- 16 minutes ago
- From the section Australia
Image copyright Reuters
A Christmas Day bushfire in Australia has destroyed at least 53 homes in Victoria state, officials say.
Hundreds of firefighters battled the blaze along the Great Ocean Road in Victoria's south-west on Friday. A change to cooler weather and rain has greatly reduced the threat, but some emergency warnings remain in place.
No injuries or deaths have been reported so far. Authorities evacuated 1,600 residents and tourists from the popular tourist spot of Lorne.
They acted because of fears that a wind change would push the fire towards the town.
Image copyright EPA More than 300 firefighters, 60 tankers and 18 aircraft battled the blaze overnight as it advanced on residential areas.
Thousands of tourists typically descend on the area in the days after Christmas to visit coastal towns.
But many residents and holidaymakers were forced to flee, as festivities were abandoned when the scale of the threat became apparent.
"They (residents) were all prepared, putting their barbecues on, they were cooking away, and all of a sudden they could see the smoke coming over the hill," local resident Patrick Carey said.
"They thought it was still four hours away according to what they'd heard. And then all of a sudden it was an hour away, and all of a sudden it was half-an-hour away. So, they just dropped everything, stopped cooking and hopped in their car."
The Falls Music and Arts Festival, which is held annually near Lorne, may not go ahead because of the fires, its organisers said.
The blaze has burned across 2,200 hectares (5,437 acres) so far, the CFA said.
Victoria is one of the most fire-prone regions in the world.
Many bushfires are started by lightning strikes, while others are sparked accidentally by campers or discarded cigarettes.
Some are the work of arsonists.
In 2009, more than 170 people died in Victoria during Australia's worst ever bushfire disaster.
No comments:
Post a Comment