Fire forces lashed after record heat

CANBERRA - Fires raging across New South Wales have killed a helicopter crewman and injured the pilot, damaged three choppers, seriously injured two farmers, destroyed at least one home, and burned through tens of thousands of hectares of farm and bushland.

Late yesterday firefighters were battling about 100 outbreaks, 27 of them out of control in hot, windy conditions that have brought total fire bans across most of the state.

In Queensland, temperatures soaring into the 40s put firefighters in the Darling Downs and Granite Belt regions on a state of high alert amid warnings that any outbreaks would be fast-moving and uncontrollable.

Similar warnings were issued in the Midwest, Gascoyne and Pilbara regions of Western Australia.

"The level of fire activity across NSW in recent weeks indicates the increased risk of bushfires this season," state Rural Fire Service Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons said yesterday.

"For that reason it's extremely important that people prepare their properties, themselves and their families, and have a bushfire survival plan."

Yesterday, the World Meteorological Organisation's annual climate statement, released in Copenhagen, said Australia had recorded its third-warmest year on record, with "exceptional" heatwaves in the first two months of the year, in August and in November. The presence of El Nino conditions in the Pacific brought near-record rises in sea surface temperatures and most parts of Australia experienced an exceptionally mild winter. Maximum temperatures were well above the national average, with 3.2C above normal, the largest recorded in any month.

Further warnings have come from the Bureau of Meteorology, which has forecast a hot and dangerous summer.

The bureau's head of climate analysis, David Jones, said that Australia had experienced its hottest six months on record and could suffer its second-hottest year since records began after 2005. He said one of the biggest impacts in the past year had been the absence of cold, with a massive decline in sea ice in the Arctic.

"We expect 2009 will be either the second warmest year on record for Australia or the third warmest."

The outlook for the summer was consistent, Jones said, with warm daytime conditions in northeast Australia forecast to continue.

Yesterday tragedy struck in NSW when a helicopter mapping fires sparked by lightning crashed in thick smog near the Dorrigo National Park, inland from the northern coastal city of Coffs Harbour. A National Parks Service officer was killed and the pilot was late yesterday reported to be in a critical condition.

On Tuesday, two other helicopters water-bombing a fire near the Central West town of Bathurst narrowly escaped disaster when they nearly collided in dense smoke. The water bucket carried by one chopper clipped the rotor blades of the other. Both landed safely and the four men aboard were not injured.

But two farmers were seriously burned as they defended their properties near Bathurst, and flown to Concord Hospital in Sydney.

The fire had earlier forced the evacuation of almost 20 families. They were allowed to return to their homes yesterday.

Another helicopter fighting a fire near Tamworth, in northern NSW, was damaged after engine trouble forced an emergency landing.

Late yesterday firefighters were struggling to control fires that covered a huge strip of eastern NSW, running up from the south coast near Nowra, and inland west of Canberra, to Tweed Heads on the border with Queensland.

Many were sparked by lightning in the north of the state, burning near major regional centres including Inverell, Tenterfield, Narrabri, Tamworth and Gunnedah.

On the far north coast, properties were late yesterday under threat from a fire raging west of Cabarita Beach.

At Cootamundra, northwest of Canberra, fire has burned through more than 7000ha of farmland, destroying at least one home, farm buildings, fencing and equipment, including a A$500,000 ($616,000) header.

Extensive sheep losses have also been reported.

- ADDITIONAL REPORTING: AAP