Australia is preparing for extremely hot weather conditions, as it awaits a heat wave on its east coast today, Saturday.
The capital, Canberra, raised the temperature warning of fires and issued a ban to ignite any fires, as the city temperature reached 38 degrees Celsius.
Today, efforts to clear the lands surrounding the fire areas in Sydney, Australia´s most populous city, continued ahead of a very hot wave expected to hit the city on Monday and Tuesday this week.
The risk of fires is expected to increase this week as the temperature reaches 43 in Sydney, according to the Australian Meteorological Office.
Forest fires are still raging in New South Wales today, and about 70 fires have reached 30, of which 30 are out of control, according to Shane Fitzsimons, head of the state´s Fire Department.
The fires in the state, with Sydney as its capital, hit about 43,000 square kilometers, about the size of Belgium, and also devoured about a thousand homes. Nine people were killed, including two volunteers.
Fitzsimons said in a comment reported by the Australian "Associated Press" that firefighters made strenuous efforts during the Christmas holidays to contain the fires.
