At least two dead as bushfires rage in northeastern Australia

Sydney, Australia, Oct 26 (EFE).- At least two people have died in Australia’s Queenland state as firefighters continued on Thursday to battle bushfires.

In the rural town of Tara, about 300 kilometers west of the city of Brisbane and one of the most affected by the fires, a man died trying to protect his home from the flames, while a woman died due to a heart attack while being evacuated.

Queensland Police told EFE on Thursday that the woman’s death is not being treated as suspicious and is not directly due to the fires.

The bushfires have also burned 16 homes and some 11,000 hectares of land, authorities reported.

Queensland authorities continue to fight dozens of fires, after gaining control of some of them and this week reaching around 100 outbreaks.

The authorities of the neighboring state of New South Wales reported Thursday that they were also fighting dozens of bushfires, many of them near the border that separates both jurisdictions.

“While there’s been an easing of conditions overnight, lightning strikes have been detected. Crews have already responded to several fires believed to have been started by lightning strikes,” warned the Rural Fire Service of NSW, where a man died last week.

Australia, which experienced a Black Summer of fires during 2019-2020 in which 33 people died, is expected to face drier than usual weather this year due to El Niño, the warm phase of a climate pattern across the tropical Pacific. EFE

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