Guardian: New South Wales and Victoria have been warned to expect a fierce bushfire season, with the head of a government-funded research body warning that bushfire prospects are "as bad as we've seen in quite some time'.
Dr Richard Thornton, chief executive of the Bushfire and Natural Hazards Cooperative Research Centre, told Guardian Australia that the fires that have raged in NSW this week are "unusually early' but are consistent with a heightened risk of bushfires in the state over the coming months....