‘Hectic’ bush fires threaten rural towns in Australian heatwave

SYDNEY – Bush fires destroyed houses and razed vast belts of forest in south-east Australia on Jan 9, firefighters said, as hot winds fanned “hectic” conditions in the tinder-dry countryside.

Temperatures soared past 40 deg C as a heatwave blanketed the region, creating some of the most dangerous bush-fire weather since the “Black Summer” blazes of 2019 to 2020.

Dozens of rural hamlets in the state of Victoria were urged to evacuate while they still could, while three people, including a child, were missing inside one of the state’s most dangerous fire grounds.

“If you don’t leave now, it could result in your life being lost,” Emergency Management Commissioner Tim Wiebusch told reporters.

Powerful wind gusts temporarily grounded firefighting aircraft trying to contain about 30 different blazes dotted around the state.

Firefighters fear that at least 20 houses have been burned to the ground in the small town of Ruffy, about a two-hour drive north of state capital Melbourne.

Country Fire Authority chief Jason Heffernan said the fire danger was catastrophic – the most severe rating possible.

“Victorians should brace themselves for more property loss or worse. Today is going to be quite a hectic and volatile day for firefighters, fire authorities and communities.”

One of the most destructive bush fires had already razed about 28,000ha near the town of Longwood, a region cloaked in native forests.

“Some properties have lost everything,” local fire captain George Noye said.

“They’ve lost their livelihoods, they’ve lost their shearing sheds, livestock... (it’s) just absolutely devastating,” he told national broadcaster ABC. “But thankfully, at the moment, no lives have been lost.”

The worst bush fires have so far been confined to sparsely populated rural areas where towns number a few hundred people at most.

Black Summer

Photos taken earlier this week showed the night sky glowing orange as the fire near Longwood – north of Melbourne – ripped through bushland.

“There were embers falling everywhere. It was terrifying,” cattle farmer Scott Purcell told ABC.

Another bush fire near the small town of Walwa crackled with lightning as it radiated enough heat to form a localised thunderstorm, the fire authorities said.

Hundreds of firefighters from across Australia were called in to help.

“Today represents one of the most dangerous fire days that this state has experienced in years,” state premier Jacinta Allan said.

She urged people to flee rather than stay put and try to save their homes.

“You will simply not win against fires of these magnitudes that are created on days like today.”

Millions in Australia’s two most populous states – Victoria and New South Wales – are sweltering through the heatwave. Power outages left more than 30,000 houses without electricity on one of the hottest days to hit Victoria in years.

Hundreds of baby bats died earlier this week as stifling temperatures settled over the neighbouring state of South Australia, a local wildlife group said.

The “Black Summer” bush fires raged across Australia’s eastern seaboard from late 2019 to early 2020, razing millions of hectares, destroying thousands of homes and blanketing cities in noxious smoke.

Australia’s climate has warmed by an average of 1.51 deg C since 1910, researchers have found, fuelling increasingly frequent extreme weather patterns over both land and sea. It remains one of the world’s largest producers and exporters of gas and coal, two key fossil fuels blamed for global heating. AFP