Guarda Il Fuoco
Capital ablaze … Margaret Kay runs from the flames that threatened the home of friends as temperatures soared in the ACT yesterday.
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Kisah klasik setiap musim panas di tanah ostralis, temperatur membumbung gila-gilaan hingga kepala empat, udara terasa sangat kering, rerumputan dan daun eukaliptus mudah terbakar.
Sayangnya, sebagian dari insiden « bush fire » di sini disebabkan oleh ... manusia. Aneh bukan. Mengapa ada orang yang mau membakar hutan, untuk lelucon ? Boh ... dengan resiko kehilangan properti, kerusakan taman nasional dan fauna ini bukan lagi lelucon yang bisa ditolelir oleh NSW Fire Squad. Kejahatan menyalakan api dengan sengaja di area " tanpa api " kini sangat serius. Tahun lalu gue baca di koran, ada mereka yang dengan sengaja menyebabkan kebakaran hutan yang berdekatan dengan lokasi pemukiman, hanya untuk mencari kepuasan diri. Mereka sakit ! Dan ada pula yang telah terdaftar sebagai volunteer fire fighter, menyulut api, dan melaporkan api tsb ke hotline secara anonim, lalu ia ikut memadamkan api tsb bersama-sama dengan Fire Brigade. Sindrom heroisme ?
Rumah yang gue diami ngga terlalu jauh dari national park dan daerah rawan kebakaran, mungkin karena kami tinggal lumayan jauh dari metropolitan Sydney. Beberapa tahun lalu, kami bisa melihat ufuk langit, menjelang sore, glowing dengan warna jingga - udara membawa asap dan butiran karbon kering.
Yang paling kasihan adalah mereka yang tinggal di ACT (Aust Capital Territory) dua tahun lalu lebih dari 400 rumah di satu suburb sajah hangus, musnah dalam satu hari. Dan tahun ini .. mimpi buruk yang sama menimpa residen ACT lainnya.
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The Yarralumla resident ran for her life yesterday as flames tore through four homes and flared up over another house belonging to a friend she had gone to help.
By early evening, when the flames had died and the smoke cleared, it was apparent the inferno had not been precipitated by natural conditions. Police declared the street a crime scene after residents reported seeing children smoking at an old brickworks nearby. The brickworks is surrounded by grassland and abuts Royal Canberra Golf Course.
The fire destroyed two homes and severely damaged a third in Yarralumla's Schomburgk Street, near the diplomatic district.
Greg Cornwell, a neighbour and former speaker of the ACT Legislative Assembly, was inside his house with his wife when they heard the sirens. "[We] walked out onto the balcony and [my wife] shrieked as the pine trees were going up 100 metres from our house," he said. "[The fire] roared up through the pine trees, over the mound and rushed down the other side and was spreading towards the fences."
Temperatures in Canberra are expected to reach 35 today, and 38 tomorrow, after hitting 34 yesterday. NSW firefighters are also braced for the worst, with temperatures high across the state. The Rural Fire Service warned that open barbecues, fireworks and bonfires might not be allowed tomorrow.
With about 200 firefighters and five aircraft subduing a grassfire in the Hunter Valley last night, all but one - in the Southern Highlands - of the 19 fires in NSW had been contained.