Australian fires still 'extremely dangerous'

Firefighters braced for deteriorating weather conditions as they continued to battle a massive bushfire burning on the outskirts of Adelaide in the state of South Australia on Monday.

South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill said the fire remained "extremely dangerous," and that authorities were facing a race against time to gain the upper hand before Wednesday, when temperatures are expected to reach 38 degrees Celcius (100.4 degrees Fahrenheit).

"This is by no means over… there is still clear danger," Weatherill said.

Authorities say some 29 people have been injured and at least 26 homes have been destroyed or badly damaged in the blaze, which started on Friday afternoon and has burnt through nearly 13,000 hectares (32,124 acres) in the Mount Lofty Ranges, east of Adelaide. The number of homes affected is expected to rise further. A total of 41 outbuildings and sheds had also been destroyed or damaged.

County Fire Service boss Greg Nettleton said several hundred firefighters and 14 fire-bombing aircraft had been deployed, and that extra resources from the neighboring states of New South Wales and Victoria were expected over the next two days.

He said the weather would be crucial to the next stage of the firefighting operation.

"At the moment I think they're predicting (winds of) about 35 kilometres per hour (21 miles per hour). That's enough given the dryness of the country for the fire to spread, so our number one priority is to secure the outer perimeter of that large fire so it doesn't impact on further communities," Nettleton said.

Worst fire in decades

Dave Miller, a resident of Kersbrook, one of the worst-hit villages in the Adelaide Hills, told local media his home had been destroyed.

"I've got a diesel tank still standing with 4,000 liters of diesel in but I've got nothing else... No house, not very much of anything, mate," the 60-year-old said, adding, however, that he had no plans to leave the area.

"I'll stay up here. I'll get a caravan or something to live in and just keep going."

Bushfires are common in Australia between December and February at the height of the country's summer.

Officials say the fire conditions over the weekend were the worst since the 1983 Ash Wednesday bushfires, which killed more than 70 people in South Australia and Victoria.

In 2009, 173 people were killed and thousands of homes destroyed when a massive bushfire devastated southern Victoria, a disaster dubbed "Black Saturday."

nm/rg (AFP, dpa)