Australian ‘megablaze’ brought under control

Exhausted firefighters said they had finally brought Australia’s largest “mega blaze” under control today as wet weather promised to deliver much-needed respite for countryside ravaged by bushfires.

New South Wales firefighters said they finally had the upper hand in the fight against the vast Gospers Mountain fire on Sydney’s northwestern outskirts, which has been burning out of control for almost three months.

Visiting the area today, New South Wales Rural Fire Service commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons said there was a “small area of burning still to complete” but the “containment prognosis looks promising.”
The fire seared an area of national park three times the size of Greater London and lit several connected blazes totaling over 800,000 hectares.

As residents and authorities continued to come to grips with the sheer scale of the devastation, the Bureau of Meteorology forecast some fire grounds could get up to 50 millimeters (two inches) of rain in the next week, a relief after a prolonged drought.