Residents of an Australian bushfire region were given two hours to return home and collect their belongings before Christmas on Tuesday as emergency crews try to contain the blaze.
Communities around the Grampians in Victoria state have been evacuated as authorities warned conditions in the coming days could be the worst since Australia's most severe fire season on record. called the “black summer” of 2019-20.
Bushfires have already burned more than 41,000 hectares (101,000 acres) of land over the past week, but there have been no deaths or loss of property.
Forecasts of intense heat for Boxing Day have also triggered a series of fire warnings across the country.
Across Victoria, temperatures are expected to reach 40°C (104°F) and be accompanied by strong dry winds, while parts of South Australia and New South Wales could also face wildfires bush from Thursday to Friday.
“We expect an extreme fire risk across most of the state,” said Luke Hegarty, a spokesman for the Victorian state control centre.
“This is the most significant fire danger the state has seen – in any part of the state that we're talking about – since the Black Summer. It's important that people understand that Thursday is a day with serious potential,” he added.
Four interstate firefighting forces and two incident management teams – made up of more than 100 people – will land in Victoria in the coming days to provide respite for emergency crews who have been working around the clock to tackle the current fires.
The decision to give families around the Grampians temporary access to their homes “to obtain Christmas items… gifts and such” on Tuesday morning was made by the head of the state's Country Fire Authority (CFA), Jason Heffernan.
“(It's) about ensuring that if Halls Gap residents are relocated for Christmas, they will at least have what they need,” he told Seven's Sunrise.
Mary Ann Brown, who lives on the southern edge of the Grampians National Park, told the ABC her community was nervous as the holidays approached.
“We won't be out of the woods until we get a really good drop of rain and that might not happen until March or April, so it's going to be a long summer.”
Parts of Australia have been on high alert for bushfire risk this summer, after several quieter seasons compared to the 2019-20 fires that killed hundreds and wiped out 24 million people. hectares of land.
The country has been rocked by disaster after disaster in recent years, experiencing both record flooding and extreme heat as it feels the effects of climate change.
