Volunteer Firefighters to Get Some Pay as Australia Burns

(Bloomberg) -- Volunteer firefighters battling blazes in Australia’s most populous state will receive financial support from the government, as a heatwave threatens to escalate the crisis.

Citing the early start to the bushfire season, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the largely volunteer force in New South Wales state was “doing it tough.”

“I don’t want to see volunteers or their families unable to pay bills, or struggle financially as a result of the selfless contribution they are making,” he said in a statement where he announced payments of as much as A$6,000 ($4,100) for volunteers who are self-employed or work for small and medium businesses and have been called out for more than 10 days to battle blazes.

The announcement Sunday is an about-turn for the prime minister, who’d previously rejected opposition calls to pay volunteers -- contending it could undermine the culture and spirit of the Rural Fire Service. The blazes, which have killed at least nine people, have put Morrison on the backfoot, amid an emotive debate about global warming in Australia and criticism the government is not doing enough to curb emissions.

New South Wales has borne the brunt of the fires that started in the southern hemisphere winter amid a prolonged drought gripping much of the country. The blazes have burnt out more than 6 million acres of forest and bush land -- an area larger than New Jersey -- destroying the habitat of native animals such as koalas. Images of the marsupials drinking water from bottles after being rescued have gone viral on social media in recent days.

About 2,000 firefighters are battling 85 blazes across the state and preparing for worsening conditions on Tuesday. The states of Queensland, Victoria, Western Australia and South Australia have also been hit. Authorities urged tens of thousands of residents and holidaymakers in the East Gippsland region of southeast Victoria to evacuate before conditions worsen Monday.

A severe heatwave is spreading across the country, with parts of western Sydney expected to reach 44 degrees Celsius (111 degrees Fahrenheit) by Tuesday, according to the Bureau of Meteorology.

Sydney’s New Year’s Eve fireworks celebrations, which draw tens of thousands of tourists to the city for the harborside spectacle, will go ahead. The city council has rejected a petition calling for the display to be scrapped and the money to be donated to bushfire and drought relief projects, saying the event is watched by millions of people worldwide and generates A$130 million for the local economy.

Authorities will liaise with the fire service to ensure the event can be held safely.

To contact the reporter on this story: Edward Johnson in Sydney at ejohnson28@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Shamim Adam at sadam2@bloomberg.net, Edward Johnson, Linus Chua

©2019 Bloomberg L.P.