NSW firefighters race to shore up defences

Bolstered by cooler weather and desperately needed rain, exhausted firefighters in Australia raced to shore up defences against deadly wildfires before the blazes flare again within days when scorching temperatures are expected to return. The first hints of the financial toll from the disaster began to emerge on Tuesday.

The Insurance Council of Australia said the estimated damage bill had doubled in two days, with insurance claims reaching 700 million Australian dollars ($485 million). That estimate comes one day after Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the government was committing an extra 2 billion Australian dollars ($1.4 billion) toward the recovery effort in addition to the tens of millions of dollars that have already been promised. 

Morrison's funding announcement came amid fierce criticism from many Australians who say he has been too slow to respond to the crisis. He has also faced backlash for downplaying the need for his government to address climate change, which experts say helps supercharge the blazes. The fires, fueled by drought and the country's hottest and driest year on record, have been raging since September, months earlier than is typical for Australia's annual wildfire season. So far, the blazes have killed 25 people, destroyed 2,000 homes and scorched an area twice the size of the U.S. state of Maryland.

In New South Wales state, 130 fires were still burning on Tuesday, around 60 of which were uncontrolled. The day's cooler, rainier weather was providing thousands of exhausted firefighters a "psychological and emotional" reprieve as they scrambled to strengthen containment lines around the blazes before temperatures rise again, said Shane Fitzsimmons, commissioner of the New South Wales Rural Fire Service. "It really is about shoring up protection to limit the damage potential and the outbreak of these fires over the coming days," he told the Australian Broadcasting Corp.