Residents in parts of Australia have been urged to evacuate as a major bushfire continued to burn through protected forest land near Victoria’s border with New South Wales, threatening small rural communities.
The fire has already burned around 1,200 hectares of bushland and is moving through the Mt Lawson State Park, approximately 25km west of the town of Walwa.
Fire authorities said the blaze shifted direction on Wednesday, changing from a south-easterly path to a southerly one, bringing new areas into its projected route.
Emergency officials have issued urgent evacuation advice for residents in Bungil, Granya and Thologolong, warning them to leave immediately via Murray River Road towards Wodonga city.
Victoria’s emergency management agency, VicEmergency, said homes could be at risk if the fire continues to advance.
“Leaving immediately is the safest option, before conditions become too dangerous,” VicEmergency warned.
“Emergency services may not be able to help you if you decide to stay.”
Earlier, the Bureau of Meteorology had said that extreme bushfire danger was rising as soaring temperatures fuelled what forecasters said could be the most severe heatwave since the “black summer” of 2019-20, one of the most intense fire seasons on record in Australia.
The bureau said a vast stretch of dry, hot air was pushing eastwards from Western Australia into South Australia, New South Wales and Victoria, raising fire risk.
In several regions, daytime temperatures were forecast to exceed 45C, with little overnight relief, creating dangerous conditions for both people and emergency services.
On Wednesday, several roads had been closed due to fire activity, including Murray River Road between Granya Gap Road and Guys Forest Road, and Guys Forest Road between Murray River Road and Burrowye Road. However, authorities said these routes would remain accessible only for residents evacuating the area.
Fire crews from the Country Fire Authority (CFA) and Forest Fire Management Victoria (FFMV) carried out overnight backburning operations in an effort to slow the fire’s spread. Backburning refers to the process of lighting controlled fires to eliminate the fuel in the path of a wildfire. CFA incident controller Aaron Kennedy said the work had been effective but warned that unburned vegetation still posed a serious risk.
“The idea is to remove those fuels under the night conditions overnight so that we're not having those areas burn in the heat of the day with strong northerly winds behind them,” Mr Kennedy said.
Despite the progress, authorities remain on high alert due to a large section of unburned fuel between the controlled backburn areas and the main fire front.
“We are working today with our aircraft and the firefighters on the ground to ensure that as that area burns out, we can try and reduce the overall fire intensity,” Mr Kennedy said.
“With the resources we've got, we're pretty confident we can at least monitor and maintain the backburn operations in place.”
Mr Kennedy also warned that worsening weather conditions, including extreme heat and a forecast wind change later in the week, could cause the fire to grow rapidly. He urged residents, particularly landholders in Bungil, Thologolong and Burrowye, to ensure their properties were prepared for fire conditions.
“We are asking community members to remain vigilant, but particularly landholders in those affected areas, in the Burrowye area, in Bungil, in the Thologolong area, to make sure they are preparing to make sure their property is prepared for a fire,” he said.
So far, one caravan on private land has been destroyed by the Walwa fire. Authorities confirmed there have been no reports of injuries, deaths, or losses of livestock.
Meanwhile, a separate grassfire burning along the Sunraysia Highway in Victoria’s Northern Grampians region earlier prompted emergency evacuation warnings for several small towns. That alert has since been downgraded as conditions improved.
Fire authorities have declared total fire bans across large parts of Victoria, including Melbourne and Geelong, with temperatures expected to reach the mid-40s Celsius in some areas. Emergency services said they would issue further updates as weather and fire conditions evolve across the state.
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