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It is a propensity of human nature to be much more interested in the bad news than the good. Hence news media seemed to almost delight in the shock of Australia 'burning'. There were many phenomenal pictures, hysterical headlines and apocalyptic analyses.In recent days, though, there has been some welcome good news and yet, to a large extent, this is buried away in mid-page columns, if reported at all. I guess 'Australia being blessed by rain', is not as dramatic as 'Australia burning in hell'. Many fires are still ongoing but there have been some remarkable stories and pictures of...

Victoria police say there is no evidence any of the devastating bushfires in the state were caused by arson, contrary to the spread of global disinformation exaggerating arsonist arrests during the current crisis.A misleading figure suggesting 183 arsonists have been arrested “since the start of the bushfire season” spread across the globe on Wednesday, after initial reports in News Corp were picked up by Donald Trump Jr, US far-right websites and popular alt-right personalities. Jason Wilson (@jason_a_w)Some outlets are reporting this responsibly but the distorted version is all over garbage-tier rightwing media. pic.twitter.com/U9XxmzuKHl January 7, 2020 The figure included...

Wildfires are raging in Australia. We’re going to get an earful about global warming again because Australia has never been hot or prone to wildfires until Donald Trump won the 2016 election, but that’s a separate matter. ABC News peddled some straight fake news about the natural disaster, superimposing the entire continent onto the United States to show the scale of the disaster. The problem is that it’s not accurate. As some, like Washington Free Beacon reporter Alex Griswold, noted this claim is contradicted in the ABC News article [emphasis mine]: The raging fires in Australia have burned over...

An Adelaide man has told of the incredible heroism of his neighbours who worked together to stop the raging bushfire that came within two metres of destroying his family home. ..... While Simon was waiting to hear whether his house was safe, Barry was working to save not only his own house, but those around him. ..... Simon called Gary and asked him to race up to his house and convince Barry to leave, as he was starting to worry that his friends were putting their lives at risk for his property. ..... The fire had come within two metres...

TONY Abbott did today what any responsible, caring prime minister would do, visiting one of the communities devastated by bushfires raging out of control across NSW. But, as he inspected damage and sought to give comfort to those affected, one of the emotions Abbott no doubt felt was frustration. He would have had a strong urge to take off his prime ministerial hat, don his firefighter's helmet and join the thousands of yellow-clad volunteers battling the flames. Abbott has been a highly skilled member of the NSW Rural Fire Service for 13 years. He is a specialist breathing apparatus operator,...

Two boys charged with lighting one of the fatal Black Saturday bushfires have been released on bail. Almost a year after the devastating fires, a 14-year-old boy was arrested by appointment in Melbourne today, while his 15-year-old co-accused was arrested in central Victoria. The youths were each charged with arson causing death, deliberately lighting a bushfire, lighting a fire on a total fire ban day and lighting a fire in a country area during extreme weather conditions. They were also charged with 135 counts each of criminal damage by fire and multiple counts of using telecommunications services to menace and...

Prince William has described his shock at seeing first hand the devastation caused by bushfires in Australia. As part of a three-day tour of the country, he met people affected by the fires outside Melbourne and said the power of the flames was "terrifying". One of those he met, Gabrielle Denky, said: "He was devastated and saddened when we told him what happened to us." Fires in south-eastern Australia last February killed hundreds of people and razed entire towns. Rebuilding William was driven through mile after mile of blackened trees, stopping off at a relief centre in the town of...

THE upcoming fire season could start earlier and last longer, a top Victorian fire chief has warned. Identified risk areas include the Otway Ranges, the Dandenong Ranges, the Brisbane Ranges and the Macedon Ranges. Victoria's Department of Sustainability and Environment chief officer Ewan Waller said firefighters would start burning off as soon as possible. "The fire season may well start earlier, go longer, with lightning in between," Mr Waller said. "We will have extra support from the government for spring burnoffs state-wide and there will be smoke in the air as soon as we can start bringing in people." He...

THE Brumby Government revealed in its recent budget that the Black Saturday bushfires would cost more than $1 billion. Yet, according to Craig Ingram, the independent member for East Gippsland, one of the state's most fire-prone electorates, it has failed to embrace the cheaper and more effective route of increasing off-season burns. Although the budget included new equipment for firefighters, and $52million for fuel-reduction burning, it did not provide extra staff to assist in the off-season burns. The Government has a target to burn 130,000ha of forest in the off-season and as, John Brumby is fond of saying, it exceeded...

WIND up to 150km/h threatens to turn Victoria into an inferno just weeks after the state's worst bushfire disaster. Gale-force wind is forecast to howl from tonight with the mercury tipped to hit the high-30s tomorrow. "It's going to be a terrible, terrible day," Premier John Brumby said. "It'll probably be the second-worst day we've had. "I can't put it any more bluntly than that." Emergency services fear the northerly wind could send bushfires roaring towards towns that narrowly missed the devastation of February 7. A strong southwesterly wind change late in the day is expected to blow for 24...

Victorian firefighters are continuing their battle to contain a large blaze in inaccessible country in the Wilsons Promontory National Park. It is one of five blazes that firefighters are still trying to get on top of ahead of warmer and windy conditions forecast for Monday. Department of Sustainability and Environment spokesman Stuart Ord said the Wilsons Promontory fire was continuing to be a challenge for firefighters. The fire, which has burnt more than 12,000ha, is not threatening any private property, but Yanakie residents have been warned to expect smoke. 'Because of the rough terrain we can't get our firefighters to...

The first person to be charged over Victoria's deadly bushfires will face the Melbourne Magistrates Court today. The man, who cannot be identified, is accused of lighting the Churchill-Jeeralang fire which killed 21 people in Gippsland, in Victoria's east. The fire started in plantation near Churchill and quickly spread to nearby communities. The man was arrested last week and charged with arson causing death, intentionally lighting a bushfire, and possessing child pornography. The man did not attend a brief court hearing in Morwell on Friday, but his lawyer told the court the man was in a fragile mental state. The...

AUSTRALIAN and Americans have come together in Los Angeles and New York to raise more than $76,587 for victims of the Victoria fires. Organisers in both cities were astounded by the turnout. The Los Angeles event was held at Sunset Boulevard bar The Blue Goose Lounge while several thousand New Yorkers packed Manhattan bar and restaurant, The Australian, throughout the day. "It was shoulder to shoulder throughout the entire day and night," Australian Consul General in New York, John Olsen said. "On a holiday weekend in New York to have that sort of response and turnout was tremendous." Olsen estimated...

TWO NSW firefighters have been injured while battling bushfires in Victoria's Gippsland region, while fire victims launch legal action against the State Government and a power company. A spokeswoman for the Country Fire Authority (CPA) said the NSW Rural Fire Service (RFS) men suffered serious, but not life-threatening injuries when a tree fell on them while fighting fires in Coopers Creek late on Saturday night. The type of injuries are unknown. Sixty specialist firefighters from the United States will arrive in Melbourne this morning, adding to the 520 interstate firefighters and 120 specialist New Zealand firefighters already in Victoria. Twelve...

JIHADISTS are celebrating the worst tragedy in Victoria's history. Terror watchdogs said fundamentalists had blogged on websites across the globe, applauding the lives lost and destruction. Senior analyst at SITE Intelligence Group Adam Raisman said they were posting pictures of burnt homes and devastated victims and "taking joy in the scenes". One jihadist wrote: "It would be an act of revenge for Australian's participation in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq." Bushfires victims said they were stunned.

The United States will send 60 experienced firefighters to Australia to help battle the remaining Victorian blazes, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said. The US Department of Interior will dispatch 29 firefighters and the US Forest Service is deploying 31 in response to an official Victorian request for assistance, Salazar said. Twenty one bushfires are still burning across Victoria, after swarms of devastating infernos killed at least 181 people and destroyed nearly 2,000 homes. "Australia is experiencing an unprecedented wildfire season due to record high temperatures, drought, high wind and low humidity," Salazar said in a statement. "We are dispatching this...

BRUCE Esplin woke at 6am last Saturday with a gnawing feeling in his gut. Victoria's Emergency Services Commissioner knew the odds were not good for the 3582 firefighters and emergency workers who had been placed like toy soldiers across the breadth of his state. "We were about to face weather beyond our experience, and I just had this feeling of dread," Esplin says. Across town, Ewan Waller, the Government's chief fire officer, was also on edge. By 7.30am he was already sitting in the Integrated Emergency Co-ordination Centre in central Melbourne, otherwise known as the "war room", where he would...

THE US will send 60 experienced firefighters to Australia to help battle the remaining Victorian blazes, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said today. The US Department of Interior will dispatch 29 firefighters and the US Forest Service is deploying 31 in response to an official Victorian request for assistance, Mr Salazar said. Twenty one bushfires are still burning across Victoria, after swarms of devastating infernos killed at least 181 people and destroyed nearly 2000 homes.

VICTORIA'S bushfires have released a massive amount of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere - almost equal to Australia's industrial emission for an entire year. Mark Adams, from the University of Sydney, said the emissions from bushfires were far beyond what could be contained through carbon capture and needed to be addressed in the next international agreement. "Once you are starting to burn millions of hectares of eucalypt forest, then you are putting into the atmosphere very large amounts of carbon," Professor Adams said. In work for the Bushfire Co-operative Research Centre, he estimated the 2003 and 2006-07 bushfires could have...

A man accused of lighting the Churchill-Jeerelang bushfire in Gippsland, in Victoria's east has been remanded in custody. The fire started in plantation near Churchill on Saturday and quickly spread to nearby communities. Twenty-one people are confirmed to have died in that fire. The man was arrested this morning and taken to the Morwell police station where he was questioned for several hours. He has been charged with one count of arson causing death, one count of intentionally lighting a bushfire and one count of possessing child pornography. The man did not appear in court.