Australia Braces for Severe Heatwaves Following Widespread Bushfires

A supplied image shows a bushfire in Myall Park, Queensland on Feb. 14, 2023. AAP Image/Supplied by Queensland Fire and Emergency Services

Aussies need to brace for more heatwaves over the coming days following widespread bushfires, according to the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM).

Bushfires have swept South Australia—with authorities reporting 143 hectares of scrub burnt—where homes and industrial buildings in Port Lincoln were damaged.

“Numerous fires remain ongoing across eastern Australia, in particular, across Queensland’s Western Downs, where a ‘Watch and Act’ remains current,” the BOM said in Feb. 16 statement.

The Bureau warned of “extreme fire danger” across parts of South Australia, the Northern Territory, and New South Wales over the coming weekend.

“Pockets of ‘Severe Intensity Heatwaves’ will develop across southeast Victoria, northeast Tasmania, and southeast New South Wales on Friday. The heatwave will become widespread across most parts of New South Wales, Victoria, and Tasmania on Friday, also extending into southern Queensland.”

Recovery Efforts Begin for Queensland

Residents in Queensland’s Western Downs have begun rebuilding efforts following bushfires that have consumed 40,000 hectares of land.

The fires have impacted townships near Tara, northwest of Brisbane.

Mark Lacy, a local resident of the region, said what was left of his property, not destroyed by bushfire, was now unrecognisable.

“They took aerial pictures and we could see on our phones the house was gone,” Lacy said, reported The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC).

“Our lounge room has melted … but we’re grateful it didn’t get through our sheds.”

Residents in the area fled on Feb. 12—many with just the clothes on their backs—as the bushfires spread.

However, Lacy is among other homeowners in the area whose home is uninsured, reported the ABC.

Nonetheless, Western Downs communities affected by the bushfires can now access a disaster assistance fund that has been jointly funded by state and federal governments.

Federal Emergency Management Minister Murray Watt said in a statement that residents could access immediate personal hardship payments to cover the cost of essential items, including “funding for operational response activities.”

“I recognise that this is an extremely stressful time for evacuated residents currently in temporary accommodation.

Queensland Minister for Fire and Emergency Services Mark Ryan said the state’s fires “have been very difficult to contain.”

“Hours of water-bombing operations and hundreds of Fire and Rescue Service and Rural Fire Service personnel continue to make a heroic effort to bring these fires finally under control.

“As always, our Fire and Rescue Service and Rural Fire Service personnel did a remarkable job of protecting communities and I commend them for their efforts to date.”

Multiple emergency warnings are in place for residents living to the north of Miles, northwest of Brisbane.

Fourteen bushfires continue to burn across Queensland, with a dozen still causing concerns in the southwest.

Dozens of homes and sheds have been destroyed alongside property and farming equipment.

No fatalities or serious injuries have been reported.

Meanwhile, a Severe Weather Warning is current for “Heavy Rainfall and Damaging Winds” for parts of the state’s Gulf Country, Peninsula, and North Tropical Coast.

Further updates and forecasts can be found on the BOM website.