Authorities in southeast Australia have ordered communities to evacuate as bushfires in western Melbourne, the capital city of Australia’s state of Victoria, continue to spread.
Victorian emergency services today urged residents of four small towns near the southwestern edge of the Grampians National Park, about 250 km west of Melbourne, to leave immediately to escape the threat posed by a nearby out-of-control fire.
A warning issued by Victoria Emergency this morning said that there was a significant increase in fire activity overnight that caused a fire burning along the national park’s western edge to spread in multiple directions.
Residents of three more towns to the east of the fire, which was sparked on Monday by dry lightning, have been told that leaving now is the safest option.