Australia crews make firebreaks to beat flames

Crews battling Australia's wildfires said on Sunday that they have been able to turn from defence to offence for the first time in weeks thanks to a break in the weather. With bulldozers and cans of liquid fuel, firefighters are carving and burning long cordons or "breaks" designed to deny kindling for massive wildfires that have ravaged Australia for weeks. "We're taking advantage of this cooler weather at the moment and putting in hard control lines, backburn operations and we're getting on top of it," said bulldozer operator Matthew Hanshaw, who goes by the name "Emu."

While fighting the fires, firefighting veteran Mick Stain found some moth larvae or "witchetty grubs" and cooked them into "bush chips" straight on burning coals. "Bit creamy and nutty but they're all right. They're not spew-worthy, so they're pretty good," Stain said. Dale McLean, who is helping manage the response to a fire near the town of Bodalla in New South Wales state, was part of a team that was bulldozing down small trees and burning scrub ahead of the fire's projected path to try to stop it from reaching a major highway by starving it of fuel.

"This fire took a major run about seven or eight days ago, and with the weather changing now, the weather settling down, the fire has settled down," he said. "The fire behaviour has changed. So we're able to get in front of the fire now, get on the offensive." The weather is expected to remain benign for the next week, although any deterioration in conditions after that could see the wildfires flare up again.

McLean said that the weather window is "critical" to keeping people safe farther towards the coast. "If we lose this fire here we are back to the Princess Highway and the loss of a whole lot more forest plus the fact that it brings the fire that much closer to settlements and lives," he said. The progress came after a firefighter was killed by a falling tree.

Bill Slade — one of the few professionals among mainly volunteer brigades battling blazes across southeast Australia — died on Saturday near Omeo in eastern Victoria state. The tragedy brings the death toll to at least 27 in a crisis that has destroyed more than 2,000 homes and scorched an area larger than the U.S. state of Indiana since September. Four of the casualties have been firefighters. While the 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 the unfolding disaster.