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Former Fire and Rescue Commissioner Greg Mullins says the Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison was warned about the current bushfires, which have now reached ‘catastrophic’ levels.
According to The Sydney Morning Herald, Mullins wrote to the PM requesting an ‘urgent meeting’ to talk about the lack of firefighting funding and the need to address the current climate crisis.
‘It has been difficult’
“In a nutshell, it has been difficult and the Prime Minister has seen fit not to meet with us,” Mullins reportedly told ABC’s Radio National program.
“By that time what we’d predicted earlier in the year had manifested… That something is on everybody’s TV screens at the moment… We saw it coming. We tried to warn the government.”
‘Directly observable by 2020’
The fires, which have killed at least 23 people and burnt more than 12 million acres of land, were also predicted by Emma Buckley Lennox in The Garnaut Climate Change Review.
“Recent projections of fire weather suggest that fire seasons will start earlier, end slightly later, and generally be more intense,” the book reads.
“This effect increases over time but should be directly observable by 2020.”
Disaster relief
A fundraiser for fire services in NWS has raised more than A$20 million in 48 hours to help tackle the fire. While Scott Morrison has called up 3,000 reserve troops.
Celebrity singer-songwriter Pink has also donated $500,000 directly to the local fire services, stating she was ‘totally devastated’ by the blaze.
She also shared links to her 7.4 million Instagram followers of local state fire services so people can make donations.
If you would like to donate or volunteer to help with the fires, click here
