When the flames swept up from the cove through the gum trees, Neda Cettnic signaled frantically that it was time for her grandchildren to get off the roof. It was New Year’s Eve, and fires across this vast continent had already scorched tens of thousands of acres. Now the fire was coming for Cettnic’s hillside home. The three grandchildren, ranging from 8 to 11 years old, had been deployed to clear debris from trees that the government had not allowed the family to cut back in the weeks before fire season. The federal government had also ignored advice to call in advance for foreign reinforcements to help Australian firefighters. So across the dry valleys and eucalyptus forests of […]