An Australian climate change expert said on Thursday the devastating bushfires in Victoria were the "fires of climate change."

Climate Institute chief executive John Connor said climate change was the cause of the bushfires.

"In our view what we have seen in Victoria, with such devastating ferocity, are the fires of climate change," Australian Associated Press quoted Connor as saying in Melbourne.

"The reality for firefighters and rural communities is that the rules that applied in the past to fighting and surviving bushfires have changed forever because of our warming planet," he added.

Victorian Premier John Brumby has already pointed to climate change as a factor in the fires, saying the climate is becoming more extreme.

But most experts and conservation groups have been more circumspect, saying climate change will cause more bushfires but it had not necessarily caused the Victorian blazes.

(Xinhua News Agency February 20, 2009)