CANBERRA, Sept. 7 (Xinhua) -- The Australian Capital Territory (ACT), home of the nation's capital city Canberra, has been warned to brace for its worst bushfire season in 15 years.
Dominic Lane, commissioner of the ACT Emergency Services Agency, warned that conditions in the lead-up to summer were comparable to those in 2003 when four people were killed and 500 homes lost in bushfires.
"Make no mistake, in Canberra we face the same scenario going into this year," he told a national bushfire outlook conference on Thursday night.
According to the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM), two rainfall stations in the ACT recorded their lowest winter rainfall on record while a third recorded the lowest since 1982.
Rainfall at Canberra Airport was only 19 percent of the average for July and 50 percent of the long-term winter average.
Long-range BOM forecasts predicted that Canberra's spring would be warmer than average and that the city was unlikely to have its median rainfall.
Lane said that while the city was better prepared to deal with fires than it was in 2003, residents could not afford to be complacent.
"We're going to see a warmer than average summer and drier than average summer in the ACT," he said.
The 2003 fires burned for five days between January 18 and 22, injuring more than 490 people and severely damaging almost 70 percent of the ACT's pastures, plantations and nature parks. The recovery cost was estimated at 350 million Australian dollars (251 million U.S. dollars).
Anthony Clark, New South Wales (NSW) Rural Fire Service communications director, said that the entirety of NSW and the ACT was at extreme risk as a result of the worst drought in 50 years.
"Prepare yourself, prepare your home and prepare your family," he said.
