Wildfire-Threatened Towns Brace for New Blazes: Australia Update

(Bloomberg) -- Firefighters battled catastrophic wildfires sweeping southeastern Australia as searing temperatures and strong winds intensified the threat to lives and property in one of the worst nights of the already weeks-long crisis.Dozens of communities, from small towns on the south coast of New South Wales, to alpine villages in neighboring Victoria state, braced for extreme conditions as fires grew so large they generated dry thunderstorms.Thousands of people, including tourists, had hee