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Australia Calls up 3,000 Reservists as Fire Threats Escalate

Associated Press

   SYDNEY - Australia's prime minister called up about 3,000 reservists as
   the threat of wildfires escalated Saturday in at least three states
   with two more deaths. Strong winds and high temperatures were forecast
   to bring flames to populated areas including the suburbs of Sydney.

   Scott Morrison said 23 deaths have been confirmed so far this summer,
   including the two in a blaze on a highway on Kangaroo Island off the
   coast of South Australia. "We are facing another extremely difficult
   next 24 hours," he told a televised news conference.

   "In recent times, particularly over the course of the balance of this
   week, we have seen this disaster escalate to an entirely new level,"
   Morrison said.

   He also confirmed that his scheduled visits to India and Japan later
   this month have been postponed. He was to visit India Jan. 13-16 and
   Japan immediately afterward. Morrison came under fire for taking a
   family vacation in Hawaii as the wildfire crisis unfolded in December.

   "Just around half an hour ago the governor general signed off on the
   call-out of the Australian Defense Force Reserve to search and bring
   every possible capability to bear by deploying army brigades to
   fire-affected communities," he said.

   Defense Minister Linda Reynolds said this was the first time that
   reservists have been called out "in this way in living memory and, in
   fact, I believe for the first time in our nation's history."

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