Australia bushfire threat since 2003, says authorities 

Australia’s capital city of Canberra is facing its most significant bushfire threat since 2003, authorities said on Wednesday. The fire in the Namadgi National Park south of Canberra, which was started by a defence helicopter, was on Tuesday night downgraded to a “watch and act” level but was expected to continue to burn for weeks, reports Xinhua news agency. Andrew Barr, the Chief Minister of the Australian Capital Territory (ACT), said on Tuesday that the fire posed the biggest risk to Canberra of any fire since the fires in 2003, which killed four people. The fire has burned through about 10,000 hectares of land and was heading towards Canberra city at a rate of 400 hectares per hour. Matthew Shonk, an incident controller from the ACT Emergency Services Agency, said on Wednesday said that the threat has been downgraded in the short-term but the forecast temperatures exceeding 40 degrees Celsius on Friday and Saturday were “worrying”. (IANS)

Also Read: Australia budget surplus threatened by bushfire: Josh Frydenberg

Also Watch: Minister of State for Education Smt. Vibhavariben Dave addresses Academia in Guwahati.