Firefighters in eastern Australia used easing weather conditions on Sunday to bring bushfires under control ahead of forecast of soaring temperatures for next week.
There were 96 fires burning in New South Wales, home to Australia's largest city of
Sydney, with only about a half contained and more than 1,600 firefighters deployed to do back burning and create containment lines.
Australia has been through some devastating bushfires before during its hot summers, but
fire officials have said that this earlier-than-usual wave of fires has been one of the most persistent and largest.