Tag Archives: Australia bushfire

Australian authorities urged another mass evacuation across the heavily populated southeast region of Australia, as the return of hot weather fanned huge bushfires, threatening several towns and communities. Victoria state Premier Daniel Andrews urged communities to be on alert ahead of the extreme conditions. “If you receive instructions to leave, then you must leave,” Andrews said in a televised briefing. “That is the only way to guarantee your safety.” Parts of Kangaroo Island, a wildlife-rich tourist spot off the southeast coast where Prime Minister Scott Morrison made a plea for foreign tourists not to be deterred by the fires, were again evacuated. A third of the island has been destroyed. Thousands have been made homeless and thousands have had to evacuate repeatedly because of the volatility of the fires.  

The leader of Australia’s eastern New South Wales (NSW) state has declared a week-long state of emergency in response to the escalating bushfire threat. High temperatures and strong winds are forecast for the weekend, leading to “widespread extreme fire danger”. The state of emergency in NSW will kick in at 08:00 on Friday (21:00 GMT on Thursday) and last for seven days. It will allow local authorities to carry out forced evacuations, road closures “and anything else we need to do as a state to keep our residents and to keep the property safe. Thousands of people are fleeing a vast “tourist leave zone” in NSW, with supplies running low in some cut-off towns. It’s been called “the largest relocation out of the region ever”. Meanwhile, troops are preparing to evacuate some of the 4,000 people trapped by fires in neighbouring Victoria state. Since September, bushfires have killed 18 people and destroyed more than 1,200 homes across NSW and Victoria.