A hillside fire threatens rural residents outside of Morwell, Victoria. (AP/Bernard Atkins)

The Australian: The Nation

BRIDGET HILL — Bushfires along the East Coast in Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria have escalated in a late season resurgence this week.

Two weeks ago, bushfires appeared to have been contained and slowing in the majority of the nation, minus parts of Queensland where bushfires have burned relatively un-tethered, however this week has seen a back-track in containment and an uptick in bushfires, primarily along the East Coast. Weather experts have attributed this late season resurgence to particularly dry and windy conditions in New South Wales and Victoria.

According to the Climate & Weather Association of Victoria, Victoria is yet to report a wet day for the month of February, with mere millimeters reported in January. Portions of New South Wales have also reported similar circumstances. Furthermore, wind gusts over the next two days are expected to exceed speeds of 18 km/h, enough to spark new fires and accelerate current ones.

In addition, the C&WAVIC cites climate change as a growing factor in the spread of bushfires not just in Victoria, but across the country. While the normal Australian summer is long and dry, this year has been substantially more extreme on the East Coast. Experts predict this trend will continue towards next year and beyond.

On top of excessively dry and windy conditions in New South Wales and Victoria, Queensland has reported a shortage of available firefighters to combat bushfires spreading across large swathes of the state. State Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk declared a 7-day State of Emergency this morning, citing 'in-adequate resources to combat rampant fires across the state, particularly in rural areas'. The State of Emergency is to go into affect tomorrow morning on Saturday, and will open up the state to additional relief measures.

Currently, the most affected communities are near and in the Snowy River and Kosciuszko National Parks in Victoria, the Blue Mountains, Yengo and Wollemi National Parks in New South Wales, and the Central Highlands and Capricornia regions of Queensland. New Holland, South Australia and the Northern Territory have reported few fires, similar to 2021.

Several region shave been evacuated, including large regions of Morwell, Victoria, communities around the Blue Mountains in New South Wales, and Woorabinda and Bauhinia in Queensland.

The Prime Minister has been briefed again on the situation, and is expected to address the nation regarding the resurgence in bushfires at a seven O'clock press conference this evening. It is expected the Prime Minister will request a re-deployment of Australian Defence Forces to East Coast bushfires to assist in relief and combat, which last scaled back in late January.

This uptick in bushfires will be the largest since the 2019-2020 Bushfire Season, which saw millions of hectares ravaged, and thousands of Australians displaced. Compared to the relatively small 2020-2021 Bushfire Season, this year's fires are even more jarring.

Several close Australian allies around the globe have offered support to help combat the ongoing bushfires, including Germany, the UK and La Plata which together contributed 195 firefighters.

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The international firefighters are expected to be deployed to threatened areas primarily in Queensland. Prime Minister Ackerman offered his thanks on Twitter an hour ago, with this Tweet:

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Prime Minister Ackerman is expected to visit Queensland communities ravaged by the uptick in bushfires this Monday. So far, it is clear Ackerman's reaction is a sharp contrast from his reaction during the 2019-2020 Bushfire Season, during which Paul Ackerman was silently vacationing in Hawaii.

The Prime Minister's handling of this crisis will certainly have drastic effects on his chance of re-election in the upcoming general election. Depending on how well Ackerman handles the spike in bushfires, the Coalition could gain additional Liberal, Liberal-National and National seats among bushfire-affected electorates.

The next few days are forecasted to be prime for fire-spread. Firefighting and additional support will have to be swift in order to contain and diminish this week's fires.

_{This was published Friday, February 11, 2021 | The Nation}

_{The Australian covers a wide-range of news stories around
the nation, keeping Australians informed and ready.}

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