The country is on edge for its first major fire season since a catastrophic summer four years ago.
As Australia edged into spring in 2019, former fire brigade chief Greg Mullins warned the country was disastrously primed to burn.
Usually, darkness brings a reprieve for exhausted firefighters - but this fire kept "burning at night like it was at midday". "You hear that?" he says, stepping heavily. "They call that the cornflake factor, the crunch factor." Mr Hain remembers one day in particular - when dozens of homes in his own community were destroyed and two of his peers died. Geoffrey Keaton and Andrew O'Dwyer - both young dads and volunteer firefighters - were killed when a tree fell on their fire truck.
It also found Australia did not have the firefighting resources it needed - forced to rely on a largely volunteer force and overseas water-bombing aircraft to battle blazes.This year, Australia faces many similar circumstances. The general consensus is this summer will be tough, but the coming years - when the country dries out further - are the real worry.Both Mr Mullins and Mr Hain say governments have acted on calls to improve the equipment available to firefighters - the aerial firefighting fleet in particular.
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