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Koalas, their habitat, ravaged as Australia wildfires rage for 12th day

By Geoff Spencer, Associated Press, 1/4/2002 12:13

SYDNEY, Australia (AP) Wildfires have ravaged the koala's habitat and likely killed or injured thousands, wildlife experts said Friday, as authorities arrested two more teen-age arson suspects.

It could take up to 15 years to rebuild some population groups of the koala, Australia's national icon, the National Parks and Wildlife Service said. There are already fewer than 100,000 of the animals in Australia, the Australian Koala Foundation said.

''Koalas are vulnerable. They are slow moving,'' wildlife service director Brian Gilligan said. ''No doubt many thousands of koalas have either been killed or injured in the fires.''

Friday's arrests of a 14-year-old boy and a 15-year-old girl brought the number of people detained on suspicion of starting fires that have burned for nearly two weeks in New South Wales to 23, including 15 juveniles. One of the suspects is 9 years old.

Firefighters and weather forecasters predicted that the blazes, which have destroyed homes and crops and forced thousands of people to evacuate, could still be burning next week.

''It remains a menace. I think these fires have been the most protracted I can remember in my lifetime,'' said Prime Minister John Howard.

Britain's Queen Elizabeth II on Friday sent a message of sympathy and support to the people of New South Wales whose lives have been affected by the Australian bush fires.

About 100 blazes were burning around Sydney and throughout New South Wales, generating massive smoke clouds have soared high into the sky and reached New Zealand, 1,400 miles east across the Tasman Sea. The fire fronts cover more than 1,200 miles.

Temperatures dropped from their searing levels of recent days, giving firefighters a respite, but unpredictable winds hampered their efforts and state fire chief Phil Koperberg said rain is needed to end the crisis.

The largest fire has scorched about 160,000 acres of bone-dry forest and farmland near Singleton, 80 miles northwest of Sydney.

Another wildfire has isolated the coastal town of Bendalong, about 120 miles south of Sydney, where hundreds of people have camped out on a beach where they are safe from burning vegetation. The only road to the town was cut off by raging flames and thick smoke, and some residents and vacationers have been evacuated by boats.

A fast-moving fire front 37 miles long was burning in the rugged and heavily forested Blue Mountains, about 50 miles west of Sydney. Dozens of residents were leaving the tiny town of Bowen Mountain. Residents also were being asked to evacuate parts of the Hawkesbury district on Sydney's northern outskirts.

Meteorologists said southern-hemisphere summer temperatures had dropped to around 78 degrees after climbing above 100 degrees earlier this week.

No deaths have been recorded since the ''Black Christmas'' fires started Dec. 24, but about 170 houses have been destroyed and more than 1.2 million acres have been blackened.

Officials say almost half of the fires have been set deliberately, and the New South Wales government has promised to punish arsonists, emphasizing that youth is not an excuse.

The maximum penalty for adult offenders is 14 years in prison.

''Any youngster nabbed lighting a fire will not get off with a warning from a judge,'' said state Premier Bob Carr.

He said arsonists who are not sent to juvenile institutions would be required to meet burn victims and people who have suffered because of the fires.

''I think it would so traumatic ... they would never do it again,'' Carr said.

About 20,000 firefighters from around Australia have been deployed across New South Wales. Officials said hundreds who have come from neighboring Victoria state would soon be recalled home amid fears that fires soon could break out there as well.

The Daily Telegraph newspaper reported that 14 firefighters were saved when a helicopter dumped thousands of gallons of water on an advancing wall of flames in the Blue Mountains on Thursday.

-- Anonymous, January 04, 2002