Rainfall In Australia Put Out One-Third Of Active Fires In Just One Day

Firefighters across Australia are rejoicing over the arrival of some much-needed rain.

In just a day, torrential rainfall across New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory extinguished approximately one-third of the active bushfires—and officials say the downpour could put out even more of the fires during the days to come.

So nice listening to rain falling last night & driving with windscreen wipers on for a change this morning. @BOM_NSW indicates continued rain this next week & importantly, falls across our fire areas which will be so welcomed by our farmers, fire fighters & all affected. #NSWRFS pic.twitter.com/gJ3aFRQlzF

— Shane Fitzsimmons (@RFSCommissioner) February 6, 2020

Collectively, the rainfall has extinguished twenty of the active fires, leaving 42 fires still blazing across the coast. As the Sydney Morning Herald reports, only two of those fires are above the “low-moderate” safety rating.

That's also the largest single-day drop in active fires since the fire season began.

It was fantastic to wake up to much-needed rain this morning!

Today has already been the wettest Sydney day in 15 months, and thankfully it’s raining across NSW where we need it most. https://t.co/FsBxow8Zuv

— Clover Moore (@CloverMoore) February 7, 2020

While the downpour has caused some flooding across the provinces, the NSW Rural Fire Service said they're “over the moon” to see the rainfall aiding them in their fight against the bushfires.

Many of the bushfires were exacerbated, but drought conditions that persevered that past three years.

The largest Australian city, Syndey, enjoyed its wettest day on record in approximately 15 months, and weather services are calling for another 350 mm of rain this weekend.

The last time the city received over 100 millimeters of rain in a day was in November 2018, The Guardian reported.

The NSW Rural Fire Service says that over 1,200 firefighters are currently taking advantage of the weather conditions to continue containing the fires. At the same time, their division simultaneously prepares for the upcoming flood warnings.