estimatesbased on preliminary maps from the governments VictoriaParks Website indicated that more than 470,000 hectares (close to 1.2million acres) had burned as of December 15.
This image from NASAs Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and ReflectionRadiometer (ASTER) on the agencys Terra satellite shows fires burning in the heart of Alpine National Park, roughly 57kilometers (a little over 35 miles) southeast of the town of Mansfield. Theimage uses not only visible light detected by ASTER, but also shortwave- andnear-infrared light. Vegetation appears red, burned areas appear charcoal, bareground (including roads) appears light beige, and smoke is gray. Plumes of smokefrom individual fires billow southeast (the image is rotated counterclockwiseoff North) and spread into a blanket of haze.
Alpine is Victorias largest national park, covering 646,000 hectares (nearly1.6 million acres) of the states highest mountains. A mixture of alpine andsub-alpine ecosystems exists in the park, including snow gum (a kind ofeucalyptus) forest and high plains covered by grasslands. More than 1,000species of native plants live within the park, as well as threatened and rareanimals. Many areas and roads in the park were closed because of the dangerousfire conditions.
TERRA
20 December 2006
Fires in Victoria
Clouds over the December 16-17 weekend may have kepttemperatures down a bit, but they apparently did little to quench dozens oflarge fires raging in the Barry Mountains of Victoria, Australia. This image ofthe area was captured on December 18, 2006, by the Moderate Resolution ImagingSpectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASAs Aqua satellite. Places where MODIS detected actively burning fires are outlined inred. Thick smoke billows eastward from the fires across Victoria and New SouthWales. Fires burned throughout the state during December.
AQUA
18 December 2006
The large image provided above has a spatial resolution (level of detail) of250 meters per pixel. An image from the previous satellite overpass was stitchedto the east (right) edge to show the extent of the smoke over the Tasman Sea.
(source: EarthObservatory).
The current situation in Australia is covered by a number of detailedreports (see GFMC Media web page):
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Nervous wait at Buller as three fire fronts close in (published by www.theage.com.au, 20 December 2006)
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Forecast rain brings fire relief (published by www.news.com.au, 20 December 2006)
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Bushfires kill thousands of koalas, kangeroos (published by english.people.com.cn, 19 December 2006)
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Australian fire report released as bushfires burn (published by www.alertnet.org, 19 December 2006)
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Bushfire jumps Vic containment lines (published by www.thewest.com.au, 18 December 2006)
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PM dismisses climate change bushfire claims (published by www.abc.net.au, 18 December 2006)
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NZ committed to Victoria bushfire battle (published by www.abc.net.au, 18 December 2006)
- Fire crews prepare for hotter weather (published by tvnz.co.nz, 18 December 2006)
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New Zealanders injured in Australian bushfire (published by www.abc.net.au, 17 December 2006)
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Injured NZ firefighters named (published by www.stuff.co.nz, 17 December 2006)
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Extra funds for bushfire victims (published by www.news.com.au, 16 December 2006)
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Police hunt teen arsonists blamed for deadly Australian wildfire (published by www.channelnewsasia.com, 16 December 2006)
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Burn the fuel to cut the hazard (published by www.theaustralian.news.com.au, 16 December 2006)
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Arson blamed for deadly bushfire (published by www.thewest.com.au, 15 December 2006)
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Australian killed fighting bushfire, 16 homes lost (published by www.sabcnews.com, 15 December 2006)
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Tas fires lull (published by www.skynews.com.au, 15 December 2006)
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Crews prepare to fight bushfire south of Narrabri (published by www.abc.net.au, 15 December 2006)
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Fire-ravaged Vic town continues clean-up (published by www.abc.net.au, 15 December 2006)
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Fire rage eases in Australia’s south amid cooler weather (published by english.people.com.cn, 15 December 2006)
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Rain eases bushfire threat (published by www.abc.net.au, 15 December 2006)
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Bushfire victims will get payment: PM (published by www.smh.com.au, 14 December 2006)
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Austrailian Firefighter Killed at Wildfire (published by cms.firehouse.com, 14 December 2006)
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Grass fire licks fuel terminal walls (published by www.theage.com.au, 14 December 2006)
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Decrease in `Asian haze` could cause droughts in Australia (published by www.zeenews.com, 14 December 2006)
- Cool night aids firefighters (published by www.news.com.au, 14 December 2006)
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Melbourne chokes on fire haze (published by www.news.com.au, 14 December 2006)
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Bushfire threatens properties near Tumut (published by www.villagevoice.com.au, 14 December 2006)
- Sparks are flying (published by www.news.com.au, 14 December 2006)
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Volunteer fireys safe from workplace dismissal (published by www.news.com.au, 14 December 2006)
Further Information on the Fire Situation in Australia:
SA Country Fire Service http://www.cfs.org.au/ Near-Real Time Wildland Fire Monitoring https://gfmc.online/current/au_ciro.htm Current weather situation, forecasts, fireweather http://www.bom.gov.au/weather/tas/ More Information on Australian Fires IFFN country notes Department of Sustainability and Environment
http://www.nre.vic.gov.au/fires/index.htm
Tasmania Fire Service
Further Information Australian and New Zealand links. Background information Recent Media Highlights on Fire, Policies, and Politics
