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Heatwave across southeast Australia stokes bushfires

RESENDING WITH COMPLETE SCRIPT

VIDEO SHOWS: BUSHFIRE, FIREFIGHTING PLANE ABOVE BUSHFIRE, HAZE ABOVE MELBOURNE SKYLINE, PEOPLE ON BEACH AND SWIMMING, SOUNDBITES FROM METEOROLOGIST AND SOUTH AUSTRALIAN COUNTRY FIRE SERVICE DEPUTY STATE CONTROLLER

SHOWS:

ADELAIDE HILLS, AUSTRALIA (JANUARY 24, 2021) (AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION - Broadcasters: NO USE AUSTRALIA Digital: NO USE AUSTRALIA .COM.AU INTERNET SITES / ANY INTERNET SITE OF ANY AUSTRALIAN BASED MEDIA ORGANISATIONS OR MOBILE PLATFORMS / AUSTRALIAN NVO CLIENTS / SMH.COM.AU / NEWS.COM.AU) (MUTE)

1. VARIOUS OF BUSHFIRE

2. FIREFIGHTING PLANE FLYING ABOVE BUSHFIRE

3. VARIOUS OF BUSHFIRE

4. FIREFIGHTING PLANE FLYING ABOVE BUSHFIRE

ADELAIDE, AUSTRALIA (JANUARY 25, 2021) (AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION - Broadcasters: NO USE AUSTRALIA Digital: NO USE AUSTRALIA .COM.AU INTERNET SITES / ANY INTERNET SITE OF ANY AUSTRALIAN BASED MEDIA ORGANISATIONS OR MOBILE PLATFORMS / AUSTRALIAN NVO CLIENTS / SMH.COM.AU / NEWS.COM.AU)

5. (SOUNDBITE) (English) SOUTH AUSTRALIAN COUNTRY FIRE SERVICE DEPUTY STATE CONTROLLER, YVETTE DOWLING, SAYING:

"So at the moment, the assessment teams are still on the ground and we're waiting for the information to come in but we do believe there's two houses - we're not sure whether they're damaged or destroyed at this point - and there is a couple of sheds but we do believe there may be up to 11 structures of some sort, but we're not sure whether they were domestic dwellings or outbuildings at this stage."

ADELAIDE HILLS, AUSTRALIA (JANUARY 24, 2021) (AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION - Broadcasters: NO USE AUSTRALIA Digital: NO USE AUSTRALIA .COM.AU INTERNET SITES / ANY INTERNET SITE OF ANY AUSTRALIAN BASED MEDIA ORGANISATIONS OR MOBILE PLATFORMS / AUSTRALIAN NVO CLIENTS / SMH.COM.AU / NEWS.COM.AU) (MUTE)

6. SMOKE EMANATING OUT FROM SCRUB

7. BUSHFIRE

8. SMOKE FROM BUSHFIRE

9. FIREFIGHTING HELICOPTER FLYING ABOVE BUSHFIRE

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA (JANUARY 25, 2021) (NINE NETWORK - Broadcasters: NO USE AUSTRALIA / NEW ZEALAND / PAPUA NEW GUINEA Digital: NO USE AUSTRALIA, NEW ZEALAND, PAPUA NEW GUINEA-BASED INTERNET SITES, MOBILE PLATFORMS OR SITES OF MEDIA ORGANISATIONS BASED IN THOSE COUNTRIES, NVO CLIENTS/ SMH.COM.AU/ NEWS.COM.AU)

10. (MUTE) HAZE ABOVE MELBOURNE SKYLINE

11. VARIOUS OF PEOPLE ON BEACH

12. (MUTE) PERSON SWIMMING

13. (MUTE) VARIOUS OF PEOPLE STANDING IN WATER

14. (MUTE) BOAT ON WATER

15. PEOPLE IN WATER

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA (JANUARY 25, 2021) (NETWORK TEN - Broadcasters: NO USE AUSTRALIA Digital: NO USE AUSTRALIA / .COM.AU INTERNET SITES / ANY INTERNET SITE OF ANY AUSTRALIAN BASED MEDIA ORGANISATIONS OR MOBILE PLATFORMS / AUSTRALIAN NVO CLIENTS / SMH.COM.AU / NEWS.COM.AU)

16. (SOUNDBITE) (English) SENIOR METEOROLOGIST AT THE BUREAU OF METEOROLOGY, DEAN NARRAMORE, SAYING:

"So temperatures reached up into the low 40s for parts of the suburbs today. We saw Laverton get to 42 degrees, Moorabbin, Scoresby, Viewbank also reached 40 degrees. In the city it was bang on forecast, we hit 39.2 degrees at midday."

WAGGA WAGGA, AUSTRALIA (JANUARY 25, 2021) (AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION - Broadcasters: NO USE AUSTRALIA Digital: NO USE AUSTRALIA .COM.AU INTERNET SITES / ANY INTERNET SITE OF ANY AUSTRALIAN BASED MEDIA ORGANISATIONS OR MOBILE PLATFORMS / AUSTRALIAN NVO CLIENTS / SMH.COM.AU / NEWS.COM.AU)

17. PERSON FALLING OF FLOATATION DEVICE INTO RIVER

18. PEOPLE SITTING ON RIVER BANK

STORY: Searing heat scorched southeastern Australia on Monday (January 25), stoking bushfires near the city of Adelaide and driving crowds to the beaches on an extended long weekend in what has mostly been a wetter than normal summer.

Six firefighting aircraft and crews on the ground battled blazes in the Adelaide Hills, where two homes were damaged or destroyed, state officials said on Sunday (January 24), adding that investigations were underway into the cause. The fire risk was downgraded on Monday, with residents urged to "watch and act".

Temperatures soared above 40 degrees C (104°F) across the southeast, but dropped sharply as a cool change moved in earlier than expected in Victoria, where temperatures dropped about 10 degrees in 10 minutes, the Bureau of Meteorology said.

The blazing heat is expected to continue for another day in Australia's biggest city, Sydney, in the state of New South Wales before a cool change brings temperatures back to the mid-20s degrees Celsius.

The overall fire threat in Australia has otherwise been muted this season in stark contrast to last year, dubbed the "Black Summer", when bushfires killed 33 people and billions of native animals and razed more than 24 million hectares (59 million acres).

(Production: James Redmayne)