Australia fires reignite as temperatures soar, rain eases

Soaring temperatures and strong winds reignited bushfires in Australia’s southeast on Thursday cloaking Canberra in hazardous smoke and forcing the airport to close, after a few days of cooler weather brought some relief.

“Arrivals and departures are affected due to aviation firefighting operations,” the capital’s airport authority said in a tweet.

Another tweet from traffic police said: “The fire is moving fast and there are multiple road closures in the area. Please avoid the area. Local road blocks in place.”

On Thursday, the country’s effort to fight the raging bushfires turned deadly after a C-130 air tanker crashed in a fireball around 400km (248 miles) south of Sydney. The three people on board the plane were killed.

A fire in the Snowy Mountains region and one in the Bega Valley on the south coast of New South Wales (NSW) state both flared up, with emergency authorities warning residents to get out if they did not plan to defend their properties.