Tourists and firefighters were forced to flee vast fires burning in southeastern Australia yesterday as a heatwave rekindled devastating bush blazes across the country.
Authorities said “quite a number” of the 30,000 tourists visiting the usually picturesque southeast tip of the continent had heeded calls to evacuate.
More than a dozen blazes are raging in the East Gippsland countryside, some so intensely that hundreds of firefighters were pulled back beyond a firefront estimated to stretch 1,000km.
Photo: AP
It was deemed “unsafe” for them to remain in bushland areas, Gippsland fire incident controller Ben Rankin said.
Ten people have been killed, more than 1,000 homes destroyed and more than 3 million hectares — an area bigger than Belgium — have been scorched over the summer.
Conditions worsened on Friday with high winds and temperatures soaring across the country, reaching 47°C in Western Australia, but topping 40°C in every region, including the usually temperate island of Tasmania.
The situation was “very intense” Rankin said, warning that conditions would worsen later in the day before temperatures drop markedly overnight.
Authorities had warned tourists enjoying Australia’s summer holidays in East Gippsland that the fires would cut off the last major road still open.
Victoria Emergency Management commissioner Andrew Crisp said residents and holidaymakers still in the area faced being stranded, as it was now “too late to leave.”
His agency warned that it was “not possible” to provide aid to all visitors in the area.
Neighboring South Australia is also experiencing “catastrophic” fire conditions.
The Country Fire Service’s Brenton Eden said it would be a “very dangerous” day for people in the state, with “dry” thunderstorms — which produce thunder and lightning, but no rain — already sparking a number of fires, including an emergency-level blaze on Kangaroo Island.
“Winds are gusting and unfortunately this is a dry lightning front that is going to move rapidly across South Australia,” Eden told national broadcaster ABC.
Conditions were also expected to deteriorate in worst-hit New South Wales, where 100 fires were burning yesterday morning including more than 40 uncontained.
Sydney and other major cities have been shrouded in toxic bushfire smoke haze for weeks, forcing children to play indoors and causing professional sporting events to be canceled.
The capital, Canberra, has canceled its New Year’s Eve fireworks display due to a total fire ban in the Australia Capital Territory, while several regional towns have also followed suit.
A petition to cancel Sydney’s New Year’s Eve fireworks and use the money to fight bushfires ringing the city has topped 270,000 signatures, but officials say the show will go on.
Sydney has spent A$6.5 million (US$4.5 million) on this year’s fireworks display — funds that the Change.org petition argues would be better spent on supporting volunteer firefighters and farmers suffering through a brutal drought.
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