Firefighter dies as Australia works on long-term battle plan

A firefighter was killed by a falling tree while battling Australian wildfire crisis overnight and prime minister on Sunday said his government was apting and building resilience to fire danger posed by climate change.

Bill Sle, one of few professionals among mainly volunteer briges battling blazes across souast Australia — died on Saturday near Omeo in eastern Victoria state, Forest Fire Manment Victoria Executive Director Chris Hardman said.

60-year-old married far of two was in vember commended for 40 years service with forestry ncy.

“Although we do have ermous experience in identifying hazardous trees, sometimes se tree failures can’t be predicted,” Hardman said. “Working on fire ground in a forest environment is a dynamic, high-risk environment and it carries with it significant risk.”

trdy brings death toll to at least 27 people in a crisis that has destroyed more than 2,000 homes and scorched an area larger than U.S. state of Indiana since September. Four of casualties were firefighters.

Authorities are using relatively benign conditions forecast in souast Australia for a week or more to consolidate containment lines around scores of fires that are likely to burn for weeks without heavy rainfall. reprieve from severe fire conditions promises to be longest of current fire season.

crisis has brought accusations that Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s conservative government needs to take more action to counter climate change, which experts say has worsened blazes. Thousands of protesters rallied late Friday in Sydney and Melbourne, calling for Morrison to be fired and for Australia to take tougher action on global warming.

chief executive of Siemens said Friday that German engineering company will review its involvement in a coal mine in Australia after climate activists called for it to pull out of project.

group Fridays for Future, which has held weekly protests demanding action against climate change for over a year, wants Siemens to quit mine project because emissions from coal-fired power plants contribute to global warming.

Morrison said his government was developing a national disaster risk reduction framework within Department of Home Affairs that will deal with wildfires, cyclones, floods and drought. government was currently working through details of framework with local governments.

“This is a longer-term risk framework model which deals with one of big issues in response to climate changing and that is resilience and aptation that we need in our community right across country to deal with longer, hotter, drier seasons that increase risk of bushfire,” Morrison said.

Morrison said his government accepted that climate change was leing to longer, hotter and drier summers, despite junior government lawmaker George Christensen posting on social media over weekend that cause of latest fires was arson rar than man-me climate change. Ar junior lawmaker Craig Kelly has also publicly denied any link between climate change and fire crisis.

State authorities have said a mirity of fires are deliberately lit.

“ government’s policy is set by Cabinet. Our party room has a bro range of views,” Morrison said of those within government ranks who reject mainstream climate science.

Morrison later anunced that 76 million Australian dollars ($52 million) would be spent on providing psychological counselling for firefighters and fire-effected communities as part of a previously anunced AU$2 billion ($1.4 billion) recovery fund.

“re has been a deep scar in landscape that has been left right across our country,” Morrison said. “But I am also very mindful, as is government, of very real scars that will be re for quite a period of time to come for those who’ve been exposed to trauma of se bushfires.”

While fire threat is most acute in rural communities, wildfire smoke that has choked some of Australia’s largest cities is a reminder to many urban Australians of unfolding disaster.

sails of iconic Sydney Opera House were illuminated on Saturday night to show support for firefighters and wildfires-affected communities. display included messs and photographs of firefighters who were fighting wildfires over past few months.