Thank you to friends who have asked about my situation with respect to the terrible fires which my country is presently experiencing. In Australia, fires...or as we say "bushfires" are a part of life in our warmer seasons.
Australia is the driest continent on earth....a giant desert with a ribbon of fertile land along the coastal strip. Our native plants are tough and hardy. Fire is needed to break their seeds to enable propagation, and historically fire has been part of the landscape...initially instigated by nature, through lightning strikes on desiccated foliage, thus releasing the precious seeds.
Indigenous Australians use deliberately lit fire to revegetate their territories

At present the country is roasting in above average temperatures...yesterday the average maximum temperature for Australia...taken by using temperature data from every weather station in the country, was in excess of 40C. Here where I live we have had no rain for 10 weeks and have experienced temperatures above 37 for 10 days...including one day of 45 degrees.

It only takes a hot vehicle exhaust, a careless cigarette thrown aside, a piece of broken glass catching the sun, and like a magnifying glass, starting a fire...for huge infernos to break out in the parched grass, especially if there are hot, gusty winds.
This has been the situation over the country of late. The worst affected has been the southermost island of Tasmania, ususally around mid 20C in summer....where it has been 40C+ with hot winds...and huge fires. Whole towns have disappeared, animals killed, people missing...
All the firefighters in these blazes are volunteers...the only salaried firefighters are in the capital cities. The major fires occur in rural areas.. Every smaller town has a firefighting unit, We live 15 km from the capital city...and we have a volunteer unit as we are in a high fire risk area, which in fact was totally devastated by a huge blaze in 1985.
My huband is a volunteer firefighter, as is my son, who lives in Canberra, which is also in a critical fire risk zone.
Fortunately, after 10 days of what is a "Catastrophic" fire alert level here, today the temperature is a mild 25C. My garden looks half dead (limited water usage and capacity)...but we are fine...

PS: There are even large numbers of people who are arsonists and deliberately light bushfires...often resulting in death and devastation...on high risk days, police have to monitor them. ...I find this fact almost unbelievable!!!!
Diana

The link below it to the meteo...which has had to add two more colours to its temperature charts to take account of increased maximum temperatures to 54C

www.abc.net.au/news/2013-01-09/australia-heatwave-forecast-one-animated-gif-map/4458006