Massive Australia bush fire 'started by Defence Department'

One of worst bush fires to hit Australia was caused by Defence Department military exercise

A military training exercise ignited one of the major wildfires that has ravaged New South Wales in Australia, an investigation has found.

More than 100 fires have killed one man and destroyed more than 200 homes in New South Wales state since Thursday.

Natalie Sanders, a Rural Fire Service spokesman, said an investigation found that a massive fire near the city of Lithgow west of Sydney had started at a nearby Defence Department training area on Wednesday last week.

The fire has burned 180 square miles and destroyed several houses.

The Defence Department declined to comment. Defence has confirmed that an explosive ordnance training exercise had been conducted that day.

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The insurance council of Australia said claims of more than AUS$93 million (£55.6 million) were expected to grow as wildfires – stretching across 1,000 miles of Australia’s most populous state – ran their course.

Record hot and dry weather across the continent and an early start to the fire season in the Southern Hemisphere spring have revived arguments about mankind’s impact on climate change.

Climate scientists say Australia is one of the countries most at risk from global warming, with fires, floods and droughts that are already a feature of the continent likely to get worse.

But Prime Minister Tony Abbott has rejected any link between the Sydney fires and rising carbon emissions from the burning of fossil fuels such as coal, a major Australian export.

“Climate change is real and we should take strong action against it,” Abbott told local radio.

“But these fires are certainly not a function of climate change, they are just a function of life in Australia.”

Elected in September, Abbott plans to repeal the carbon tax installed by former Prime Minister Julia Gillard and replace it with a “Direct Action” scheme involving things like reforestation and financial incentives to business to cut pollution.

UN Framework Convention on Climate Change Executive Secretary Christiana Figueres this week accused Abbott’s government of abandoning Australia’s commitment to emissions reductions.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/australiaandthepacific/australia/10399036/Massive-Australia-bush-fire-started-by-Defence-Department.html