Snow in Australia whites-out forest fires
Sydney (dpa) - Thousands of volunteers battling forest blazes in Australia's south-east corner received a timely Christmas present Monday when snow fell on fires that over the last three weeks have burned 870,000 hectares.
"I didn't actually believe it until it actually came last night," volunteer fireman Paul Koenig told national broadcaster ABC in the Mt Buller ski resort in Victoria.
"It's put the white cover across the buildings and the white cover over the ground, so it looks beautiful," he said.
In Melbourne, the state capital, it was the coldest Christmas Day in 70 years. In the neighbouring state of New South Wales temperatures also plummeted with the Thredbo ski resort receiving a dusting of snow.
In Hobart, the Tasmanian state capital, children were throwing snowballs where a week ago smoke plumed from a forest on fire.
"We've come all the way from England for a warm summer and here we are in the snow in Hobart, but we're still enjoying it," one tourist told the ABC.
Weather bureau forecaster Scott Williams said the unseasonably low temperatures meant fires in three states could be extinguished by the end of the week.
"It's a terrific Christmas present for the firefighters," Williams said. "It's going to go a long way to putting the fires out."
At their height, 4,000 firefighters were pitched against the blazes. There were contingents from New Zealand as well as from the military. Dozens of water-bombing aircraft have been in action.
Forest fires sparked by lightning or set by arsonists are a feature of the hot southern hemisphere summer. Four years ago seven people were killed, 500 houses razed and 3 million hectares of forest lost - an area three times the size of Britain. // © 2006 DPA
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