The bodies of the two people, identified as Dick Lang, 78, a bush pilot and safari operator, and his son Clayton, 43, a plastic and reconstructive surgeon, were found after fire burned through more than half of Kangaroo Island. “It has been absolutely devastating,” the Kangaroo Island mayor, Michael Pengilly, told the ABC. There were also current fire warnings in Tasmania, South Australia and Western Australia. A sense of anxiety gripped NSW on Saturday, as the gruelling long-running catastrophe of the bushfire season rolled on. “Right here, we are the meat in the sandwich,” the RFS divisional commander, Mark Coombes, began a shift briefing of new volunteer firefighters at Nowra, on the NSW south coast, “so thanks for coming down”.

Source: The Guardian January 04, 2020 10:52 UTC