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The cult of the influencer, which involves taking selfies and dramatic photos for self-promotion, appears to have hit a new low, with emergency authorities warning people not to take ‘Instagramable photos’ while firefighters battle bushfires.

A major fire broke out this week after a defence helicopter landed in Namadgi National Park, south of Canberra, and accidentally caused what authorities said was Canberra’s most serious bushfire threat since the devastating fires of 2003. One of the craft’s landing lights is thought to have sparked the blaze.

The ACT Emergency Service Agency (ESA) tweeted a public service announcement on Wednesday calling for an end to “disaster tourism”.

ACT ESA tweeted: “We know the fire makes for some insta-worthy content. Stopping on the side of the road creates an unnecessary risk to public safety.

“Please do not clog our roads to take your own pictures. Use these.” The ESA then offered up two photos taken by Gary Hooker from the ACT Rural Fire Service.

A hashtag #stopdisastertourism was born.

Some comments on Twitter included: “It’s kind of amazing and also very depressing that you have had to make this announcement.”

Another said: “Lithgow had fire tourists – ‘what’s the best place to take the kids to see the flames?’ Many were trapped when the highway was closed.”

ACT ESA’s Commissioner Georgeina Whelan called disaster tourism “a disgrace”, warning people that visiting fire areas could affect firefighting and evacuation efforts.

Whelan, a former Australian Army brigadier, joined ACT ESA after a remarkable career in which she specialised in military disaster response, deploying to war-torn or disaster-stricken places like East Timor and Banda Aceh.

The ACT ESA’s incident controller, Matthew Shonk, warned conditions are expected to deteriorate in coming days, Yahoo News reported.

While Tourism Australia tries to encourage domestic tourism, the bushfire season is far from over, with dangerous weather conditions forecast to hit much of the east and southeast of Australia in coming days and temperatures likely to top 40°C in Adelaide, Canberra and Melbourne.

The Bureau of Meteorology is forecasting temperatures of over 45°C in parts of regional NSW and Victoria today.

In Western Australia, authorities issued an emergency warning yesterday for an uncontrolled bushfire which threatened lives and homes in Bullsbrook, northeast of Perth. In Tasmania, a “watch and act” alert was issued for a bushfire near St Marys on the state’s east coast.

2019 was the hottest and driest year ever recorded in Australia, according to the Bureau of Meteorology.

As the New Scientist pointed out, the average daytime maximum temperature across Australia in 2019 was 30.7°C , the highest since records began in 1910 and 2.1°C above the usual average. The extreme temperatures were spread across most of the country – and 2020 may be hotter still. Hang on to your hats.

Written by Peter Needham