Australian authorities protect Outback town against huge wildfire

By ROD McGUIRK
Associated Press

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Emergency crews are working to protect the Outback Australian town of Tennant Creek with containment lines as a huge wildfire threatens the remote community of 3,000. The fire had scorched 10,000 square kilometers (3,900 square miles) of grass and scrubland by Wednesday in the Northern Territory east of Tennant Creek. Police Acting Commander James Gray-Spence says authorities had worked through the night to burn protective containment lines east and south of the town. Wildfires are common across Australia’s northern tropical region during the current dry season that will end when the monsoons arrive during the Southern Hemisphere summer.