Victoria Predicts Worst Fire Season Ever As Summer Approaches

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The State Government has hired extra firefighters to cope with what experts are warning will be the worst bushfire season ever.

Victorian Environment Minister John Thwaites said 200 seasonal firefighters - more than the usual number - were being hired. Seventy of them are starting work one month earlier this year to help prepare for the fire season.

"We have been doing fuel reduction burning and seeking to do it earlier, but the conditions are so dry and so adverse that we're already having to wind down fuel reduction burning,'' Mr Thwaites told reporters.

Firefighters were now in the process of building trails and fire breaks in key areas. "We are very concerned that this summer will be one of our worst bushfire risks ever. "The state is extremely dry. We've had 10 years of below-average rainfall. Areas like the Otways and the Dandenongs, which weren't burnt in the 2003 fires, are particularly at risk.''

EDIT

http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/worst-fire-season-ever-on-way/2006/09/25/1159036444402.html