MELBOURNE (Reuters) – The Australian government said on Saturday that thousands of army reservists would be deployed to help communities hit by spreading wildfires and a third navy ship had been readied to support evacuations from coastal towns.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said up to 3,000 members of the Australian Defense Force Reserve would be deployed, defense force bases would provide temporary accommodation, and A$20 million ($14 million) would be spent to lease four fire-fighting planes to deal with the bushfire crisis.
“The scale of the fires is stretching resources on the ground and there are clearly communities that need additional help,” Morrison told journalists on Saturday.
Morrison also announced the HMAS Adelaide had been readied to support the evacuation of coastal populations near the border of the states of New South Wales and Victoria.
“The Adelaide is fully equipped for disaster relief and humanitarian aid, is able to operate helicopters, with 400 crew, including medical staff, as well as 300 tonnes of emergency relief supplies,” Morrison said.
The MV Sycamore and the HMAS Choules navy ships have already started to evacuate thousands from the coastal town of Mallacoota in southeastern Australia.
Extensive bushfires have killed 23 people since September, Morrison said. More than 5 million hectares (13 million acres) of land has been burnt.
Reporting by Will Ziebell; Editing by Kim Coghill
